TORONTO -- A coroner's inquest into the deaths of two Ontario men who lost their lives during ice rescue courses recommends that all such training in fast-moving water be put on hold.
All swift-water ice training should stop until a committee of experts establishes standards to minimize risks, the jury at the inquest suggested in a series of 15 non-binding recommendations.
Adam Brunt, a firefighting student, and Gary Kendall, a veteran volunteer firefighter, died five years apart during ice rescue courses involving the same training company.
Their deaths, which the inquest jury has deemed accidents, brought scrutiny to the industry surrounding private training courses for firefighters, which is currently unregulated.
The inquest, which began just over two weeks ago, heard that firefighters looking to learn about ice rescue practices may have no other choice than to turn to private instruction, since the Ontario Fire College suspended its own program three years ago.
Jurors heard the college, a provincial body that offers training to members of municipal fire departments, has yet to replace the program with an updated version.
Kendall died in January 2010 after getting trapped under a fast-moving ice floe in waters near Sarnia, Ont. Brunt drowned in February 2015 while trying to float through a narrow gap in the ice on the Saugeen River near Hanover, Ont.
