Volunteers participated in a mock search and rescue near the Valley Drive In Theatre for a report of two individuals that had been missing since the night before.
Each time searchers are tasked with finding missing persons, team members gather to receive extremely important information about the individuals. These details are crucial for knowing what to look for, who they are looking for and other important information when searching for someone who is missing.
Every search can be different and adjusting your skills along with working as a team is extremely important for not only the safety of the missing but the searchers who put their lives at risk.
Depending on the location of a search, there can be various types of scenarios to work around; the public, weather, terrain and many other contributing factors.
Searchers are all well equipped, with personal survival kits that are prepared for not just themselves but are designed for their teams and victims who they may locate. In most cases, these survival kits are purchased out of pocket by the searcher themselves.
With the recent snowfall, the weather conditions made for a unique training exercise!
Once briefed, searchers are given a “tasking”. This tasking consists of a group who are given a specific location to check. Other searchers are also given a task in different areas to help with covering ground.
This helps avoid having the same area searched more than once and keeping everyone accounted for.
Once the victims were successfully located in yesterday’s search, reports of adverse weather conditions were reported.
Searchers were tasked with creating a campsite to shelter in place until the weather conditions improved.
Searchers consist of medically trained personnel with medical bags and survival kits, that include food, water, tools, ropes, tarps and numerous other items that are all available to be used if needed when locating a missing victim in such conditions.
It was an eye opening exercise and very neat to see the different techniques and equipment that are used first hand.
If you are looking to support your local GSAR Team, you can do so by visiting the monthly 50/50 link attached below ⤵️
https://www.rafflebox.ca/raffle/nssar
Adrian J.
