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Today KSAR members, together with help from other kind volunteers, loaded up 800+ filled purses and backpacks to be distributed to women in need in the community. This is KSAR's second year supporting this wonderful cause and Patti's seventh year organizing Purses for Women Helping Women.
An amazing tradition! Merry Christmas! 🎄(DG)
As professional volunteer responders, we celebrate the successes. The BC SAR system is one of the most effective in the world, and our goal is to keep improving procedures and skills and increase the number of lives saved.
The last three weeks have been challenging, and we shared some incredible footage of the most recent search and rescue missions at Sun Peaks. KSAR, together with several regional search and rescue teams, and multiple other resources worked together with one simple goal in mind: ensuring everyone gets home safely.
As we move forward as a team we also remember the life lost last week, and why we do what we do.
Critical Incident Stress is an occupational reality for SAR volunteers.
To function professionally in stressful situations, we train to meet or exceed the required abilities needed for tasks.
Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) is a system of crisis intervention designed to reduce the negative psychological impact of traumatic events that people have been exposed to. Tonight KSAR, and a dedicated group of BC SAR volunteers who make up our provincial CISM team, will get together for a de-briefing. (DG)
📸 KSAR-Dec 13/14 2024 task
We want to share with you some incredible footage of Hummingbird Drones leveraging Nova's advanced drone mapping platform, showcasing how drone technology plays a pivotal role in search and rescue operations.
KSAR received a request from the RCMP at 20:10 on Dec 13, to look for two overdue skiers and a snowboarder who were last seen getting off the West Bowl chairlift at Sun Peaks at 13:08 that day. Sun Peaks Ski Patrol had found their tracks going out of bounds into the gully known as Schitts Creek. KSAR was paged out at 20:21 and got on the scene at 22:30. Two ground teams, a K9 team, and Humming Bird Drones were deployed to their respective search areas. At 03:45 the ground teams found a newer set of tracks crossing the gully which they then followed. Humming Bird Drones repositioned to search that area and located the subjects at 04:45. After the drone team guided the search teams towards the subjects KSAR did a first aid assessment. The three were cold, and exhausted but were able to get to the KSAR truck that was waiting to drive them to the Village. At 06:03 they were handed off to BCEHS for assessment in the ski patrol medical building.
Special thanks to Hummingbird Drones , Nova Software Development, Sun Peaks Resort staff, and Barriere Search & Rescue for their unmatched support and professionalism. (DG)
➡NO CHARGE FOR SAR.
The British Columbia Search and Rescue Association (BCSARA) and its member search and rescue groups do not believe in charging anyone for search or rescue in the province of BC, regardless of why they require assistance.
BCSARA believes that charging a lost or injured person, or their loved ones, for a search and rescue (SAR) response could influence their decision on when to seek professional help. This hesitation may delay the deployment of SAR services, which can negatively affect the mission's overall success.
➡️There are over 1900 responses in BC each year; from urban searches for people with dementia, wilderness searches for people who become lost on hikes, to backcountry rescues using technical expertise and equipment. At all times, the moral obligation to respond takes precedence over any thought of charging for the response. BCSARA member SAR groups will conduct search and rescue missions when requested to do so by the authorized requesting agencies without charge and regardless of the reason for assistance. If you need help: CALL 9-1-1
➡️OUR GOAL IS TO SAVE LIVES
BC SAR's Infrastructure costs are at least 10 million per year (costs of training, providing, and maintaining vehicles and buildings). Most of this funding is provided by the Provincial Government. Many are supported by their local Municipal Governments, but not all.
Most significantly: Many SAR groups rely heavily upon the kind, charitable donations coming from the community. This is invaluable support.
🎬Long-time Vernon Search And Rescue Group Society volunteer Don Blakely talks about why the British Columbia Search and Rescue Association and its member search and rescue groups do not believe in charging anyone for search or rescue in the province of BC, regardless of the reason someone may have found themselves.
youtu.be/8L5LMnnjupk?si=iBGMhStc6S7ZYxZh (1:25)
If you want to learn more and watch the full presentation (43:00) please watch this:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR6hxFphCSc&ab_channel=BCSearchandRescueAssociation
(DG)
‼️A friendly reminder from Sun Peaks Resort to respect the ski area boundaries and mountain safety while enjoying the resort⛷🏂 (DG)We want to inform you of another search and rescue effort that began late yesterday afternoon (December 13) to locate a group of skiers and snowboarders reported missing by friends after failing to meet at a pre-arranged time. Search efforts, conducted by our teams in collaboration with Kamloops Search and Rescue (KSAR), continued through the evening and into the early morning hours. We are pleased to share that the individuals were successfully located early this morning (December 14). We extend our sincere gratitude to our Ski Patrol, KSAR, and everyone involved for their swift and dedicated response.
It is important to note that, in all recent instances of missing persons on our mountain, the individuals chose to ignore the roped and signed ski area boundary.
We want to reinforce the importance of never leaving the ski area boundary. These boundaries are clearly roped to ensure the safety and protection of all our on-mountain guests. Beyond these ropes lies terrain that has limited to no cellular service, is unpatrolled, often not skiable, and extremely difficult to exit safely.
The new West Bowl chairlift offers incredible opportunities for skiers and snowboarders to explore exciting new in-bound terrain suitable for intermediate and advanced levels. However, we urge all guests to remain vigilant and to respect the ski area boundary at all times. Never venture beyond the ski area boundary.
The safety and wellbeing of our guests and employees is our top priority and we are discussing what measures can be put in place to bolster public education.
Please, stay safe, make good choices, and help spread the word.
We thank all of the search and rescue volunteer team members and our own employees for their continued efforts during these challenging situations.
Sun Peaks Management Team