Photo by Curtis Galbraith

By Courtney Almeida

Float Safety

Float party tips to stay safe this Summer

Jun 4, 2019 | 5:00 AM

Warm summer weather means more people wanting to have float parties on the Wapiti River. While there is no avoidance of safety concerns associated with float parties, participants can decrease the risk of an accident by being prepared ahead of time.

“Being prepared for the river is the main thing,” says Shawn Clarke, Chief of the Grovedale Fire Department. He also notes that if done properly, the concern lessens but floaters must be aware of the hazards.

“One thing you should have with you is a personal floatation device. The second thing is to let people know when you’re going and where you’re going to be at a certain time so that if you’re overdue, search parties can be notified to come and find you.”

Alcohol consumption and substance use when floating is also discouraged, as it increases the risk to safety that much more.

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Experience can make all the difference and the Chief advises if you don’t have that much experience, you should talk to somebody that does.

June 21 marks the first day of summer, but Clarke says people have been on the river already.

The warm and dry temperatures as of late May make participants eager to start the summer activities early but, Clarke says right now floating the river is not a good idea because of the high waters.

Dangers on the river include logjams or floating debris and with strong currents, the chance of floaters getting hung up and hurt increases immensely.

Slower water currents make safety hazards on the river easier to identify and avoid.

Clarke says that the department has already encountered a few overdue floaters or boaters. He warns eager floaters to hold off until water levels lower to decrease the risk for potentially critical accidents.

While there are no statistics on float accidents in Grande Prairie, Clarke notes that the Grovedale Department specifically, gets about eight calls on average every season.

Time is another important factor to consider when on the river.

“Some people think it’s going to be a quick float from Pipestone to O’Brien, when in fact you’ve got a good 20 kilometers to go,” says Clarke.

When water levels are low, it is safer to float but the distance becomes a much longer trek for participants– up to eight hours, or longer.

“Some people float in the evening, expecting to get there within three or four hours and of course, they’re overdue,” said Clarke.

Time miscommunication can mean that floaters get stuck fighting the setting sun or lead to a whole other string of events for emergency response services.

However, Clarke notes that letting someone know what you’re doing is still most important under any circumstance, so that, if you are overdue, nobody’s going to be missing you for a couple of days.

“The quicker that the response can come to you if are in distress, the better the outcome,” he said.