Hectic Canada Day weekend for Central Okanagan Search and Rescue

It was a long and busy Canada Day long weekend for Central Okanagan Search and Rescue.

Overall, the agency said it attended a half-dozen tasks, starting Saturday morning and ending Monday evening.

The first call was to assist Kelowna RCMP search for a missing swimmer in City Park. However, search and rescue said the call had a positive outcome as members began arriving on scene.

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Later in the day, COSAR was called out to help police in performing tactical evacuations from the Knox Mountain Park wildfire. In all, 22 members from search and rescue were called out.

COSAR also had its boat team on Okanagan Lake, helping clear out an area of curious boaters so helicopters could bucket water to fight the wildfire.

Search and rescue thanked public boaters for clearing out of the area when asked.

On the way back to the marina, COSAR said its boat team rescued two female paddleboarders who’d been blown down the lake. The two were trying to get back to Paul’s Tomb in Knox Mountain Park while walking along the shoreline.

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At 6 p.m., COSAR was then tasked to rescue an injured ATV rider in the Graystokes area.

Ten members were pulled away from the Knox Mountain Park fire to assist in recovering the injured rider.

“A helicopter was called in and two medically trained members flew to the area to provide medical aid while a ground team was deployed with ATVs and a UTV in case the helicopter was unable to evacuate the injured person due to darkness,” said COSAR.

“The helicopter team was able to secure and removed the injured rider and get them back to Kelowna for medical treatment moments before helicopter operations had to be shut down.”

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On Sunday evening, COSAR was called out to assist a stranded boater on Okanagan Lake. But just before the boat team was dispatched, the boater managed to get ashore.

To cap the weekend, COSAR received a call for a missing older woman in the Postill Lake area on Monday evening.

It was reported she had gone for a hike earlier that evening and hadn’t returned. But as 11 members were heading to the area, COSAR received word from police that she had been located and was safe with her family.

More information about COSAR is available online.

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