Community rallies to rescue stranded paddler on Slave River
TJ Moore, the local fire chief of Fort Smith, N.W.T., had just finished dinner at around 4:30 p.m. on Monday when he got the call that a man was stranded on an island after going into the frigid Slave River.
The 26-year-old man had been paddling near Fort Fitzgerald, Alta. He declined an interview with CBC, saying he was "just fine," but people involved in the rescue, which spanned more than seven hours, called the effort "epic."
"It always raises the hair on the back of our necks," said Moore. He didn't know if he was heading out on a search and rescue mission or a recovery mission.
"It's always a worry that when somebody goes in near the rapids ... they're going to have a very difficult time coming out," said Moore. He said that section of the river isn't for the "faint at heart."
RCMP say the man and another paddler had been paddling in the area around Fort Fitzgerald on Monday afternoon when they pulled up on the shore just above the first ledge upstream from the Cassette Rapids.
Their canoe got away from them.
RCMP say the young man jumped into the water after the boat. The man and the canoe began drifting downstream toward the rapids.
The man's companion phoned for help.
The local fire department, emergency medical services, and many locals from both Fort Smith and Fort Fitzgerald, including those in the paddling community, gathered on the shore.
"It was very intense. It was an epic situation," said Don Jaque, a long time member of the Fort Smith Paddling Club who paddles the river routinely.
They set up a command station. Searchers fanned out along the shoreline looking for the man. Dusk was settling in. Then, they heard him.
"It was almost impossible to see the guy," said Jaque.
The man was perched on a section of rock surrounded by fast moving water.
"If he had flushed down through ... we would have been looking for a body," said Jaque.
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Cold Lake, Alta., was called to dispatch a helicopter, but it was going to take too long.
A local Fort Fitzgerald man was the first to try and get closer to the man, said Jaque. He set out in a small boat with an outboard motor but he couldn't get close because of the conditions.
Jaque, who was watching from the shore, said the man's courage could not be over-stated.
"Darkness, inky black and very cold water. Everything was wrong about that situation," Jaque said.
By 9 p.m. Gordon Rothnie, an experienced kayaker, says he couldn't wait any longer. Rothnie describes himself as a family friend of the young man.
He wanted to try to reach the island in his personal Cataraft, a raft with pontoons and oars.
"Honestly, I don't care who it was out there. I would have went," said Rothnie, who is also a sergeant with the Canadian Rangers and works with the Fort Smith ambulance.
Searchers lit fires along the shore for light.
Rothnie was shown where the island was roughly on a map, so he set off in the dark with only a headlamp. He says he started yelling out into the darkness.
"As soon as I heard him call back I was euphoric ... I just put it into high gear," said Rothnie, who said at that point the river spanned roughly two kilometres across, with the island about 500 yards from shore.
Rothnie said the man was shivering and looked close to hypothermic. He wrapped his friend in a sleeping bag and a tarp, "basically a big taco of warmth."
'Driven young man'
RCMP say by 12 a.m. the men had made it back to shore — but not without a few moments of humour.
"He actually complained that I had never taken him for a raft ride the previous week," Rothnie said. "I was like, 'eh man, you said you wanted to go for a raft ride. You're getting your raft ride.'"
RCMP say the man was taken to an area hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Rothnie said his friend was back at work the next day.
"He's a pretty driven young man," he said.
Rothnie also credits all the local people who helped with the rescue.
"In a small town there's just a stronger spirit of service and compassion, empathy."
