AT YOUR SERVICE: PROFESSIONAL VOLUNTEERS

by Jen Groundwater

photos courtesy of Arrowsmith Search and Rescue

IMAGES Arrowsmith Search and Rescue training and rescue scenes. Note: some photos were taken prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

“Nobody goes off on a hike thinking, ‘Today I’m going to get lost,’ ” says Ken Peters, President of Arrowsmith Search and Rescue (ASAR), the search and rescue team that services Fairwinds and beyond. Yet last year, more people than ever before needed help from ASAR. The fact is, it can be easy to get lost in our rugged forest, coastal, and mountain wilderness playground.

Luckily, if you run into trouble in the great outdoors between the Lantzville pedestrian overpass, the Port Alberni Hump, and Cook Creek—inland to Mount Arrowsmith and on the water as far as Jedediah or Lasqueti Islands—ASAR’s highly trained team will do its utmost to bring you home safely.

Arrowsmith Search and Rescue originated in the early 1970s when members of the Parksville Fire Department began running a search and rescue team out of members’ homes, using an old school bus as a command vehicle.

Today, ASAR has more than 50 skilled members ranging in age from their 20s to their 70s. Last year, the group participated in 53 rescue missions (“tasks”) totalling 3,565 person-hours. These included many ground search and rescue operations as well as rescues involving ropes, swift water, and, occasionally, helicopters, horses, or ATVs.

Although these statistics are impressive, perhaps the most amazing fact is that these highly qualified people—on call 24/7 and prepared to risk their lives—are never paid for their time. Peters describes the ASAR team as “volunteer professionals.”

They’re surely some of the most dedicated volunteers imaginable. Every ASAR member is committed to being as skilled and prepared as possible. To that end, they each must put in at least 50 hours of training time annually; some of the more skilled members may put in several hundred hours every year to keep their credentials and skills current.

The organization is always looking for ways to improve efficiency and response times, and new technologies have certainly helped. Back in the school-bus command-centre days, Arrowsmith members relied on largescale physical maps and compasses. Now they use GPS and mapping systems that can operate on a phone; search managers can see the status and location of every team member in real time. “It gives us great situational awareness,” says Peters.

In partnership with neighbouring SAR teams, the organization has applied for night-vision capability, which will greatly enhance their ability to conduct searches at night. They’ve also applied for class D fixed line rescue capability, which would allow members to work with Parksville-based Ascent Helicopters to provide very rapid response times for wilderness medical rescues.

Medical innovations like PenthroxTM, an advanced painmanagement system relatively new to Canada, are helping ASAR administer better first aid. Recently, eight team members were certified in Penthrox use. It’s more effective and lasts longer than Entonox® (laughing gas), which means badly injured people will experience a less painful rescue from the wilderness.

With the increase in annual callouts, a growing fleet of emergency vehicles, and the need for a centralized operations centre with training facilities, Arrowsmith SAR has outgrown its old hall on Alberni Highway. The organization is now building a state-of-the-art operations centre at Qualicum Beach Airport, where it will be able to house its entire inventory of emergency equipment and vehicles. This new, more central location will also shorten the team’s response time.

They are currently working on finishing the interior in hopes of being able to move into the space in early fall 2021. Peters is quick to acknowledge the tremendous amount of community support that the group has received for this project, including individual donations, business in-kind services and equipment, and the Town of Qualicum Beach’s generous 40-year land lease at $1 per year.

During COVID, the group experienced the unfortunate rise of building costs, but was able to secure a construction loan to complete the build. They’ve mounted a community fundraising campaign so they can retire that debt as soon as possible. While you might expect that local or provincial government covers 100% of funding for search and rescue organizations, the fact is that ASAR’s ability to deliver their essential service depends to a significant degree on donations.

In December 2020, the team was called in to rescue a man clinging to a log near frigid Little Qualicum Falls. They hauled him up just before he was swept downriver into the churning white water. The rescue was captured on video which, briefly, went viral. Not all ASAR’s tasks are as dramatic as this one. Sometimes they’re helping a lost child or a person with dementia who has wandered off. A family who ran out of daylight on their hike. An ATV rider with equipment failure. An injured mountain biker who needs to be evacuated on a stretcher.

Whatever the situation, it’s always cause for celebration when the volunteer professionals of Arrowsmith Search and Rescue bring a lost or injured person home safely. Follow Arrowsmith Search and Rescue on Facebook or Instagram, and/or visit www.arrowsmithsar.ca to learn more. If you would like to contribute to the new Operations Centre or their ongoing operations, please visit

www.arrowsmithsar.ca/donate.

Help ASAR help you

Be prepared when you head out on an adventure, even if it’s just a forest dogwalk. These free resources can help:

AdventureSmart.ca

Essential advice about the three Ts of excursion safety: Trip Planning, Training, and Taking the Essentials. Download the AdventureSmart app to create trip plans to share with others before you leave.

YourLo.ca

If you’re lost, ASAR members can use this to connect quickly with your smartphone’s GPS to automatically determine your exact position.

Project Lifesaver

If a loved one is prone to wandering off because of a condition like dementia, autism, or Down syndrome, get them one of these tracking bracelets. It sends out a radio transmitter beacon every second so SAR can locate them quickly—usually in less than 30 minutes.