By Keith Lacey

What started out as a leisurely float down the Okanagan River during another blazing hot South Okanagan day ended in near disaster for an Alberta woman who was visiting a friend who had just recently moved to the Oliver area.

Lorraine Jean, who lives in St. Paul, Alberta, was visiting her friend Holly Glockzin. Jean and Glockzin were each on their separate “floaties” and were headed down the Okanagan River from a boat launch area near the EZ RV Park off of Highway 97. Things were going fine until the two ladies collided with a bunch of wooden stumps and debris caused by broken branches and went crashing into the water.

Glockzin was wearing a lifejacket, but Jean wasn’t and panic quickly set in for both women. “We were both in the middle of the river having a good time, then suddenly we crashed into this huge pile of wood and sticks and we fell into the river on either side of the pile,” said Glockzin. “I managed to grab a pile of twigs and branches and that kept me above the water and I knew I would be fine, but I couldn’t find Lorraine.”

The situation became very dangerous for about 60 seconds, she said. “I knew Lorraine wasn’t wearing a lifejacket and I could hear her screaming for help,” she said. “She kept yelling my name and that she was stuck and couldn’t move. “I knew I had to get to her as quickly as I could and I managed to move towards her and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the way.”

Volunteer members with the Oliver Fire Department were called around 2 p.m. to help rescue the women. Members of the fire department found the pair of women stranded on an island north of Oliver on the Okanagan River. Neither woman suffered any serious injury, but Glockzin did break one of her toes, while her good friend learned a valuable lesson.

“I won’t ever not wear a lifejacket again,” she said. “We were just having fun and enjoying ourselves and then all of a sudden we were both in the water … and I was in big trouble.” Jean admits that if her good friend hadn’t grabbed her arm and dragged her to safety, things could have turned out much differently.

Glockzin said she reacted naturally and her only priority was to find her friend and bring her to safety. “I couldn’t have lived with the fact that my good friend came to visit me for one day and ended up dead,” she said. “I’m just glad things turned out the way they did.”

The volunteer firefighters who helped rescue them while stranded were helpful, cordial and good natured, said Glockzin. “We called them our 15 saviours,” she said smiling. “They were great.”

The Oliver Fire Department urges members of the public to use extreme caution around all waterways because the water remains abnormally high following heavy rain and snow melt from this past spring. They also warned others that this incident highlights there are many places on rivers and lakes where people can run into trouble by getting trapped or tangled in downed trees, branches and debris.

Jean had left a “dry bag” holding her cellphone and other personal items on her floatation device and was going to offer a reward of $100 for anyone who might come across her floatation device and find the bag. However, she was assured by members of the fire department that they would find the floatation device and her bag and return it to her.

Jean planned on leaving Oliver to visit relatives and friends in Kelowna as part of her summer vacation. She reiterated she plans on continuing to have a good time on the water, but she won’t risk not wearing a lifejacket ever again.

“I’ll keep floating and having fun, but I will be wearing a lifejacket,” she said. “You never think anything like this is going to happen to you, but obviously it can.”