River rescue crews busy despite warnings
Posted Jul 3, 2011 9:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Warm weather over the long weekend has more people on the rivers to keep cool but it’s keeping the Fire Department’s Aquatic Rescue Team busy.
Despite launching a new campaign to warn Calgarians about safety on the waterways, firefighters and city bylaw officials are busy with people flaunting the rules or simply not being careful.
They just happened across a man in his 20’s Friday night who had fallen out of his raft on the Bow river and ran into trouble while trying to swim after it.
That was the department’s second rescue of the day, after picking up two people who made it to an island after their boat tipped Friday afternoon.
There was another incident Saturday evening when a man and woman were rescued after their raft tipped going down the wrong part of the Bow River’s weir.
Duty Inspector Keith Cain says charges are pending against the couple who did not have life jackets and may have been drinking alcohol.
Fire officials stress the importance of taking the proper safety precautions and being extra careful because the water is cold, high and running fast.
