Squamish could soon have its own marine rescue station.
A Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Station is slated to replace the pump track at on Xwu’nekw (Lot 1) on the Mamquam Blind Channel in downtown Squamish.
Council passed a motion at its July 28 meeting to authorize the decommissioning of the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association pump track in order to place a marine search and rescue boathouse on the water at the end of Main Street and an associated office building on the land.
The rescue station will provide emergency response capabilities to assist in water-related rescues, according to Mike Sheehan, Squamish station leader for the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, Station 04.
“We want to build a home, a permanent home,” said Sheehan, who added he has been working at getting the Xwu’nekw site for about a year. “It is just the obvious next step for a growing community.”
Currently the organization has two rigid-hulled inflatable boats that the Squamish Yacht Club accommodates at its dock.
“When we get a call, we go racing down to the yacht club and get in all our gear at the trailer there,” he said, adding that classroom marine rescue training is done at the Squamish RCMP station.
About 50 per cent of the group’s marine search and rescue training is done in class, he said.
“So we would love to have a place where we do it all in the same spot and have our boats in a secured boathouse covered from the weather.”
Sheehan said many of the calls for assistance are right in the Mamquam Blind Channel, so response times won’t be affected. Some of the other calls the 18 Squamish volunteer members respond to include fires – members were first on scene at the April 16 Squamish Terminals dock fire – as well as broken-down vessels and missing boaters. Marine search and rescue members helped search for the man missing near Anvil Island two weekends ago, Sheehan said.
One of the organization’s mandates is to promote boating safety in the district; a permanent home would help with that goal, Sheehan said.
“A lot of it is just getting the word out… in the community that we are in fact here and we do respond to emergency calls on the water and we have a group of highly trained, dedicated individuals that commit a lot of time to that end,” he said.
The organization is staffed by volunteers and runs on donations. The Howe Sound Marine Rescue Society fundraises to support the ongoing maintenance of the rescue vessels and to upgrade equipment.
Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue will have to obtain a development permit from the district before construction of the rescue station can begin.
The Squamish Paddling Club will also have a boat storage facility on the lot north of the rescue station, according to the district.
The District of Squamish acquired the two-acre Xwu’nekw waterfront site in 2013 through a sponsored crown grant.
It was a no-brainer for the leadership at SORCA to support the decommissioning of the pump track to make way for the rescue station, according to the organization’s president Jeff Cooke.
“The land is best used by people who need the water,” said Cooke. “We didn’t want to get in the way – it’s not all about us.”
In June 2014, SORCA built the pump track with $5,000 of district “Quick wins” funds. Cooke said he hopes that eventually a world-class pump track will be built downtown that will draw riders from other areas of Squamish and beyond.
“One of the things we learned through the whole experience is if you are going to do a park like that, you might as well do a really great one, otherwise it’s not going to get a lot of attraction and use,” said Cooke, acknowledging the track hasn’t been well used.
A serious track would cost about $250,000 and would make a great amenity contribution from a developer building locally, Cooke said.
