Volunteer responders hope 2nd boat helps save lives after recent Windsor-Essex drownings
Guardian Marine Rescue now has boats in Colchester and Belle River
Tyler Burniston says if the past several days are any indication, there's going to be a "quite a few" searches on watercourses around Windsor-Essex, Ont.
The 31-year-old former navy, coast guard and military police member moved back to Harrow two years ago — and joined Guardian Marine Rescue.
It's a volunteer group based out of Colchester, where they have a rescue boat. The group consists of roughly 24 members. It's hoping to land another 10 to 20 volunteers.
Now, they're expanding to Lake St. Clair with a second boat that is docked in Belle River.
WATCH | A look onboard a new rescue craft in Windsor-Essex called Alida:
Three swimmers have drowned since last Thursday. A pair of men at Sandpoint Beach in Windsor, then a Michigan man on Lake St. Clair.
Guardian's new, re-purposed vessel assisted in Saturday's search for the 28-year-old Michigan swimmer.
"This lake is kind of deceiving. It's really, really shallow, but things change really quick," said Burniston.
"There's lots of sandbars. If you're not paying attention, you can hit those and ground your vessel. There's all sorts of potential, and it's hard to say what's going to come."
The missing swimmer wasn't found on Saturday, but his body was located the following day.
"It's never easy when you have to come back in and you're leaving somebody out there. It's always rough. That's why we do this. We want to save people. We want to be able to help as much as we can."
Burniston says when you're unable to bring somebody home, you have to try to keep your spirits up and know that you did everything you could.
"We were out there for hours. The helicopter was up. We threw everything that we could to try and bring that body back, and unfortunately, sometimes it doesn't play out that way."
Burniston says the search plan laid out a pattern for all agencies to follow — lining up their boats three to four deep going in an easternly direction.
"We basically just ran that track up and down until either we found somebody, or in this case, we ran out of daylight. Once daylight runs out, there's really not much you can do when you're in the search like that."
According to Burniston, they train for as many scenarios as they can.
"Doing searches, doing rescues, doing tows, pulling people out of the water, everything that we can feasibly train for."
Lakeshore's new rescue boat is named Alida
The volunteer group's second boat is docked at the Belle River Marina, and is meant to respond to distress calls on Lake St.Clair.
It's called Alida, and is a converted pleasure craft that required a lot of work, says Burniston.
"There was a lot of … stuff that you would have in your house. There was a microwave and there were beds and couches and things like that, that weren't overly necessary to have for a search-and-rescue vessel."
Burniston says a bow thruster was added to the vessel to make it easier to move — and because of its size, it picks the wind up "pretty hard."
"That really helps us to maneuver in tight spaces, especially coming in and out of places like this."
The height of the boat also helps, he says, when out on searches.
"It's nice to get nice and high up so you can see a little farther. You can see a little deeper into the water."
Similar to the coast guard and police marine units, Guardian is dispatched from the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Trenton, based on how many available search assets are in the immediate area.
"Wear a life jacket," is his main advice for boaters and swimmers this season.
"I know it's not always fun. It's not always fancy to wear your life jacket, but reality sets in that if you had a life jacket on, the chances of survival are significantly higher, especially when the water is cold."
WATCH | These safe boating tips could help save your life on the water:
