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May 14, 2014
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Bravery awards honour heroic efforts to save a life KEVIN PARNELL
Changes are coming With a new service provider, what you may and may not put in your blue bin curbside recycling container changes as of May 19. ...............................
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Inspection Subdivision approval progressing with a review of intersection safety with increased traffic. ...............................
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Flyers ■ Home Depot ■ Jysk ■ Rona ■ Save On ■ Shoppers ■ Smartsource
By the time Lake Country deputy fire chief Brent Penner arrived on the scene of a December 2012 accident that claimed the life of a woman whose Jeep had plunged into Wood Lake, members of the public had already begun heroic life saving efforts. A perimeter had been established and a group of people were in the frigid waters of Wood Lake, attempting to first remove the woman from her Jeep before trying to tow the vehicle out of the water. Penner, who had responded to the incident almost immediately in the Lake Country Fire Department’s command vehicle, along with 11 other people who fought to rescue the woman, was honoured last week by the Royal Canadian Humane Association with B.C. Bravery awards. “We don’t do this job for this kind of recognition,” said Penner after returning from RCMP headquarters in Surrey where he was awarded a bronze medal for bravery. “I’m humbled and honoured that someone put my name forward. I don’t need any recognition. I’m more honoured to be a part of that group. The fact that people went out and did their very best to save someone, that’s the more important part for me.”
Also responding to the emergency call was RCMP constable Carl Stene, who arrived in his police vehicle to find people already in the water, trying to access the Jeep, which was almost entirely submerged. “There were quite a few civilians in the water at the time I arrived so I tried to make sure we were getting those folks out of harm’s way as we were entering the water,” said Stene. “I was pretty impressed with the human race at that time. This was out of the ordinary, just the volume of people who had stopped and were willing to get in the water. They were really a selfless bunch.” After the woman’s Jeep left the road and submerged in about two metres of water, several individuals put their lives on the line. Seven people entered the water. All seven suffered from hypothermia, from severe to moderate. Kelowna’s Cindy Rogers was awarded the silver medal while six others, including Penner and Stene, were awarded bronze medals for bravery. Five other people, who stayed on shore yet were integral to the emergency operation, were awarded honourary certificates. “I just thought if someone is in the car I have got to get them out,” said Rogers. “It was as simple as that. This
CONTRIBUTED
MICHAEL LOERKE, with the RCMP in Lake Country, receives a bronze B.C. Bravery Award from Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. (honour) is very, very humbling. I can’t believe I’m being held in such high regard. I just think it’s what everyone would do. Faced with that situation again, I would do the same thing.” Stene was the in his first year of duty as a member of the Lake Country RCMP and was the first emergency responder on scene that night. “I was very honoured to be presented with something like (the bravery award),” said Stene. “I was just doing what I was supposed to be doing when someone is in peril.” Penner agreed with that sentiment, saying he
was only doing his job. But he added the response from the public renewed his faith during this day and age where people seem to have lost patience when on the road, even going as far as running over emergency cones at accident scenes in their rush to be on their way. “In this (incident) everyone stopped and there was an overwhelming response from the people on the road,” said Penner. “It really re-establised my trust in the good that is in everyone. It was the exact response that you would hope for from anyone that witnesses something like that. There was risk that
CONTRIBUTED
BRENT PENNER, Lake Country deputy fire chief,
receives a bronze B.C. Bravery Award which issued by the Royal Canadian Humane Association. was taken that day but those people saw the accident and it was right in front of them, and it was
what you would hope they would do.” newsroom @lakecountrynews.net
B.C. Bravery Awards Bravery awards were handed out last week by the Royal Canadian Humane Association. The Honourable Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia presented the medals. Silver medal Cindy Rogers
Honourary certificate Dan Hindle Angela Mastracci Wyatt Oliver Corstiaan Pannekoek Darby Taylor
Bronze medal Jamie Andrews Kevin Hiebert Michael Loerke Carl Stene Brent Penner Donald St. Pierre
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