Fire crews warn of river dangers after close calls

North Vancouver firefighters are warning residents to be extra cautious around fast-flowing rivers after two very close calls on the weekend.

District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services members received the first of their two emergency dispatches just before noon last Saturday when a woman jumped into Lynn Creek in an attempt to rescue her dog.

Firefighters raced to the trail access points, but luckily the woman and the dog made it to shore on their own. Both escaped injury but it was a “very close call,” according to assistant fire chief Jim Bonneville.

Less than 24 hours later, district crews were back out for another would-be rescue, this time on the Seymour River.

A woman was out kayaking with her husband and another friend when her kayak tipped over near the 2000-block of Riverside Drive. Crews sent trucks to each of the three crossings over the river below that point — Dollarton Highway, the CN rail bridge and Mount Seymour Parkway, where crews found her.

“Basically, her kayak was seen upside down floating down river. She was seen shortly after that. Crews called out to her. She saw them and she actually swam to shore on her own but she was very, very exhausted,” he said. “She got caught up in one of the eddies further up — kind of like a washing machine behind a rock.

The woman was well prepared with a life-jacket, helmet and dry suit and is an experienced white water kayaker, but the situation was still dangerous, Bonneville said. “There was debris floating down the river moving very, very quickly.”