A woman who fell into the Fraser River while kayaking was fished out of the water by emergency responders from New Westminster and Richmond.
New Westminster Police Department Sgt. Andrew Leaver said police and fire crews from New Westminster and Richmond, BC Emergency Health Services, and the Coast Guard were notified of a female in the Fraser River near the Starlight Casino and the Hamilton Transit yard around 6:45 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 28. He said the woman was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Cpl. Adriana O'Malley, media relations officer for the Richmond RCMP, told the Richmond News the woman had been kayaking in the river when she was knocked over by the wake of a passing boat. She was able to climb onto a small boat anchored in the water until emergency responders safely brought her to shore.
Jeff Gill, deputy fire chief – operations/training with New Westminster Fire and Rescue Services, said an employee at one of the facilities along the river spotted the woman in the river and called 911.
“The individual was holding onto a watercraft located in a small inlet between Westminster Highway and the Tree Island Steel Jetty when spotted,” he said.
According to Gill, New West firefighters arrived on scene and confirmed with dispatch the location of the individual, which was shared with all of the attending agencies. At the same time that first responders from Richmond and New West were arriving at the land side of the river, New Westminster police were responding in the Shaw 1 rescue boat.
“Getting confirmation that we actually have a person in the river and being able to relay exact location is a huge help because that way the boat can respond to the exact location where it would be needed,” he said. “That’s a key role to play in a rescue as well.”
Gill said one of the first procedures for the fire department in these types of incidents is to make contact with the watch commander at the New Westminster Police Department. Fire crews learned police had also received the 911 call and were responding.
Gill said New West firefighters were also in contact with their colleagues from the Richmond Fire Department, which helped with their ability to locate the person in the water.
“With our radio system being how it is, we were able to immediately communicate with the Richmond responding (fire) engine right away,” he said. “They were able to talk to each other and communicate who was responding from where so they could ensure they had a good breadth of river to cover to locate this individual.”
About six New West firefighters recently completed training and became qualified boat operators, as part of an initiative to support the New Westminster Police Department’s marine unit. Because the New Westminster Police Department had the staff available to manage the water response for Monday night’s incident, New West firefighters responded to this incident from the land.
With files from Valerie Leung/Richmond News
