View Royal’s plea for the return of lifeguards at Thetis Lake’s main beach has gone unheeded.
Members of the Capital Regional District’s parks committee accepted staff recommendations to focus on improved signage and public information through the CRD’s website rather than reinstating lifeguards.
View Royal council had written the CRD asking for the return of lifeguards at the main beach following two near-drownings this summer.
“I don’t think — and I think our council and our fire chief and the emergency personnel from View Royal that respond would tell you the same thing — that we can just leave it as it is,” View Royal Mayor David Screech told parks committee members on Wednesday.
“So we are still asking for lifeguards on the main beach only. We just think it’s an important presence to have.”
A woman slipped and fell, suffering serious injuries, when she fell from a cliff on July 5. Two swimmers nearly drowned on June 27. The three people were saved by others in the water.
CRD staff said that since the use of lifeguards was discontinued at Thetis in 2003, there have been several serious water-related incidents, including several drownings: two in 2004, one in 2006 and one in 2013.
But it’s unlikely lifeguards would have made a difference, staff said, as incidents can happen outside guarded areas or when lifeguards are not on duty.
CRD chairwoman Barb Desjardins, saying “the message isn’t getting out,” wondered whether more could be done to enforce regulations against jumping off of cliffs — often at the root of emergencies.
“My concern is that through the summer we had the media up there and people were blatantly defying [the cliff-jumping prohibition] so they could get themselves on TV,” Desjardins said.
“Maybe we have to look at what other options are there. Can the staff that are there on some sort of regular basis do some sort of patrol in that area?”
Parks general manager Larisa Hutcheson said there is bylaw enforcement in the park, especially on busy summer days, but much of the focus is on dog control and issues such as liquor consumption.
Screech said there are problems in the park.
“The amount of underage drinking that goes on in the summer is quite something and then they’re jumping off the cliffs. Definitely some of the cliff accidents have been alcohol related,” he said.
“Perhaps if we had more bylaw enforcement in the park, that wouldn’t be happening, but it is an issue.”
Before the service was discontinued, lifeguards were stationed at the main beach at Thetis Lake and Beaver Beach at Elk/Beaver Lake. CRD staff note that there are at least eight places around Thetis where swimmers enter the water.
