First responders team up for water safety training in Burlington

On Tuesday, the Halton Police Marine Unit and the Burlington Fire Department teamed up at Spencer Smith Park to focus on water safety training – with a focus on children’s safety.

“We found one person, a child about five miles out,” said Halton police officer Ryan Anderson.

A big concern local rescue teams have is people out on the water with floatation devices not prepared for the wind and the strength of the current.

“On a windy day you can move pretty quickly, so it can be dangerous,” said Anderson.

The goal of the joint water safety training is to be able reach patients in under five minutes, that’s from the time the call is made and travel time to the park.

They were also testing out new equipment, including what they call a “dolphin.”

“It’s actually a remote control, almost like a buoy that our rescuers can actually remote control out to the patient, and if the patient is able, they can grab onto that,” said Burlington Acting Deputy Fire Chief Mark Eales.

John Vorstadt is a retired captain with the Brampton Fire Department. He’s impressed with the level of training and he says watching the training exercise brought back memories.

“It makes you feel good when you can save a life, it doesn’t make you feel good when you lose a life, especially children. I still have all those children in my mind – the rescues we did with kids and the car accidents or fires,” Vorstadt said.

Timing is critical and is everything in a water rescue scenario, so this is why fire and police have to work together to save patients.

“We’ve seen a rise in calls,” Eales said.

Eales says the bulk of their rescues stem from kids not being supervised.

“Always keep a line of sight on your children. And it’s cold water, again, Lake Ontario can change quickly,” Eales said.

One of many new features added at Spencer Smith Park is numbered poles. This helps rescuers locate those in distress.

Both teams are reminding people to keep safety top of mind near any body of water, not just Lake Ontario.

READ MORE: Halton police urge boaters to be safe on the water