‘Scared’ girls rescued after climbing rail trestle

Two frightened girls were plucked from a railway trestle near Parksville on Thursday after they climbed partway up.

They happened to have a cellphone with them and were able to call 911, said Parksville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Marc Norris.

“We got called just after 6 p.m. to the French Creek trestle on the Parksville-Courtenay E&N line,” Norris said. “We had two female youths up on the trestle structure, underneath on the support structure, about 30 feet in the air.”

The girls, ages 11 and 12, decided they had climbed high enough and needed help, he said.

“They were just scared,” he said. “They’d gone as far as they could go. They couldn’t go back really.”

Firefighters were able to reach the girls with a ladder and didn’t have to put a rope down from the top of the trestle, Norris said.

“We were just within the reach of our ladder,” he said. “Another five or 10 feet and we would have had to have roped down.”

A system of belays was used to ensure everyone involved was secure.

“It’s an impressive trestle, but people shouldn’t be on it,” Norris said, adding: “They’re built for trains to go across, not for people to walk across — either the top or the bottom.”

Trestles are “precarious” for people, he said. “A fall from 10 feet is dangerous, let alone 30 or more feet.”

The French Creek trestle is particularly large, Norris said. “It’s actually one of the biggest trestles on the line, I think. At its highest point, it’s probably over 100 feet high.”

The girls weren’t the only ones in danger, he added.

“Not only were they at risk, but responders are at risk.”

The rescue damaged some of the firefighters’ equipment. “We have equipment that can no longer be in service because it was covered in creosote from the trestle.”