Don’t mess with water bombers
Everyone is aware of the present state of emergency. It’s impossible not to notice. Right now, the Mt. Eneas fire, near Peachland, is the lead story on national news broadcasts.
Everybody is talking about it. You can see it from Okanagan Lake and commuters will have noticed last week’s highway closures.
It was therefore disturbing — for lack of a better word — to read a plea on Facebook by aerial firefighter Anthony Szekely begging boaters to refrain from playing chicken with them.
We couldn’t believe what we saw. We had to read it twice.
“Boaters on Okanagan Lake, please let us do our job and go to shore when you see us,” he wrote on Facebook. “While it may be really fun to play chicken or race us, it makes it that much harder dodging boats.”
Firefighters are putting their lives on the lines and this is the respect they receive. To most of us, they’re heroes who we need to thank. Every precaution needs to be taken to keep the pilots safe and allow them to do their job.
This must be a recurring circumstance. Had it been a one-off, it’s doubtful Szekely would have posted.
Do these testosterone-fueled morons, doing their best Johnny Knoxville impersonation, want to kill somebody?
Being on the water is a privilege, not a right. The lakes belong to everyone in British Columbia, not a select few of thrill seekers.
Maybe there needs to be a ban on boating between Kelowna and Penticton for the duration of the fire. Everyone can put their boat on the back of a trailer and head to Skaha Lake.
Visitors to the Penticton Herald’s social media sites are all in agreement.
Susan: “This is beyond the realm of stupidity.”
Diane: “Impound their boats and after the fires are out, give them a large fine to get their boat back.”
Angela: “This has been going on for decades in the Okanagan and Shuswap. Are the authorities waiting for a fatal plane crash before they do something? It is worse than street racing.”
Marcel: “Drop a load of water on their boats.” We like Marcel’s suggestion.
— Valley editor James Miller