Sarnia's Mayor is applauding the emergency response to Sunday's Port Huron Float Down fiasco.
Mike Bradley says you can't legislate common sense and everyone who provided emergency assistance, including the Sarnia Police Service, fire service and EMS, did a remarkable job.
"I watched personally on the waterfront what was unfolding and again they were dealing with a lot of people that showed up with no ID, no money and no way to get back home and alcohol was a big factor with a lot of people that were here," says Bradley. "So, I thought they did a marvelous job dealing with those immediate issues. They didn't take a punitive approach, they tried to help people and get them back home."
Given the history of the event, Bradley doesn't expect much change in the future.
"It's not an organized event. So there is no liability to whoever is organizing it. The American authorities for years have tried to stop it, because it is a big impediment to traffic in the river. Obviously they are concerned because there has been at least one tragedy in the past where someone drowned, but I don't see that stopping it," says Bradley. "Maybe in the future we will take a different approach on transportation back to Port Huron, but in this case the police, fire and everyone else involved, made the right decision in getting people back safely to the american side."
Sarnia police escorted Sarnia Transit buses 18 times across the Blue Water Bridge to bring 1,500 American citizens home.
Their inflatable rafts, tubes and other flotation devices were blown by strong winds to the Canadian side of the St. Clair River while participating in the unsanctioned event.
"Do we like the cost? No. But it was part of, I guess, being a good neighbour and understanding if the police had taken a hard nose attitude toward people arriving here with alcohol and no ID, we would have had many, many other issues unfold," says Bradley. "So they took the right approach."
