Kimberley residents, first responders and regional dignitaries gathered on May 20th to remember the four lives that were lost in the Sullivan Mine tragedy, which occurred 20 years ago on May 17, 2006.
Paramedics Shawn Currier and Kim Weitzel and Teck employee Bob Newcombe died while trying to save the life of water sampling contractor Doug Erickson.
The four fatalities were caused by a lack of oxygen in a water sampling shed near the top mine. Erickson had entered the shed on May 15 to perform routine water sampling work. When he didn’t return home, a search began on May 17. Erickson was located in the shed by Teck/Cominco employee Newcombe, who believed Erickson had drowned, or collapsed.
Newcombe phoned 911, before he himself collapsed due to the lack of oxygen. Paramedics Kim Weitzel and Shawn Currier arrived at the scene and due to the invisible danger, they too succumbed to the lack of oxygen.
The ceremony in Kimberley began with the pipe band marching in a host of people including paramedics, firefighters, Search and Rescue, local politicians and family and friends.
The ceremony was led by Grant Farquahar, who has been a Primary Care Paramedic with BC Ambulance in Kimberley since 2000.
May 17, 2006, Farquhar began, started out as just another day in Kimberley and at its ambulance station.
“As was normal, a group of us were gathered for coffee and camaraderie,” Farquhar recalled. “As the morning progressed, some left to commence their regular days as we have done many times. As I was the last member at the station, Kim and I chatted about her recent successful resuscitation of a patient in cardiac arrest.”
The phone then rang, calling out the crew to respond to an emergency within the community, and Weitzel and Shawn headed to the bay to gather their gear and get the call information.
Weitzel asked Farquhar where a specific address could be accessed from, and he provided directions.
“As they pulled away, with emergency equipment engaged, I waved and continued with my day,” Farquhar said.
“This was the beginning of an event that has forever changed our communities. Kimberley and Cranbrook residents, families and paramedics were devastated by the tragedy that unfolded that day — an event that changed our lives forever.”
Farquhar said that in the wake of the tragedy, the remaining paramedics of the Kimberley Station pledged to always remember Kim and Shawn and never forget the loss to their paramedic family.
“We committed to recalling all our memories, good, bad, happy, and sad,” he said. “We can never allow the memories of our friends and colleagues to be forgotten. Today, we ask everyone gathered here to remember the ultimate sacrifices made by all emergency responders in our communities and across this country.”
Farquhar also spoke to the newest members of Kimberley, saying the memorial is meant to make them aware of this tragic loss of life, while bringing the community together to “share the responsibility of remembering the past.”
Farquhar’s emotional testimony highlighted that, though two decades have come and gone since the tragedy, the wounds are still present within those whose lives it touched.
Kimberley Mayor Don McCormick spoke next, touching on the wide-spread attention the disaster garnered, the impact it had on such a close-knit community and the importance of keeping the memory alive and ensuring the many new residents to Kimberley since 2006 are aware of it.
“These were so much more than just names in the media,” McCormick said. “They were colleagues, they were family, they were neighbours and friends and volunteers whose lives touched their community and the people around them in meaningful ways.
“This tragic accident is a grim reminder of what our first responders face every time there is a call-out.”
Cranbrook Mayor Wayne Price also spoke, touching on the “debt of gratitude” the community owes to its first responders.
Next to speak was Dave Deines, 1st Provincial Vice President of the Ambulance Paramedics of BC.
“For those of us in public safety, moments like this stay with you,” Deines said. “They remind us of how quickly an ordinary day can change and how much this work asks of each of us. In our profession we often move quickly from one call to the next, one crisis to another.
“We don’t always stop long enough to reflect on those moments and that is precisely why gatherings like this the day matter. They give us the opportunity to pause to remember properly and to recognize the human side of public service and sacrifice.”
Deines also spoke about the important reminder these events provide: that safety, training and support for frontline professionals is “not an abstract conversation.”
The ceremony then heard from BCEHS Chief Ambulance Officer Leanne Heppell, who said the actions of Shawn Currier and Kim Weitzel “embodied the very best of the profession, even in circumstances that no one could fully see or understand at the time.”
“This tragedy also revealed in the most painful way the risks that first responders can face in environments where hazards are unseen,” Heppell said. “In the years since, significant learning came from this loss, training and safety resources across emergency services have evolved, such as dispatch screening, specialist consultation, confined space training, clear organizational objectives, and all paramedics now have CO2 monitors as part of their regular equipment.
“Many of the safeguards we rely on today exist because of what was learned during this terrible tragedy.”
After hearing from Jamie Aubertin who spoke on behalf of Teck, Farquhar also read a message sent from MLA for Columbia River-Revelstoke Scott McInnis, who couldn’t be at the ceremony in person as he was at the Legislature.
“The tragedy reinforced something we in Kimberley and Cranbrook have always known — that our communities are bound together by compassion, resilience and respect for those who serve,” McInnis said.
Following a moment of silence, Kimberley Pipe Band Sergeant Liela Cooper played Amazing Grace. Farquar thanked her and the Pipe Band, who “led us 20 years ago and again today.”
The ceremony unveiled a memorial decal that was placed on the side of a new ambulance that will serve the community of Kimberley.
After the gathering, attendees were welcomed to the Kimberley Elks Club to share some stories and camaraderie.