An online petition is demanding the fire chief of the South River Machar Fire Department resign after a dog drowned in the South River earlier this month.
The petition is posted at Change.org which is an online platform where anyone can create a petition for any purpose. James McKeating, who lives in Southern Ontario, created the petition after reading about the drowning of Brody, a 10-year-old golden retriever owned by Linda and Dennis Weaver.
A story in the National Post reports the Weavers say they have nothing to do with the petition; they don’t know the person who started it and they have not signed it.
McKeating claims animal neglect on the part of Fire Chief Risto Maki led to the dog's drowning.
“A life is a life, and this life was lost due to clear negligence,” McKeating said. “I don't believe this is something to be ignored without consequence or reprimand.”
The Weavers live on seven acres of waterfront land in Joly Township that overlooks part of the South River.
On Jan. 2 in the early afternoon, Dennis Weaver was walking Brody on the property when the dog spotted a bird sitting on the snow and chased it. The bird flew off, and landed on the frozen South River, and Brody continued to chase it over the ice.
Weaver called out to his dog, and as Brody began heading back to shore, the ice cracked open and he went through. This was the start of a very painful 60 minutes for the Weavers as Dennis Weaver tried different ways to rescue Brody. However, each attempt failed, because the ice would start to crack under Weaver. In one attempt, Weaver slipped and fell on the ice, bruising his lower back and cutting his forehead.
Weaver said as he continued to try to get to Brody, the retriever kept pawing at the ice and trying to raise himself out of the water, but the ice kept breaking. Linda Weaver then called 911, and fire chief Risto Maki arrived on the scene.
Dennis Weaver said he tried to get Maki to start a rescue effort for Brody, but the fire chief said there would be no rescue.
The Weavers are both 71, and two years ago Dennis Weaver had double bypass heart surgery while Linda Weaver had heart failure several years ago. Dennis Weaver says he asked the fire chief to help him put his boat on the ice so he could walk in it to Brody and pull him out of the water. He says Maki said no.
Weaver then suggested tying a rope around himself and Maki and another firefighter, who had also arrived by this time, so they could hold the rope as Weaver could make his way toward Brody. Weaver says the answer was another no.
Weaver says the firefighters also refused to help him lay down a ladder over the ice so he could crawl over it to Brody.
“He said no to all my suggestions because if I fell into the water they would have no way to rescue me,” Weaver said.
Weaver then tied a 20-pound downrigger to a rope and asked the firefighters to start lobbing it continuously onto the ice with the hope it would crack the ice and this would give Brody a waterway back to shore. But Weaver says nothing came of this.
The Weavers then called two friends who arrived with a canoe, but by then it was too late because Brody had drowned. Weaver says the two friends launched their canoe and retrieved Brody's body in about five minutes.
Dennis Weaver says he believes the fire officials' actions amounted to animal cruelty because, in his opinion, they did nothing to save his beloved dog. Weaver believes it was possible to save Brody because he was treading water in about four feet of water 15 to 20 feet from shore.
However, South River's clerk-administrator Don McArthur is questioning the distance Brody was from shore. McArthur says he's talked to the fire chief who says Brody was in the water around 200 feet from the shoreline.
McArthur also said the South River Machar Fire Department does not carry out water or ice rescues in swift water and the South River falls into this category. He says the fire department is not trained in this kind of rescue, nor does it have the equipment for rescues of this nature, so it can't save people or animals caught in this type of situation.
McArthur says the local fire department only carries out rescues in still waters, and those rescues would only involve people, not animals. The clerk-administrator also said none of the five surrounding fire departments have any form of water or ice rescue either in swift water or still water scenarios. McArthur says swift water is defined as water moving at least 1.85 nautical miles an hour in over two feet of water and the South River meets that threshold.
“That's considered a current and a lake would not have that kind of current.”
McArthur said on Jan. 10, Fire Chief Maki posted a statement about the incident on the fire department's Facebook page explaining why the department does not perform animal rescues citing the danger that poses to fire personnel. Maki's statement indicates the Weavers were told this by him upon his arrival.
