Calling the report “explosive,” Mayor Gregor Robertson said it “clearly states a high risk of increased fatalities due to the Kits Coast Guard base closure. And that’s a massive concern for all of us in Vancouver.”
City council is awaiting a staff report detailing the impact of the closing on resources like police and fire boat operations, Robertson said. Once that report is available, the mayor and council will consider their next move.
In the meantime, Robertson said residents should make their opposition known to their local MPs, and “make sure they really know this is totally unacceptable regardless of the budgetary issues.”
The same concerns were echoed by the union representing affected coast guard employees.
“This reinforces the questions that have already been raised and proves they don’t have the solutions in place,” said Dave Clark, regional vice-president of the Union of Transportation Employees, of the report by the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, which is run by the Canadian Coast Guard and Department of National Defence.
“(The report) is pretty damning,” he said. “It’s proven that there will be more deaths.”
The report, obtained Friday by The Vancouver Sun, says closing the Kits base creates two high-risk situations: longer response times from the Sea Island base, 17 nautical miles away in Richmond; and potential overuse of the replacement inshore rescue boat (IRB), an open zodiac-style vessel to be used after the Kits base is closed.
The base is scheduled to close next spring.
The report says in the post-Kitsilano era, the IRB station will be working above and beyond regular hours during the eight months from Labour Day to Victoria Day, and boats deployed from Sea Island coast guard base will take up to 30 minutes to get to Kitsilano, which puts boaters at risk.
“Although meeting national policy requirements, the additional time to respond may lead to increased casualties since the numbers of incidents is great in this area,” the report states.
The report also says fatigue could be a problem on the single inshore rescue boat crew, noting the Kits base is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Possible solutions, the report adds, include streamlining emergency calls and greater reliance on volunteer auxiliary crews. It also notes the Sea Island coast guard base may not be able to handle the extra work.
“CG. Sea Island will be called upon to fulfil the role of primary CG. SAR (search and rescue) resource in the Vancouver area between Labour Day and Victoria Day (8 months). Sea Island’s incident count is already at around 300/year. Unknown if one resource can handle the additional workload.”
The report notes the Kits base has always responded to a large number of suicides on nearby bridges, and that personal trauma for rescue workers is high.
“(Coast Guard) has critical incident stress teams capable of dealing with primary (search and rescue) workers. Use of volunteers for these cases may increase turnover rate. Also, (there’s) no long-term availability of assistance for volunteers.”
A second hovercraft might be needed from Labour Day to Victoria Day, because there will be no primary search and rescue vessel for the Vancouver area when the Sea Island coast guard is busy with a major incident, especially those upriver, in the Gulf Islands or in Boundary Bay, according to the report.
That second hovercraft also represents an additional cost, Clark said, adding the report should have been completed earlier.
“I’m hoping with this they’ll reconsider and keep the Kits base open,” he said.
Dan Bate, communications officer with the Canadian Coast Guard, said he was not in a position to comment on the report.
"What we can say is that the coast guard is confident that once changes to the search and rescue network in Vancouver have been completed, there will be no negative impact on our ability to respond quickly and effectively to distress incidents on the water.
Our search and rescue program relies on a network of resources to respond to emergencies. With the new inshore rescue boat and a multitude of other resources, Vancouver will continue to have more federally funded search and rescue assets than any other port in Canada."
Bate said the new mix of resources in the Vancouver area that can be called on include emergency responders, as well as five Royal Canadian Search and Rescue units, and any other vessel of opportunity.
He said the coast guard has held a series of round table working group meetings in Vancouver over the summer to ensure a smooth transition to the new system.
"With the $1.4 billion we have invested over the past six years into renewing the coast guard's ships and helicopters as well as the significant investment in the 2012 Economic Action Plan, we have demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to ensuring the coast guard has the tools and training it needs to do its job.".
Original Article
Source: vancouver sun
Author: Brian Morton
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