Prince George Search And Rescue is getting three times more money than usual from the provincial government this year.
The city's SAR team trains constantly and equips themselves for the region's search and rescue needs, all on the efforts of volunteers. The provincial government has usually paid them about $26,000 annually from provincial gaming coffers to offset the costs of their services but this year they will receive almost $75,000 in funding.
The two areas of greatest increase were to improve the group's communication system and cover the costs for avalanche training rules imposed by the government this year. The new snow-slide stipulations had a price tag of $10,000 for Prince George SAR which the provincial government agreed to cover.
"The province told us we could not train out in the mountains unless we had an area that had been pre-approved by a [highly certified] avalanche technician," said PGSAR president Jeff Smedley. "The rationale is to ensure our people are safe as they train."
Due to the heavy onus this new policy put on SAR groups across the province, Smedley said the government put the protocols on pause to give everyone in the provincial SAR family a chance to prepare.
"It won't come into effect for this winter, but we plan on being ready, which is why we went after the grant anyway and set that money aside to use for that if we end up needing that level of scene assessment," Smedley said. "In the meantime we can get a Level 1 come in and assess the route and a Level 2 can assess the terrain, which is a minimal cost and we already have access to people trained to that level. If we have to go by the government's plan, and I'm not against the plan at all, then we would need that money to pay the higher costs for that level of technician."
Another $20,000 came to PGSAR in this funding package specifically for paying the costs of tactical training in swiftwater rescue, hover-exit techniques for helicopters, and some other areas of expertise the local group typically needs like ATV and snowmobile certification.
The remaining $43,000 was earmarked for basic equipment upgrades, annual operational costs, and closing some communications gaps which has been an ongoing special project for PGSAR.
"That has been on our wish list for awhile," Smedley said. "We recently got a repeater tower on Tabor Mountain, that was part of last year's project. We are putting one at our base station [PGSAR is headquartered north of the city core beside the former Hart Highway elementary], and a second repeater south of town where the Tabor Mountain signal was weaker and needed a boost."
These improvements will also help neighbouring SAR groups, especially when several are needed to work together on an incident.
"The [PGSAR] society provides a great service to our area and I was pleased to be able to support their grant application," said local MLA Pat Bell who vouched for their skills and capabilities during the funding consideration process.
Communications equipment was also the target of funds paid to PGSAR from a Prince George Community Foundation grant ($2,500) announced earlier this year.
PGSAR is also the benefactor of a call for donations in the name of the late Dallas Mayert who died in an avalanche this autumn.
Donations in memory of Dallas Mayert may be made to:
Prince George Search and Rescue
PO Box 2682 Stn. B
Prince George British Columbia
Canada
V2N 4T5