Maki says in his statement he recognizes how difficult this was for the Weavers to hear and said it was also emotionally tough on the firefighters to have to accept, but emphasized the fire department can't let the public or its members jeopardize their lives.
McArthur said after Maki's statement was posted, “Facebook deleted the entire South River Machar Fire Department Facebook page” sometime on Jan. 11, a day after the statement was posted. “We have had no communication from Facebook as to why they did that,” McArthur added.
As of Jan. 18, anyone trying to visit the fire department's Facebook page continues to get a message that reads “This content isn't available right now”.
McArthur is aware of the online petition to fire Maki, adding McKeating has not contacted the municipality. However since Brody's drowning, McArthur has said they’ve had extensive conversations with the Weavers, and one point they have made is a “firing is not something they are looking for.”
Dennis Weaver does not want Maki fired, but he did question the chief's handling of the incident.
McArthur went on to say that although the Weavers disagreed with whether or not the water had a current, they didn't question Maki's “judgment that in his opinion it was swift water”, and that he couldn't go in because the department does not do animal rescues. McArthur says no one associated with the incident has said the local fire department was incompetent.
“So I don't know how we would jump from that to firing someone,” he said. “That seems like a large leap and a firing seems many times out of line.”
McArthur said he is looking into Linda Weaver’s claim the fire chief was disrespectful to her during the ordeal.
“We're investigating a Code of Conduct violation based on these circumstances, and that's the only complaint we have,” McArthur said.
McArthur recognizes the Weavers experienced a very emotional ordeal of losing Brody.
Maki addressed how things were handled in a statement posted to Facebook.
“We want to assure you that all communications our staff had with the owners were conducted in a professional and compassionate manner,” he said.
But he also wants the public to realize that the incident “has been extremely difficult and incredibly hard” on the fire chief. He says Maki has been the local fire chief for 10 years and a volunteer firefighter before that, “and he has an impeccable record of saving people's lives”.
The Weavers told McArthur they don't want anyone to experience what they did and would like to see firefighters trained for swift water rescues.
“They understand the cost for that would be very high, and they would like to see the province assist with that.”
They made that request to South River council at the Jan. 23 meeting. The Weavers made the same request of Joly town council when members of council met on Jan. 15. At the Joly meeting, the Weavers also publicly said they didn't want Maki fired.
Joly is normally serviced by the Sundridge-Strong Fire Department, but in some cases, its residents live closer to South River, and for that reason, it contracts the South River Machar Fire Department to respond to some Joly emergencies.
During the Joly council meeting, Mayor Brian McCabe told the Weavers everyone “feels your pain”, adding all council can do is talk to the fire department. Councillor Bill Black suggested perhaps Joly should start a discussion with the fire department on the nature of its rescues. Councillor Chris Nicholson said Brody's drowning was getting a lot of attention.
He added, “Hopefully if there are things to learn and things to change, now will be the time” for that to happen.
As for McKeating's petition, he created it on Jan. 11, and nearly 1,600 people, mostly from Ontario, had signed it by Jan. 23.
“I plan on keeping the petition running until changes are made in the town of South River,” said McKeating. “I believe everybody is at risk for another potential incident like this when the fire department will not enter ice water to save even a human life.”
McKeating, who loves dogs, became aware of Brody's drowning after Linda Weaver posted the incident on her Facebook page, and her post was shared on a lost animal group of which he is a member. McKeating does not know the Weavers personally, although he has spoken to them since Brody's drowning and told them of his intention to create the petition.
“We are not taking a position on the petition and people who sign it can say what they want,” added Dennis Weaver.
McKeating said at some point he will bring the petition to the attention of the Village of South River electronically. He says if possible, he would like to personally address South River town council about Brody's drowning at a future meeting.
Brody's body was brought to a North Bay veterinarian for cremation with his remains to be returned to the Weavers.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the North Bay Nugget. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
