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'Childhood fear': B.C. city urges public to stay off dangerous mud flats

Port Moody Fire Rescue is warning residents and visitors to stay off the mud flats.

Firefighters are warning people that they could sink and be trapped in the Port Moody mud flats. 

A photograph of a person stuck in mud up to their ribs was shared on social media, sparking a flurry of concern with over 2,000 shares and 468 comments. 

The picture shows firefighters rescuing two people out of the mud flats with a warning to "stay off."

One person commented: "My irrational fear of quicksand has now been asserted."

"Childhood fear," wrote Nikole Fraser. 

Lieutenant Mike Boechler has been with the Port Moody Fire Rescue for 17 years and told Lodestar Media that he's been doing "mud rescues" the entire time. 

“We probably get two to four or five a year,” he said.

The mud flats are a section in Port Moody to the east of Rocky Point Park. Boechler said the recent photo on social media was taken a few years ago, but they had a similar rescue a few weeks ago.

“It’s probably 500 metres of mud flat,” he said.

Locals are well aware of the dangers of the mud flats, but visitors seem to be easy victims. 

"I think if you talk to someone who lives in Port Moody, they know not to go in the mud flats, but someone comes to Rocky Point Park, gets ice cream and goes, 'Oh, let's walk out there and beachcomb.'"

Harder you try, worse it gets

The mud flats are actually quicksand, said the lieutenant. 

"When you get into a couple soft spots in the mud flats, you can sink, and the harder you try to get out, the worse it gets,” he said. "It sort of creates, like a suction or vacuum around you, and you can't get out.”

People they’ve rescued have had panic attacks, are dehydrated and have suffered heat stroke. One individual had a soft tissue injury trying to pull themselves out of the mud.

"It's really nasty mud, really stinky, so we've got to do a big, big cleanup after," said Boechler, noting the rescue and cleanup take about two hours.

How do they rescue people without getting stuck? 

The firefighters have special shoes, similar to snowshoes, that allow them to walk on the mud flats. 

“We walk out, we make contact with the trapped individual, and then we have our ATV, so it has a pump and 50 gallons of water on the back, and we bring a fire hose out there,” said Boechler. 

The rescues are a long process, but not difficult. 

“We just introduce water into that sort of vacuum that has that person stuck, and it pops them out,” he said.

The City of Port Moody is pushing the message hard to not enter the mud flats. There are lots of points along the trails that people try to enter when they shouldn't.

Boechler hopes beach-goers will think twice about stepping into the area. 

“You’re taking up valuable resources and time by going out there,” he said.

“Lots of people do get stuck and you don’t want to be that person who is taking away resources from Port Moody.”

Anyone who gets stuck should stay calm and call 911.