Family, friends and members of the first responder community were on hand Thursday for the unveiling of a memorial for two paramedics killed in a crash on Vancouver Island 13 years ago.
The granite memorial sits at a lookout at the Kennedy Lake rest area along Highway 4, which connects Tofino and Ucluelet to the rest of Vancouver Island.
The marker sits not far from where 59-year-old Jo-Ann Fuller and 65-year-old Ivan Polivka died when their ambulance jumped a curb and plunged more than 30 metres (100 feet) into the lake below.
Polivka’s stepson Fred Webber was on hand for the emotional unveiling, which he said brought the tragedy back as if it had happened yesterday.
“Someone phoned me up and said there had been an accident, and as soon as I heard that, I knew,” he said of the horrific night 13 years ago.
“It was like a sixth sense. As soon as I heard about the accident, I just knew it was going to be Ivan because he was always doing those calls.”
Thursday’s unveiling was timed to mark the completion of upgrades to the highway, which Weber said he was thankful to see and hoped would prevent future tragedies.
“I am thankful for this and I am very thankful for the memorial so they will always be recognized for the service they did, and hopefully it will be a long time before we have to do this again,” he said.
Brian Twaites, public information officer for B.C. Emergency Health Services, said the deadly crash was felt across the paramedic service.
He urged anyone driving by the memorial to stop for a moment to reflect, and thank the first responders who put their lives on the line every day for their fellow citizens.
“We deal with tragedy as paramedics quite frequently, and we also deal with the great joys of life. But when a tragedy like this happens it really does touch the paramedic family through the entire province,” he said.
A coroner’s report after the crash cited fatigue as a contributing factor in the paramedics’ deaths.
The report determined Fuller, who was driving at the time, had likely fallen asleep at the wheel while Polivka was likely sleeping in the back of the ambulance.
The duo were returning to Tofino after an unscheduled trip to transfer a psychiatric patient from the community’s hospital to the West Coast General Hospital in Port Alberni.
The late-night trip began five hours after the pair had already finished an 8.5-hour shift.
Troy Clifford, president of the Ambulance and Paramedics Union of B.C., said there had been positive changes in the paramedic service since the crash.
Those include better recognition of fatigue and hours of work, along with recognition that late-night transfers don’t need to be conducted if they aren’t urgent.
But while the service has come a long way, paramedics still face daily dangers, he said.
“They gave their lives in the line of duty, the ultimate sacrifice, they never made it home to their families,” he said.
“Every day driving through this brings back memories and the reality of what we face and the risks we face … every day driving the treacherous roads of this province, and the conditions we do 24-7, 365 days a year.”
Ten paramedics have died in the line of duty in British Columbia’s history.