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Silver Star hosts Emergency Services Day

Click to play video: 'Silver Star Emergency Services Day'
Silver Star Emergency Services Day
How do you rescue a stranded skier from a chairlift? What's involved in using the jaws of life? Those questions were answered for the public during Silver Star's Emergency Services Day. Jules Knox reports from the mountain – Feb 19, 2018

Emergency responders in the Okanagan headed to Silver Star Mountain to give the public an inside look into some of their training and techniques.

“I think it’s important for people to see this because it gives them a bit of an understanding when you don’t quite know what’s actually happening, or maybe it gives you that opportunity to talk to somebody who is in an ambulance,” said Phil Gaudette, Silver Star patrol and safety manager.

The star of the RCMP team, a 6-year-old German Shepherd called Dash, showed how he catches the bad guys, but also his more playful side.

“They get to see the dog [up] close, and they get to see that it’s not a dangerous animal,” Vernon RCMP Cpl. Richard Gingras said.

Firefighters demonstrated use of the jaws of life on an old car with a dummy inside.

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“Understanding what we’re doing means that when you’re in that situation and you’ve got a tarp over your head, you can understand ‘OK, now they’re smashing the glass, now they’re going after the door, I can be calm. I’m in safe hands,’” Silver Star Fire and Rescue firefighter Denys Lawrence said.

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Ski patrol also showed how stranded skiers and snowboarders on the chairlift would be rescued.

“It’s super-simple and safe,” ski patrol member Emily Scott said. “We get a rope up over the line, and then we get what’s called a T-seat, and we pull it up to the people on the chairlift and they hop onto it, then we lower them down to the ground.”

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