The city of Hamilton is spending another $50,000 on additional fencing around Albion Falls.
The decision comes after the latest rescue last Sunday when a woman climbed over the recently installed fence, broke a leg and had to be brought out of the gorge by firefighters.
However, additional fencing is not the only measure under consideration.
Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger says a system of fines may be coming.
“If they are going beyond the bounds of what we’ve set out to be a safe part of the waterfall experience, there should be a fine or some sort of pocketbook issue they’ll have to deal with,” Eisenberger said.
He noted that Hamilton “already does this in traffic and with speeding and it has a positive effect.”
The mayor said he’s been to Albion Falls a lot and “laments the fact that you can’t walk down along the side of the falls and maybe we need to put that back in place, but we can’t do that with all the waterfalls” in the area.
Eisenberger says a pocketbook approach is a likely way to go to hold people to account, adding you can’t protect people from their own stupidity when taking unnecessary risks.
Hamilton’s General Manager of Public Works thinks technology is playing a part in some of the mishaps at Hamilton’s waterfalls.
Dan McKinnon says many people are chronicling what they are doing on their cell phones and social media, and in some cases are putting themselves in dangerous situations.
McKinnon adds while the City wants people to enjoy an active lifestyle he is urging people to use common sense and be very cautious when visiting local waterfalls.
He says it’s clear, based on numerous examples, that fencing and signage “doesn’t always do the trick” in preventing people from entering dangerous areas.
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