Cobourg council needs to take immediate action to ban floaties on Victoria Beach in Cobourg.
Even better, on all beaches on municipal property.
Victoria Beach is the most popular and for the first time this summer, the beach was open to the public on holiday Monday, August 2, 2021.
For the previous two days of the holiday weekend, the weather didn’t really cooperate and the numbers of people on the beach weren’t as high, but Monday was a gorgeous day to head to the beach.
With visitors, obviously comes by-law infractions like open alcohol, bbq’s and a number of other issues, but with the decision not to have life guards in the four towers, it opens it up to a somewhat free-for-all with floaties.
Inner tubes, inflatable animals, and mattresses of all types were in the water on Monday.
With the breeze blowing off-shore, and the lack of knowledge or respect of the water it lead to some precarious moments.
Shortly before 2 p.m. emergency services including Cobourg Fire Department, Cobourg Police and the Coast Guard were notified of two youths in a dingy that were drifting out onto Lake Ontario because of the direction of the wind.
Because of the water rescue, the Cobourg Fire Department put out a “all call” which requires all available firefighters to attend the emergency.
Typically there are three firefighters on duty at the firehall to respond in emergency vehicles, with volunteers arriving to the scene in their personnel vehicles and full-time firefighters attending the firehall.
In this rescue 16 firefighters responded to the call, both full-time and part-time (volunteers). But with the numbers of people at the beach and parking at a premium, some firefighters had to park a considerable distance away and walk to the location.
This was in a craft that clearly wasn’t meant for deep water. No bailing bucket, whistle, but the most important thing for the two youths were missing was they had no life jackets.
But they kept calm and stayed in the craft until members of the Coast Guard came to make sure they would be alright and they youths made their way back to the beach.
Throughout the rest of the day, the Coast Guard patrolled the area south of the beach of anyone that came into distress.
A inner-tube was picked up by the Coast Guard during the patrols and brought back to the pier.
Floaties are basically meant for pools. In open areas like a lake with people on them combined with the wind, they act as a sail. And wherever the wind is blowing – you’re going. It’s almost like a “perfect storm” of what can happen that could be deadly.
It was councils decision to not have a contract with YMCA Northumberland regarding lifeguards
That saved taxpayers $250,000 and it’s likely understandable because who knew what COVID would bring and where we would be regarding the pandemic.
But, as it stands, the beach is open and people are coming, so council needs to take immediate action banning any type of floatie on the beach for the safety of everyone including emergency services.
The Canadian Coast Guard isn’t stationed at Cobourg to patrol Victoria Beach, but that is what they proactively did on the holiday Monday to prevent a tragedy.
If there was another emergency, resources were tied up along the shoreline and all emergency services would have been delayed attending another call for service.
The lifeguards won’t be back this year – but there is nothing stopping council from taking immediate action to make the beach safer so by-law officers can enforce the rules.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
