It’s been an action-packed mid-August for the Alberni Valley Rescue Squad (AVRS).
The team was called out three times recently, Aug. 9, Aug. 11 and Aug. 16, to assist injured hikers on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, which stretches along Vancouver Island’s southwest coast from the Jordan River to Port Renfrew. Then on Aug. 17 their heli-team found two people lost on 5040 Peak, and in between trail rescues AVRS performed a high-angle rope operation at the Wally Creek swimming holes on Aug. 14, just off Highway 4 en route to Ucluelet-Tofino in Ha'uukmin (Kennedy Lake) Tribal Park.
“There was a bit of a run there. Almost every second day we were getting a call, back-to-back,” said Ashley Oscienny, AVRS board member and medical lead. “Because we are volunteer, everybody just does the best we can.”
“Thankfully it was happy endings for all of them. All the subjects were able to get out, we were able to locate them, get them out of whatever spot they were in, and they were able to seek medical attention if they needed it,” Oscienny continued.
The AVRS rope rescue team was able to get the rigging system up in about 30-minutes to “go over the edge” and save Casey Munro, a mom of three who was stuck in a 25-foot-deep narrow ravine after going down a waterfall at Wally Creek.
“Because of the nature of her lack of injuries, she was able to be put in a harness and assisted up the ravine wall,” said Oscienny.
Munro hit her head on the drop, but walked away with a headache, five stitches and a bruised ankle.
“The paramedics were just so helpful and comforting while they waited for search and rescue to get set-up,” said Munro. “I’m so grateful. I don’t know why I lived through that. I had three hours down there just wondering…”
Munro and her family are visiting from Saskatchewan, but she grew up in B.C. and says she should have known to look downstream before swimming.
“I just wasn’t paying much attention. The current at the top of the falls was very slow and gentle, so I wasn’t worried about being swept away. But I had no idea there was an actual drop,” Munro said, adding that people gave her kids food while she was stuck, and someone dropped a blanket down for her.
Oscienny reminded folks to be aware of downstream hazards when swimming in rivers.
“That includes waterfalls, downed trees, large rocks, changing depths of the river, fast moving water… those are big hazards,” Oscienny said.
Munro told the Ha-shilth-sa an off-duty firefighter pulled her kids out of the creek.
“I watched him grab her arm and haul her out. I was worried my kids were going to come down the waterfall too. I think he left with his family and drove to call 9-1-1- because we had no cell reception,” she said.
When it comes to hiking backcountry trails, Oscienny recommends visiting adventuresmart.ca, a website that outlines packing essentials, communication tools and more.
“5040 has definitely taken off on social media and all people see are the highlight reels, but the actual technical aspect of the hike is lost on a lot of people. With that, there is a lack of preparation that might go into taking on a hike like that,” she said.
