Superheroes

Friday was a cold, blustery day on Lake Ontario. The kind of day to be expected in late October. All day long the wind blew and a low pressure system roiled heavy waves across the lake. It was tough work for the lakers steaming across the horizon for ports east and west. It was not a day to learn how to sail.

Yet this is the predicament two young oilpatch workers found themselves grappling with on Friday—riding a newly purchased sailboat as it crashed through eight-foot swells in a tiny fibreglass craft toward Montreal. If they were looking for adventure— they found it.

It all might have ended very badly if not for the alert reaction of a passerby and the rapid and effective response of our local volunteer firefighters.

The intrepid sailors had set out from Cobourg earlier in the day, headed east. The fresh new owner of the boat had sailed a few times before. His passenger had never been on a sailboat before— ever. The pair bobbed like a cork for hours— failing to grasp the trouble they were in. Rather than pull in at Brighton the pair pushed on—imagining they would round the County by end of day. But as they came around Huyck’s Bay their survival instincts ignited and the pair decided they had better find safe harbour in Wellington. Under full sail they plowed into the channel that provides passage to Wellington harbour. They came in too fast and barely in control. In the heavy chop at the mouth of the channel (the details get fuzzy at this point in the story) the sailboat’s tiller broke away. The tiny fiberglass boat sailed into the easterly pier of the channel, bounced off the rocks and ran aground just inside the channel. Then they brought the sails down.

The boat was damaged but still afloat. Worse, it was stuck on the wrong side of the waterway. They were off the lake, but now they were stuck on the rocks with the channel between them and dry land. They worked in the cold and wet to try and dislodge their craft but to no avail.

Suzanne Terryberry was walking her dog along the lighthouse pier as the boat careened into the channel and came to an abrupt stop. She called 9-1-1. Within minutes the Wellington resident could hear sirens approaching.

The Wellington detachment of the Prince Edward County Fire Department were soon on the scene—equipped with water rescue equipment and the training to help these soggy stranded sailors. District Fire Chief Lee Knight was one of the first on site directing the rescue efforts.

Firefighters were soon in the water, crossing the channel in wet suits to retrieve the wayward boaters. Once secured each was pulled ashore and ushered to an awaiting ambulance.

It was left to Terryberry to marvel at the resources that were mustered for the rescue effort, mostly by volunteers, in a matter of minutes to save these two wayward sailors.

“I can’t believe how fast they were here,” said Terryberry. “This story could have had a very different ending.”

They are our neighbours, our co-workers, our friends. They are among us at one moment, but when their pagers begin to chirp, they are running to help. They are often unsure what kind of the danger they are running toward.

Our volunteer firefighters do so much more than most of us know. When they jump in their vehicle headed out to a call, they may be required to extract an injured teenager from a wrecked car, resuscitate a heart attack victim without vital signs, or enter a burning building to save a neighbour. Or, perhaps, asked to jump into icy cold water to save a foolish pair of boaters.

They do so without hesitation. Without complaint. Dozens and dozens of times each year.

When the call comes, they don’t know if they will be away from their families for a couple hours or a couple days. They know not what they will see and endure. Afterwards, they go back to work.

They pursue extensive training and skills upgrading. They spend hours of their own time learning better methods and operating improved equipment. In their spare time they raise money to help purchase new equipment—the tools they need to make our community safer.

The next time you see a Prince Edward County volunteer firefighter—consider once more how fortunate we are to live among such great and honourable folks.

rick@wellingtontimes.ca