Community of Bluewater, Ont., mourns loss of resident, volunteer firefighter

On June 10, after two Bluewater, Ont., residents fell off a moving PWC, the driver and a volunteer firefighter responding to the distress call were pronounced dead.

In the early afternoon, a 32-year-old Bluewater resident and their family member fell into Lake Huron while driving a PWC. According to Huron OPP officer Craig Soldan, the family member made it safely to shore, but the driver was only pulled out of the water by an unidentified person around 15 to 20 minutes later.

Soldan says someone on the beach performed CPR until emergency services arrived on scene. The OPP arrived around 2:20 p.m. and pronounced the driver dead. The driver and passenger did not injure anyone else or destroy any property, the OPP says.

Soon after, a 46-year-old volunteer firefighter who responded to the distress call had an unspecified medical emergency. Officers rushed them to Goedrich hospital where they passed away later in the afternoon.

That night, the Municipality of Bluewater released a statement on its Facebook page: “Today, we lost a hero. A Bluewater firefighter has passed away in the line of duty due to natural causes while responding to a tragic marine event just north of Bayfield. The Municipality of Bluewater is grieving this loss alongside the family.”

The municipality says it will not be sharing more information out of respect for the privacy of the firefighter’s family.

The OPP has scheduled post-mortem exams to determine the cause of both residents’ deaths.