2016 – A Year in Review
Our 2016 year in review article is spiced up a bit from previous years. Check it out here!
Category: Other Training
SARscene 2016 – Edmonton, Alberta
Written by Mark Wells Several members of Saskatoon Search and Rescue attended SARscene 2016 from October 15 – 17 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Myself, Kent Orosz, Dale Liebrecht, Henry Eng, Tracy VanBrabant, Sean Taylor and Scott Wright). Kent and I started by leaving Saskatoon on Friday night. The drive there was okay; the roads were pretty good. Well, except for the stretch of “travel not recommended” where we were driving 50 km/hr on the highway. But I wasn’t driving so I thought it was grand. We arrived at our hotel a little while after midnight and you just could tell there...
Search Dog Basics
Written by Dale Johnstone Last July, I had the pleasure of attending the three-day Search Dog Basics Seminar in Regina put on by Mary-Ann Warren of Precision Search Dog. Sgt. Pete Garvey of the RCMP and Lloyd Goodwill of Search and Rescue Regina (SARR) brought Mary-Ann in for the weekend to give us an introduction into the world of search dogs. As I’m sure many people know, we do not use civilian search dog teams in Saskatchewan. But there is a strong and growing desire to change that and this course was a big first step in that journey. Mary-Ann...
2015 – A Year in Review
2015 was another very busy year for Saskatoon Search and Rescue. Here’s our year in review! Activations The Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) and RCMP requested our assistance for both urban and rural searches for missing persons. Missing Person Activations: 7 Standby Requests (Missing Persons): 3 These were missing person cases that involved those who are most vulnerable – very young children and persons, both young and elderly, with mental and/or physical health concerns. (See map at end of post for more information.) Saskatchewan Emergency Management and Fire Safety (EMFS) also requested our assistance with the northern fire situation and four of our members,...
Reflections on SARscene Conference – PEI
Written by Tracy VanBrabant In October, both Diane and I had the pleasure of attending SARscene 2015 in Charlottetown, PEI. It is an annual event that brings together groups from coast to coast, to educate, train, and share ideas. It was an eye opening experience to see how many different organizations there are involved in Search and Rescue. While I’m used to working as a GSAR (Ground Search and Rescue) volunteer, it was fascinating to see other groups like CASARA (Civil Air Search and Rescue Association), K9-SAR, Canadian Forces, Canada Coast Guard, RCMP, Parks Canada, police officers, firefighters, and many...