ManitobaThe chief of a rural fire department is asking Manitobans to be prepared before heading out onto waterways, after five people had to be rescued from the Pinawa Channel on Saturday.Fire chief says all were non-swimmers, and not prepared for what they encounteredDave Baxter · CBC News · Posted: Aug 10, 2025 6:25 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours agoThe chief of a rural fire department is asking Manitobans to be prepared and to make sure they have life jackets handy before heading out onto waterways, after five people had to be rescued from the Pinawa Channel on Saturday. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)The chief of a rural fire department is asking Manitobans to be prepared before heading out onto waterways, after five people had to be rescued from the Pinawa Channel on Saturday.”All water is dangerous, especially if you’re a non-swimmer, and you have to respect it,” Pinawa Fire & Rescue Service Chief Mike Purtill said on Sunday.According to Purtill, on Saturday Pinawa Fire & Rescue Service along with RCMP & EMS responded to a report of five adults stranded in the Pinawa Float Channel. He said the five, who were all related and all adults, ventured out onto the channel on tubes and quickly became overwhelmed by the speed of the current. Even more concerning, according to Purtill, was the fact that none of the five who were rescued knew how to swim, or were wearing floatation devices. “They were not prepared at all, no paddles, no life jackets,” Purtill said. “And being non-swimmers, they were pretty concerned about their safety.” According to Purtill, the group called 911, and fire crews were successfully reached the five stranded floaters, leading them to safety.”They’re a family from Winnipeg that were coming to enjoy the day in Pinawa, and they didn’t enjoy it so much, because they were stranded in the water which was fairly cool yesterday,” he said. “It was cloudy and it was breezy and they were wet, so they were getting pretty cold by the time we got them out.”He added he hopes to see fewer people headed out on waterways as unprepared as the five who were rescued Saturday, or it could lead to tragedy or possible fatalities. “People are not planning, or they do not have any respect for the water,” he said. “They don’t know how fast they can get into trouble and they’re just ill-prepared. So if there was a message I wanted to get out, is that ‘plan your day, have your life jackets handy.'”So far this year, Manitoba RCMP have issued public releases on seven drownings, including two incidents last weekend. Last Saturday, two men, one from Manitoba and one from Ontario, died after separate drowning incidents at Grand Beach Provincial Park and at Reynolds Ponds. ABOUT THE AUTHORDave Baxter is an award-winning reporter and editor currently working for CBC Manitoba. Born and raised in Winnipeg, he has also previously reported for the Winnipeg Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press, as well as several rural Manitoba publications.
Pinawa Fire Department rescues 5 from rapid waters at Pinawa Channel
