GTA marine units dealing with record breaking summer of calls for service

Marine rescue units are having record breaking summers responding to incidents on the water and with still less than a month left of summer, they are urging people to check the weather and be safe before heading out.

The Town of Oakville’s Water Air Rescue Force responded to six incidents over a 22-hour period on the weekend, involving 26 people. A total of 22 people had to be rescued in incidents involving two power boats, seven paddle boards and one kayak.

“Back-to-back-to-back calls all weekend from a variety of different vessels in water in circumstances that people had gotten themselves into,” explained Kris Gordon, the Search Master for Oakville. He recalled a few instances where they pulled people into the harbour around 3 a.m. after they had been floating around.

The week before, on July 30, Halton’s Marine Unit said they responded to multiple rescues for floaties and paddle boards due to offshore wind conditions.

That same weekend, Toronto’s marine unit said a man died after falling into Lake Ontario near Ontario Place from a tour boat.

“The past three summers it’s been pretty extraordinary in terms of just the sheer volume of calls,” said Gordon. “I think there’s a lot of people that are that are accessing the lake and what’s in their own backyard for leisure and that’s driven a spike in calls.

He said in 2021, they received 77 calls for service, up from 50 calls in 2020. So far this year, they’ve already had 42 calls and still have most of August and September left.

“A lot more power sports, a lot more paddleboarders, kayakers and a lot of newer boaters who just don’t really have the knowledge base behind them to get themselves out of trouble,” said Gordon.

Const. Jeff Thurston with Halton Police Marine Unit agreed. “Since the pandemic started, it’s been much busier on the water.”

“They’re going on the beaches, they’re buying boats and renting stand up paddle boards, kayaks, canoes, there’s a lot more of that going on, a lot smaller vessel traffic over the last couple of years,” added Thurston.

 He said the bulk of their calls this year have been “people on a paddle board or pool toy getting blown away from the beach or going out too far and they can’t get back … then throw in the boats with dead batteries or out of gas,” the constable said.

“There’s just been an absolute influx of people enjoying the water and getting out there and really enjoying what nature has to offer, but also at the same token, there’s a learning curve,” said Gordon.

“The Great Lakes are not like Lake Joe, they’re big bodies of water. And the weather can have a really huge impact on people’s time on the lake far more than the smaller lakes,” explained Gordon. “So I think that while people are, are enjoying your time over the lake, it’s just prudent to kind of educate yourself on safety measures and emergency procedures when you do.”

“I think that it’s just a matter of people becoming familiar with the area that they’re paddling in and just keeping an eye on the weather and understanding that they can get offshore pretty quickly.”

Thurston said in Halton, the are focused on education and not enforcement when someone gets into a situation affected by the weather.

“If somebody needs rescue because they were blown offshore as a result of a weather change or a wind change. I’m certainly not going to penalize them for that.”

Gordon tells CityNews his unit is typically busier than others because the amount of time that they have available is higher than some other volunteer units. They operate 24 hours a day and have a total of 50 trained members.

“We can be on the water quickly, which tends to mean that we get calls from the Joint Rescue Coordination Center [in Trenton] quite often. But it’s just been a very busy time for the past three summers on the lake. And I think that every Marine Rescue organization around the lake has experienced a spike.”

They are focused on about 100 square miles of water in their area in western Ontario, but they also have gone as far as into American waters and east of Toronto.

Gordon added his main message is just be prepared when heading on the water.

“I think that one of the messages that we’re trying to get out there and is, is just be prepared and have a sail plan when you go out on the water. It’s [also] important to let people know where you’re going to be when you plan on coming back.”