ROCKWOOD — As user numbers continue to increase at the Rockwood Conservation Area, the local fire department is looking to improve its water rescue capabilities.
Presenting at a Guelph\Eramosa public meeting Wednesday afternoon, fire chief Jim Petrik said the Guelph\Eramosa Fire Department wants to purchase new water rescue equipment in 2025 to "enhance" its capacity to provide water rescue services to the community.
"The need for this was really spawned by the dramatic increase in the usage of the conservation area and some of the other recreational facilities within Rockwood," said Petrik, at the meeting. "As a result of that, we've seen an increase in the number of calls for water rescue."
According to Petrik, the department's current water rescue capabilities are shore-based but there is a desire to provide surface-based water rescues using equipment like dry suits, ropes and flotation devices.
Over the past five years, Petrik said there has been a 40 per cent increase in calls for rescue and two fatalities at the Rockwood Conservation Area (RCA). In 2024, the department responded to six calls.
"So we still won't go into the water diving but we will have flotation devices, an inflatable boat that will allow us to go out on the water to access patients that might be out in the water that are beyond our current capabilities for shore-based water rescue," said Petrik.
The equipment will cost $22,000 from reserves. This doesn't include a one-time training fee of approximately $28,000, which will be covered by the fire department's operating budget and allow the department to maintain the certification in-house.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
