Every summer, Thetis Lake attracts daredevils who dive or jump off the cliffs, and sometimes injuries come in rapid succession. In the summer of 2017, four serious incidents happened within a week.
In one of the cases, a 26-year-old woman attempted a jump, slipped and fell headfirst into a rock bluff. She was left unconscious and saved from drowning by the quick actions of friends and bystanders.
View Royal council recently considered a bylaw to prohibit cliff jumping at Thetis at heights over a metre, but it was sent back to town staff for more work. Cliffs at Thetis can be as high as 18 metres.
“Council was not supportive of the bylaw in its current form,” said View Royal Mayor David Screech. “It just needed a bit of fine tuning.”
The bylaw was put forward by View Royal Fire Chief Paul Hurst, and Screech said he supports the chief’s concerns about ongoing problems at Thetis.
Screech said the bylaw contained suggested fees for jumping-related rescues at the lake, and one of his concerns is that such fees could keep people from seeking help. Hurst said it costs his department just over $2,000 per hour to send equipment and personnel to a rescue at Thetis.
But the department will always be there to do its job, he said.
Another issue for Screech was the one-metre height limitation for cliff diving.
“I’m not sure personally that that’s a reasonable height,” he said. “There’s tons of areas in Thetis where you can jump in the lake quite safely from a height of one metre in my estimation.”
The lake has not had lifeguards since 2003. Not long after the incident involving the 26-year-old woman, View Royal made a plea for their return, but was turned down by the Capital Regional District parks committee.
But the CRD has offered to “seriously ramp up” the presence of park rangers at Thetis this summer, which Screech argues might have more impact. “So they’ll be talking to people and warning them of the dangers and dealing with alcohol,” he said. “That to me is maybe a better approach before we go to the possibly extreme measure of bringing in a bylaw.”
Hurst said the CRD will have two full-time people at the lake every day in the summer, and his department’s rigid-hulled inflatable will be in use.
He said he is content to hold off on the bylaw and see how the summer goes with the added steps being taken.
“If you show up in the park carrying a case of beer, you’re going to be sent out of the park,” Hurst said. “And if you’re sitting there drinking beer on the cliffs, you’re going to be told to dump your beer and leave the park.”
The West Shore RCMP is also involved in watching the lake, where alcohol can fuel risky behaviour like cliff jumping, said Const. Meighan Massey.
“We increase the patrols with members actually doing circuits of the lake,” she said. “It’s very high on our radar this time of year.”
Public intoxication has been a regular issue at the lake. In one busy weekend last August, 14 people were ejected from the area for being drunk and disorderly.
Massey said the added police presence will continue “until it starts to cool off and we stop seeing parties and drinking.”
