Search and rescue volunteers never know what they’ll be called for next: a missing person, a search for a murder weapon or a man injured by a grizzly bear.
Kevin Atherton with Elkford Search and Rescue was the search manager on a call in May that required airlifting a mauling victim out of the backcountry near the Alberta-BC border
“It was rugged terrain. It was heavily overgrown with some fairly steep sections,” recalled Atherton about the mission.
Now search and rescue teams are being prepared to respond to more requests in light of increasing frequency and severity of disasters.
May of 2023 marked the first time volunteers from Calgary Search and Rescue Association were sent as far north as Grand Prairie to help support the wildfire fight.
The federal government is now expanding its existing Humanitarian Workforce (HWF) program which helps non-governmental organizations like the Canadian Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, The Salvation Army, and the Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada (SARVAC).
The expansion is intended to ensure they can rapidly deploy emergency responders and relief supplies.
The initiative will focus on the needs of at-risk communities, with an initial focus on British Columbia and Northwest Territories.
The manager of Calgary Search and Rescue Association said there are many professionals and trained volunteers who come together to make a difference in a major disaster.
“We are here to support them, the professionals. We are not firefighters. We are not police officers. We are trained volunteers who know what we’re doing and we can actually help the paid professionals and free them up to do their jobs,” said Mark Demong at a CALSARA event on Saturday in Calgary.
Demong said volunteers help firefighters and police by taking on tasks like setting up road blocks and evacuating campgrounds.
He took part in a new two day course called Train the Trainer, allowing him to pass disaster response knowledge on to other volunteers.
“Things like how to run a roadblock, how to turn off utilities, the basics of firefighting, doing surveys of disaster areas so we can report back to a command post saying we have heavy damage in this area and you want to send people here now.”
Demong has worked on disasters like the Pine Lake tornado and the Calgary floods. He said the new training will help standardize education of all search and rescue volunteers.
“I think with the centralization of the HWF program and Search and Rescue Alberta, I think they’re putting all the pieces together so we can be easily deployed if need be,” Demong said.
Demong added there are now four paid positions in SAR Alberta to help coordinate these activities, but volunteers are still at the heart of search and rescue.
Atherton said it’s rewarding work that helps volunteers learn new skills and sometimes helps saves lives.
“You want to help by delivering that person to the next stage of care. It’s a good feeling – a sense of a job well done,” Atherton said.
He said Elkford Search and Rescue would like to be able to double their membership this year.