These thoughts are totally from the perspective of an outsider and of the spouse of a volunteer search and rescue volunteer . On July 26, a search was called for a missing fisherman. The information the searchers had was he was overdue from a two hour fishing trip on the Bowron River. We were just finishing a lovely dinner at our sister and brother in laws but that ended abruptly as it did for the other volunteers. They were all at various dinners barbeques, parties, family gatherings and one was even getting ready to embark on a fishing trip himself, with a son-in-law that he had not seen in seven years! Somewhere between thirty and thirty five volunteers from GSAR ( Ground Search and Rescue), CASARA ( Civil Air Search and Rescue Association ), Prince George amateur radio club, assisting the RCMP, dropped what they were doing and rushed to find someone who was lost. Some even spent an uncomfortable night sleeping in their own vehicles at the command centre on site at the Bowron River. They all did this because that's what volunteer searchers do.
As it turns out there is a happy ending. The fishermen was found alive and safe on Sunday morning after it was determined that he had actually planned to go to Narrow Lake for two days, not the Bowron River for two hours. This happy ending however, came at the expense of the plans of many other people.
What happened here? This was an enormous miscommunication!
The point to be made here is that if you are planning to venture into the wilderness, please! please! please! let someone know where you are going, how long you plan to stay and to let someone know if your plans change because these unsung heroes will drop whatever they are doing again and again to go searching for missing people (and for those who are not actually missing at all! )
It is imperative that you give and relay accurate information when it comes to searches , because one of these days they could be looking for someone you love or maybe even you.
Joyce Brash
Prince George
