Members from the Knights of Pythias Society recently donated $10,000 to South Columbia Search and Rescue (SAR).
The donation comes from the sale of the Knights of Pythias building in downtown Trail, and will go towards an e-bike prospect and response equipment.
The gift to this skilled group of volunteers who deploy services in the Trail, Montrose, Fruitvale and Salmo areas, comes at a time when search and rescue calls often heat up as summer draws more people to the great outdoors.
The Trail Times contacted Adrian Huber, from South Columbia SAR, for an update on operations.
Trail Times (TT): How many volunteers are now part of South Columbia SAR?
Adrian Huber (AH): At present we have a group of 27 folks that are with us. We are a mix of fully certified members and some MITs (members in training).
TT: Is there any training coming up this summer?
AH: At South Columbia SAR we host a regular monthly GSAR (Ground Search and Rescue) on the third Tuesday of every month. Recent topics have been navigation review, searching for and assisting a despondent individual, review and use of naloxone, and a late season winter scenario involving three subjects. We had a planned helicopter hover entry/exit training for Saturday, but the weather prevented us from completing it.
TT: How have the calls been?
AH: We have not been very busy, a testament to skills and abilities of the local folks who explore our amazing wilderness environment. Our last call-outs were in winter: we consider ourselves fortunate to have not had any swiftwater calls this spring.
TT: If someone is interested in joining, how can they do that?
AH: At this time we are in the process of training and certifying our current group of six MITs. We hope to have them all checked out by summer's end and will look to launch a new recruitment campaign in the fall or winter. We are also excited that four of our members have just finished taking part in the "Train the Trainer" course further enhancing our capacity to engage with and train our recruits.
TT: What are the expectations for volunteers?
AH: We expect our volunteers to maintain and upgrade their certifications, attend monthly training and any specialty team training, and contribute towards the sustainment and growth of our organization by helping when asked. Of course we also expect that members will respond to call-outs in a reasonable amount of time when we are called out.
TT: What should we know about South Columbia SAR?
AH: We love what we do! The group of folks that we have within SC SAR are committed to the service of their community, enhancing community capacity and being a valuable educational resource will also delivering excellent Search and Rescue capabilities when called upon. We are currently in the final stages of developing our strategic plan with the support of the Columbia Basin Trust and we are very excited about the years to come.
