By Joanne Rodgers,
Bruce Peninsula Press
2021 saw an exponential increase in rescues on the Northern Bruce Peninsula, with the majority of the responses to the Lion’s Head Nature Reserve. The local Fire and Rescue Service responded to 33 calls for search and rescues.
There were numerous calls to assist lost and disoriented hikers plus an additional seven calls for water rescues that resulted in four deaths. There was an ice water rescue incident where a couple floated out on an ice floe at the Grotto, another call was for a person whose leg was struck in an underwater crevice at Mermaid’s Cove and high angle rescues. Additionally they had to deal with unattended fires on the Bruce Trail. Eighteen of these calls were at the Lion’s Head Nature Reserve.
33 calls in 2021, up from 8 calls in 2020
While there have always been calls for assistance for lost hikers, broken bones and fires, the number of calls were relatively low annually:
-In 2018, there were six calls, four of which were to Lion’s Head Reserve and one to the Bruce Peninsula National Park.
-In 2019 there were two calls to the Lion’s Head Reserve, one for a broken ankle and one for a lost hiker. There was one call for a broken ankle at the National Park.
-In 2020 there were five medical-related calls at the Lion’s Head Nature Reserve, one search and rescue, one false fire alarm in the National Park and one unattended fire at Lion’s Head Nature Reserve.
However in 2021, the number of calls to the Northern Bruce Peninsula Fire and Rescue Service ballooned to 33 calls, with rescues continuing into late November. There were calls for assistance at Little Cove, the Bruce Peninsula National Park, Crane River, Devil’s Monument and Lion’s Head Nature Reserve.
18 Calls for service from Lion’s Head Nature Reserve
The calls to the Lion’s Head Nature Reserve for Search & Rescue, amounted to more than half of the rescues in Northern Bruce and totalling 18 calls to date for service. Of these, two calls required two-station responses from Station 20 in Lion’s Head and Station 10 in Tobermory. Two calls were all-nighters, requiring emergency personnel to operate in the dark over difficult terrain. There were 11 calls for medical assistance and seven calls for lost hikers. There was also one call for an unattended fire near the McKague Road entrance.
There were 11 calls to the National Park for medical search and rescue responses and one for a lost hiker. There were three water rescues, one at the Grotto and one at Grant Watson Drive; the call at the Grotto also required high angle rescue which required a two station response, thus additional manpower. One call for service in the Britain Lake/Devil’s Monument was a two-station response for high angle rescue. The local Fire Department also responded to three Motor Vehicle Collisions in the National Park, one homicide at Scugog Lake and one unattended fire at Emmett Lake.
In 2021, all the calls for assistance were for non-permanent residents of Northern Bruce.
Photo Courtesy of MNBP Fire and RescueAugust 9, 2021 rescue at Mermaids Cove (Burnt Point) – a 17-year-old girl from the GTA was spending a day by the water at Mermaids Cove when her foot and lower calf became trapped in an underwater crevice. She is surrounded by (L-R) Captain Laura McFarlane, Captain Jeff Munn, District Chief Krista Tiernan, Chief Jack Burt and Bill Gowland
Fire Chief praises staff for their dedication to the job
Jack Burt, who became Fire Chief of Northern Bruce in 2021, says this first year on the job has been challenging due to the huge increase in calls, some of which required innovative solutions and/or operating in very demanding conditions.
Burt praises the local Fire and Rescue staff for being extremely dedicated in responding to the high volume of calls and for their commitment to protecting the residents and visitors. With the large number of calls requiring responses, the staff is giving up family time and spare time to offer service. Some of these calls are back to back or at the same time or even require manpower from the two stations. Typically 10 Fire service personnel respond to a call.
Two firefighters suffered injuries on the job in 2021, one for an injured back and another for an injured knee, while they have fully recovered, it shows the dangers of the job. Also the terrain is usually difficult and might be over a long distance; an 8 km trek to Gun Point in the Lion’s Head Reserve transporting an injured person is a hazardous and tricky prospect over various elevations and a rocky landscape.
Mental Health services provided to emergency personnel
The job takes a toll on emergency personnel. Fire Chief Burt is a strong advocate for mental health and says looking after the mental health of the staff is as important as their physical health.
The Bruce County Fire Critical Incident Stress Peer Support Team is made up of fellow firefighters, and are available to offer assistance after any critical incident. The Northern Bruce Peninsula Fire Service has utilized this service twice this year.
The popularity of the area, namely the Grotto and the Lion’s Head Lookout, has been fueled by social media. Despite the various forms of marketing and communications from Parks Canada, the Bruce Trail Pledge, Explore the Bruce, and BruceGreySimcoe Tourism, many visitors are unprepared for the terrain they will encounter and assume that it will be a short hike with groomed trails. The visitors are usually wearing inappropriate clothing and footwear, have insufficient water and possess poor orienteering and map reading skills.
Communication with stakeholders
Burt says working together with all stakeholders will be key to having less rescues in 2022. He explains there are open lines of communication with all the stakeholders: the Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC), Peninsula Bruce Trail Club, Ontario Parks and Parks Canada. While the collaboration started late in the season, the groups have come together and proactively offered or implemented solutions.
The local Fire Service works closely with Bruce Peninsula National Park, conducting joint training exercises and sharing equipment so that they can have access to appropriate fire and rescue equipment as needed.
While Lion’s Head Nature Reserve is an unstaffed Park, the Fire Service has worked closely with Ontario Parks to improve response times. Ontario Parks had a more visible presence at the Lion’s Head Nature Reserve this summer. They have also installed location markers every 500 m on the Main trail from McCurdy Parking Lot.
The Bruce Trail Conservancy hired two BTC Trail Ambassadors during the summer who helped with conservation efforts, collected litter and assisted visitors. They state in their report “While working in the Tobermory area, one of the most common topics of conversation was how to get to the Grotto. We found that many people were not prepared and did not realize how far of a hike their intended destination was.”
Tamara Wilson, President of the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club, says they have been concerned with the alarming increase of rescues along the Bruce Trail and actively works with the stakeholders to improve messaging and signage. The Peninsula Bruce Trail Club have increased the frequency of blazes along the trail, improved signage, hosted pop-up enviro-tents to offer visitors advice on hiking the Bruce Trail. The Club is considering alternate trail layouts to help visitors stay on the main (white) trails.
The stakeholders are having a meeting on December 14 to further discuss signage and potential solutions.
Fees coming for Rescues
Wilson indicates that the Bruce Trail supports the implementation of fees for rescues. They say a fee structure will offer a common language to allow the visitors to assess their risk accordingly before venturing out on the trails.
While some rescues may only be 1 to 2 hours, one rescue took 14 hours while another was 12 hours. Burt calculates a rough estimate of an average call: with an average rescue being about four to six hours, the cost of the firefighter wage for 10 personnel is about $1,000/call.
As a cost recovery mechanism, the Municipality is considering a fee structure for lost hikers. The fee structure will be based on Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation incident fees and will be applied on a situational basis.
