Image: Cultus Lake Fire Dept. / The Cultus Lake Fire Dept. has been dispatched to Cultus Lake for the report of a three-year-old toddler who reportedly drowned in the water. An air ambulance helicopter is set to arrive at a landing zone at Cultus Lake Elementary by approximately 7:20 p.m.
Cultus Lake Fire dispatched for drowning

Cultus Lake Fire Dept. responds to report of toddler drowning at Cultus Lake

Jun 1, 2023 | 7:05 PM

CHILLIWACK — Cultus Lake firefighters were dispatched to the report of a toddler who reportedly drowned near main beach at Cultus Lake Thursday evening.

According to a Facebook user who regularly follows emergency dispatch, Cultus Lake firefighters tried three successive shocks on the child.

The landing zone at Cultus Lake Community School had been set up for an air ambulance as of 6:59 p.m.

The expected time of arrival for the helicopter was 7:20 p.m.

As of 7:15 p.m., three ambulances from B.C. Emergency Health Services were on scene along with Chilliwack RCMP. Cultus Lake firefighters staged in the parking lot of Cultus Lake Community School to prevent people from accessing the school or back field in preparation for landing of the air ambulance.

A B.C. Emergency Health Services air ambulance landed at Cultus Lake Community School at 7:26 p.m. It subsequently departed at 7:57 p.m.

The boy was en route to Vancouver via helicopter with his parents, according to his aunt, Jenni McGrew. She thanked Chilliwack firefighters for all their help.

“Thank you to the Chilliwack Fire Dept for all your help and a special thank you to Glen (former fire chief) and his fiancé Kim,” Jenni McGrew wrote on Facebook at 8:45 p.m. Thursday night. McGrew is an associate pastor at an Abbotsford church.

The 3-year-old boy remains in hospital at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.