Kincardine Council has approved the creation of an ad-hoc committee to improve safety at the south pier at Station Beach.
The pier has been closed since the drowning of a 66-year old man in August. On Wednesday, council agreed to form the committee which will begin work in October to help address serious safety concerns. The Pier has been the site of six drownings since 2008.
Kincardine residents Blair Brajuha and Meagan Fair are impatient for action.
Brajuha explained that all of the victims felt the water looked safe. She says the first drowning she remembers was in 2008.
The Hancock family had spent the day by the South Pier for their daughter Brittany’s 14th birthday.
"I remember the weather that day and the wave conditions," said Brajuha. "It was similar to the weather we had over this Labour Day weekend, but even less windy. The Hancock family didn’t know they were swimming in a rip current. The conditions looked safe to them, they used common sense. They didn’t know they were swimming in the wrong spot."
Brittany’s father, Michael, lost his life saving them. He was later posthumously awarded a Medal of Bravery. Brajuha said three local residents were also awarded Medals of Bravery for their actions in the rescue: William McKeag, Ronald Walton, and Jason Phillips. William McKeag and Ronald Walton donned lifejackets and headed out in their small boat to help. They eventually ended up in the water themselves. Jason Phillips swam out and brought Brittany back to shore, where she was revived.
Brajuha said at the time, council heard from three delegations calling for improvements to make station beach safer, but they were all rejected due to liability issues. She pointed out all of the drownings since have taken place under similar wind and water conditions.
"In 2010, I was surfing at the South Pier when Oksana went missing. I aided in her search and stood beside our firefighters on the pier, looking for her body," she remembered. "That day will never leave me. It was similar weather to this weekend and there were a hundred people on the beach. She didn’t know she was swimming in a rip current. The next drowning was three years later with the same weather conditions. That victim went for a swim and also didn’t know they were entering a rip current. The conditions looked safe to them. They used common sense."
Brajuha said the 2015 drowning of Lucas Johnson was during the same conditions. Days of searching with helicopters and ATVs finally ended with the discovery of his body under the pier.
"Our deadly rip current is predictable. A small group of my friends who’ve experienced these drownings keep in touch on every Southwest wind in August," she said. "We feel a responsibility to go down to the South Pier. We tell families that they’re swimming in a rip current and to go further South on the beach. Swimmers thank us and say, 'I had no idea’ "
Administrator the Facebook group Kincardine Strong, Meagan Fair, said she got involved in the search for a solution following the drowning in 2015. She explained the structural rip tide at the south pier is not easy to spot, and looks deceptively calm.
"Where you can't detect or rip currents and unknowingly enter an area of the week that could potentially you know, cause of struggle and, you know, tragically take a person's life," she continued. "There are a lot of low hanging fruit that can be done and at the time that I went to council you know, it was the fifth drowning."
Fair said she was horrified when a 66-year-old man drowned in the same area this August.
"The one with a 66-year-old grandfather, again, it struck a chord I think for myself and a lot of people in the community because we just get really frustrated," said Fair. "It's such a preventable thing that there's certainly things that we can do in the interim to make it safer for people."
She said a beach patrol is needed to warn people on days when the rip tide is active, which is always during a southwest wind in August or September.
"The way that southwest wind pushes the water against the pier, it has nowhere to go and it just kind of creates a bit of a washing machine effect. Really, it's just a very powerful force," explained Fair. "It pulls you out. And any person would panic."
Brajuha also thinks a beach patrol could save lives, and could be supported with paid parking.
"These aren’t Lifeguards, these are Bronze Cross level individuals who operate a Flag System. They advise swimmers when there’s a possibility of rip current present, based on wind directions that day," she said. "It’s the same as checking the Weather Forecast. You know a few days in advance. If the South Pier is closed, Beach Patrollers will tell families to go north to swim. Beach Patrollers would also empty the garbages. All of our drownings have happened in August or early September. Even if we had a Beach Patrol for just the end of summer, this would cover when the rip currents are strongest."
Brajuha also wants a warning flag system implemented at the South Pier. She said the beach warning signs are small and hard to see from the beach, while a sign warning of rip currents is not showing the correct type of rip current at Station Beach, which is a structural rip current.
"There’s a big sign with a map of Station Beach, but tiny ‘No Swimming’ symbols," she added.
Brajuha said new ladders are required at the south pier as the current ladders are the same colour as the pier with their bottom rung currently sitting several feet out of the water.
Fair said the town has a consultant's report it paid for in 2016, but never took action on. The report in 2016 recommended rescue stations, signage, and a beach patrol. She welcomes the new committee.
"I think it's good as long as we stay out of the way of the experts and follow their recommendations as a committee so we can close the known gaps ASAP," she added. "There's nothing that I think the committee is going to think of that hasn't already been recommended before."
Since 2016, members of the Kincardine fire service responded to 15 calls involving water emergencies. The new committee will spend the winter reviewing the situation. The south pier is expected to reopen Friday. The new committee will include representation from Kincardine Fire and Emergency, Bruce County Ambulance, the OPP, Marina Staff, a BIA member, a Smart Beach representative, the BIA and the community.
The municipality is also involved in a Smart Beach pilot program, launched by the region’s Municipal Innovation Council and hosted at the Municipality of Kincardine’s Station Beach, and that's something that Fair wants to see continue as well.
Dr. Chris Houser from the University of Windsor is leading a Smart Beach project which will collect and analyse water and weather conditions and develop a system that will provide beachgoers with real-time information on local water conditions, including rough surf and the presence of rip currents.
Brajuha outlined the wind conditions that were present during the six drownings:
2008– Michael Hancock— WSW 7mph
2010– Oksana Milovanovic — WSW 16mph
2013– Laszlo Illy— SW 12mph
2015– Lucas Johnson— SW 16mph
2020– Aleem Ramji— SW 26mph
2023– Grandfather— SW 18mph