$8K cost of rescuing 'over-refreshed' floating Americans frustrates Sarnia mayor

Sarnia, Ont., Mayor Mike Bradley is frustrated with the cost of Sunday's massive St. Clair River rescue, when high winds forced 1,500 American partiers and their trash onto the shores of his southwestern Ontario city.

City staff say theyspent $8,181mobilizing an exhaustive rescue to pull people from the water, elevate their body temperatures and transport them back across the border.

• 1,500 U.S. partiers wash up in Canada

Unexpected wind pushed the Americans off course during the planned but unsanctioned Port Huron Float Down, an annual event that requires rescue assistance almost every year, authorities say.

Every third Sunday in August, the daredevils float down the river on rafts and inner tubes, starting in Port Huron, Mich., across the river from Sarnia.

"I'm hoping that some common sense will spring out of this," Bradley said."We could have had a major tragedy on our hands if the weather had been a bit more violent or the day had been a bit morewildon the river."

'Don't land in Canada'

The trip usually stretches 12 kilometres, all the way to Marysville, Mich. A website for the unofficial event warns participants about the risks.

"Don't land in Canada," the site proclaims. "That's the east shore. Stay to the west."

High winds, however, made that impossible.

"There were Americans everywhere," Peter Garapick of the Canadian Coast Guard told CBC on Monday. "There was no chance for anything floating, or people on inner tubes, to go anywhere but Canada."

Rescue support also came from the OPP, Canada Border Services Agency and Port Huron Police.

Sarnia, whichco-ordinatedmuch of the rescueon the ground, spent an estimated $5.40per person rescued Sunday. Other groups, like the Canadian Coast Guard, have yet to tally their costs.

Bradley will meet with his staff soon to determine exactly how many resources were usedand to hash out ideas for making the unsanctioned event safer.

"You want people to have fun," Bradley said. "But at the same time,you want some responsibility. In a number of the situations,there was absolutely no responsibility, and what they were really doing was putting that on the shoulders of the responders."

19 trips across border

Ten Sarnia Transitbuses and drivers made 19 trips across the border.Public works crews closed streets to get the convoy of buses to the United States, while police escorted them across the Bluewater Bridge.

In the aftermath, parks and recreation staff spent hours cleaning up trash left behind by the partiers, including coolers, rafts, beer cans, a picnic table and several inflatable devices.

Costs of the rescue were tallied late Tuesday, coming in at $8,181.77 so far. Police resources reached$3,405.92, while SarniaTransit spent$1,977.97. Fire services used up$1,435.88 in resources, while public works and the parks department reached a combined total of $1,362.

Bradley isn't happy about putting his taxpayers on the hook for the bill, but says police made the right decision to call in transit buses.

"When you've got over 1,500 people many of them over-refreshed, to use the phraseon your doorstep, you have to handle them in a manner that doesn't lead to any other issues," he said.

Who's responsible?

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation would like to see U.S. government officialstake more responsibility for the event. Federal director Aaron Wudrick says it might be worth trying to recoup costs.

"If you have situations where people are knowingly, willingly, recklessly putting themselves in situations that aregoing torequire considerable use of taxpayer-funded resources, it might be appropriate in those cases for the government to seek some cost recovery," he said.

Wayward Americans

8 years ago

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About 1,500 partying Americans had to be rescued from the St. Clair River and returned to the U.S. on the weekend after wind blew them to Canada.

Bradley and officials from the Coast Guard would like to see people implement rules for the trip to make it safer. But finding someone to take responsibility for the event has been a challenge.

"I think it's going to be difficult to find anyone to step up and say: I'm going to be accountable for the actions of 4,000 or 5,000 people going into the river on a hot summer day and a lot of them very engaged in alcohol," Bradley said.

Erik Kimball owns the website www.porthuronfloatdown.com. He says he is not an official organizer of the event because there is none.