Search and rescue volunteers from across the province converged near Prince Albert Saturday. (Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

emergency preparedness

Search and rescue teams brave cold in key exercise

Oct 26, 2019 | 6:00 PM

It’s a bitterly cold Saturday morning. There’s snow in the air, and it’s minus 12 with the wind chill. Not a day for a stroll in the woods. Or maybe it is.

These are the sorts of days members of the Search and Rescue Saskatchewan Association of Volunteers (SARSAV) live and plan for.

At least one person has been reported missing in or around the hamlet of Crutwell, west of Prince Albert, and they need to be found as quickly as possible. Before the day is done more people will be reported missing, further complicating the puzzle.

Forty-seven people from all walks of life have converged on the Satellite Station to the west of the city to be part of a multi-jurisdictional search exercise that will hone their skills, test their patience and resolve, and build teamwork. SARSAV members from around the province along with those from Prince Albert North Search and Rescue, Prince Albert Grand Council SAR, Buckland SAR, RCMP, Canadian Rangers, Civil Air Search & Rescue Association, and Saskatchewan Public Safety are testing their skills in a real-world environment under real-world circumstances.

“This is a planned exercise and despite the weather our teams came prepared,” Yorkton-based media liaison for SARSAV Dustin Brears tells paNOW. “Some even slept in a tent here overnight because they wanted to immerse themselves in the experience.”

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Brears notes part of a searcher’s skills may require hunkering down, setting up in the bush, building a fire, and waiting for more help to arrive.

“They are truly professional volunteers.”

A team leader briefs her small group before heading off for door-to-door enquiries and property searches in Crutwell.(Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

Some members are already out and about on task while others are assembling in a portacabin where team leaders are briefing small groups with the limited information they’ve been told by senior command about the missing subject. They’re instructing the volunteers on how to go about their goals of searching the old rail bed, gravel pit, wooded areas, outbuildings and door-to-door personal enquiries.

The command centre for the operation.(Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

The next unit along at base camp is the command post vehicle, the nerve centre. Inside there’s a constant buzz, not just from the controlled chatter among the half dozen people seated in front of computers and whiteboards, but from the incoming radio messages as personnel update the situation and get the latest word out to members already scattered in the field. Their role is to devise the best search strategy as the incident unfolds and changes while ensuring the safety of the team.

Among those out in the cold is Joel Perreault, a team leader on this mission and the president of Prince Albert North Search and Rescue. He’s with half a dozen others scanning brush and woodland next to the rail bed.

Prince Albert North SAR President and team leader Joel Perrault took his crew along the rail bed searching for clues. (Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

“We respond 24 hours-a-day, 365 days a year, and it doesn’t matter if it’s sun, rain or shine …or snow like today, we will respond,” he says. “We are all considered volunteers but we train and operate to professional standards.”

One of Perrault’s team alerts him to a find, some evidence that may offer some clue as to the whereabouts or recent movements of the search subject. It is logged along with the GPS co-ordinates. He rejoins the squad and gets on with the task.

Some kilometres away is another experienced volunteer looking for clues in a far more precise manner. Moose Jaw’s Fern Paulhus is down on his knees delicately caressing the snowy grass. He’s a tracker and has been doing this for over twenty years. His team looks on.

“There’s a footprint here and even though there’s been snow overnight that’s filled it in, I can see the grass has stayed down,” he explains. He looks up at a wooden fence to his right and figures the subject may have clambered over it. When it comes to tracking, what’s easier to find, animals or humans?

“Humans …they’re more predictable.”

Paulhus and his team move on.

This exercise is also a key event for the relatively new search and rescue chapter from the Prince Albert Grand Council. A handful of their members are in the thick of things.

“This gives us an opportunity to learn from more experienced search teams, “communications officer Tina Pelletier says. “For instance, the Canadian Rangers are here from La Ronge and we hope to apply the skills we learn from them to future activations.”

Back to the search and things have evolved in a big way. Teams have found one quad with two uninjured girls. Another quad is located requiring a technical low angle rope rescue.

Low angle rope rescue. (Dustin Brears/SARSAV)

This is all serious stuff, and the whole point of the day’s search and the specialist training scheduled for Sunday is to be prepared in every way possible using all available equipment. A new hi-tech data tracking system that allows for command to monitor what assets they have on scene, where they are, and what skill set they bring to the table is also being put through its paces.

It all adds up to a search and rescue service that is ready to mobilize when the call comes, which Brears explains can be very upsetting for the subject’s loves ones.

“The public should take comfort in knowing there is a team of volunteers and paid professionals from all over this province ready to go and help an individual. That’s really powerful; we quietly go about our lives in communities across Saskatchewan and all of a sudden we show up to help out.”

That’s worth pondering as some of us may have been pulling up the duvet for another half hour in bed this morning.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow