Funding vital to search and rescue groups
JANUARY 2007 — VOLUME 5 ISSUE 1
For many winter sports enthusiasts there’s nothing better than riding through uncharted snow.
Linking turns down steep slopes laden with layers of fine, untouched powder becomes a winter preoccupation. Spending the whole season seeking out the perfect piste—a patch of powder on which to make the first sinuous tracks. But all too often an insatiable appetite for thigh-deep, unblemished snow leads people out of the ski area boundary and into trouble. It’s a familiar story that we’re all too unhappily aware of—the search for lost skiers and boarders in the maze that is the B.C. backcountry.
Untracked mountain areas coupled with unpredictable winter conditions can make for very unpleasant and frightening environments, leaving anyone unlucky enough to be stranded in them desperate for assistance.
In such cases the first help to be dispatched by RCMP is usually a local search and rescue organization armed with hours of training and kilograms of equipment—offering a lifeline to those who get caught out.
Stephanie Konrad, president of Kamloops Search and Rescue, says situations like this occur about 40 times each year in this region, and not only in the winter.
“We’re used by the RCMP if they need additional resources,” explains Konrad. “We’ve come up and supported the team at Sun Peaks, we do anything and everything from [helping out] snowmobilers in the winter to summertime hikers.”
However, the increasing numbers of year-round incidents that search and rescue organizations must respond to is taking a toll on these severely underfunded groups. This fact was recently brought to light during a presentation made to the Thompson Nicola Regional District (TNRD) by the Kamloops-based search and rescue unit.
“Basically we just reached a critical level with regard to our resources,” says Konrad about the group that consists of 30 active members. “Both our trucks are outdated—they’re going on 20 years old. They’re not really reliable and not really safe, and a lot of our gear is exposed because we don’t have proper storage on our trucks.”
The presentation resulted in a new bylaw being proposed by the TNRD. The board of directors intends to establish an annual Grant-in-Aid that will provide funding for operating costs incurred by area search and rescue organizations. The amount slated to be raised annually—approximately $160,000—will be generated through a small increase in property taxes for residents living in the TNRD region.
According to Jim McBride, clerk/director of community services at the TNRD, it was determined that the fairest way to create further financial support for these essential organizations would be through taxing property owners. McBride says both residential and commercial properties will be taxed on an assessment basis, based on a rate of $0.015 per $1,000 of net taxable value.
“This program would raise money for equipment and things that aren’t covered by the province, or [for] operating costs to maintain an office or equipment,” states McBride, who gives the example that on a property worth $160,000 the additional tax adds up to only $2.40 per year.
McBride points out that these types of organizations are a fundamental part of the community. The valuable service Kamloops Search and Rescue provides was recently highlighted when they came to the aid of a distressed climber stuck on a cliff face at Kamloops Lake last month.
They’ve also been called upon for several serious situations at Sun Peaks in the past concerning lost hikers and skiers. Their involvement in resort incidents is due to the fact that they’re the closest resource when it comes to search and rescue. According to Bill Stoner, chief of Sun Peaks Fire Rescue, his members are willing to help out, but aren’t fully trained to deal with search and rescue emergencies.
“We have very limited capabilities but would assist if requested by search and rescue,” Stoner says. He adds, “Search and rescue are essential—we’ve used them up here in Sun Peaks and worked with them within the last year and they’re an important element to the community.”
There are five volunteer-based search and rescue groups within the TNRD and the majority of the funds supporting the services they provide come from corporate sponsors. Lack of funding means that most of their financing is garnered through fundraising events put on by the volunteer members.
“We’re finding we’re spending a lot of time and resources fundraising. [While] it’s great being out in the community, it’s a drain on our resources,” says Konrad. “We would rather spend the time training or helping out at community events where we’re needed. So we’re just really having a hard time coming up with what we need.”
Whether it’s winter sports or summer pursuits the capabilities of search and rescue groups are increasingly in demand—they provide B.C. residents with vital lifesaving skills and often endure extreme conditions to do so—next time you go out in the woods to play don’t set yourself up for an unwanted surprise.
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