Lambton Shores Fire and Emergency Services is asking beachgoers to "leave the floaties at home" after responding to an increase in calls for the water rescue of people on floating devices unable to get back to shore.
Chief James Marshall said there were four calls this past weekend.
"We can't necessarily get to you," Marshall said. "One of our calls was for somebody two kilometres out, so we're really relying on someone else to come around and help. Unfortunately, I don't know if it's an increase of visitors lacking water safety or if it's an overall increase in visitors. But we are, with great regularity, being called out for situations where water safety could have prevented incidents."
For example, Marshall said it takes quite a while for crews to drive into Pinery Provincial Park and reach the shoreline.
"The stresses on our members knowing that we have a call coming in that somebody's in distress... it's a lot for our team," he said. "For our department, we have a tech team who does shore based water rescues, so we have members coming from all five of our fire halls. So, when we get paged out to a water rescue like this, we have members coming from every corner of Lambton Shores."
Marshall said floaties may be fun in a pool, but Lake Huron is unforgiving.
"We love having folks come and enjoy Lake Huron. It's beautiful, but be responsible for your actions," he said. "Don't put yourself in a situation you can't get out of. It's very easy for these blowy, inflatable unicorns to get sucked out further into the lake and you really have no way of getting back in... especially if you have an offshore breeze."
If you're heading to the beach, Marshall said safety needs to be a priority.
"Ensuring that you have a [properly fitting] life jacket on. Ensuring that if you can't swim that you're not going out past your waist. Keeping yourself firmly planted, so that you're not taken out over your head, because Lake Huron doesn't offer very many second chances," said Marshall.
Marshall also notes that if you're on a paddleboard, you are required to have a life jacket on.
"We have had several calls this year with people in distress on paddleboards, or off paddleboards, and they're not wearing life jackets. So, give yourself that second chance and make sure that you can make it back to shore," he said.
Earlier this summer, two fatal water incidents occurred at Ipperwash Beach and an unresponsive swimmer was rescued by Good Samaritans in the area of Pinery Provincial Park.
In 2018, a large inflatable unicorn, without any occupants on it, led to a huge coordinated search of Lake Huron.
Sarnia's Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, a Coast Guard team from Goderich, and the United States Coast Guard helicopter were called to the area of Pinery Provincial Park.
Crews spent four hours searching for people who may have fallen from the raft, but the search came up empty and the unicorn's owners were discovered by police on shore.