The call comes in of a male that has fallen into Kokanee glacier cr at the 12km mark off the old growth trail. Knowing the area well, I know the outcome is going to be bad. I live close to the area and had an ambulancepass my drive way code 3 heading to the call. I followed up the road and can hear that there is an RCMP officer heading up the road ahead of us.  My manager called with few details so i hailed the RCMP member to see what was known. The constable was just arriving to the area and had been met by bystanders that told her that the subject was clinging to a log in the creek and was in bad shape but alive. I was shocked that anyone could have fallen into that creek during high water and survived. The creek cascades down hundreds of feet per mile and is chocked with loges and rock gardens.  I stepped up my response as I realized if he was alive, allot of time would have passed and his time would be running out.

When I arrived, another member of the SRT team had arrived behind me and more were an the way. The constable radioed me and said they were 10 minutes down the trail and that they had marked the trail in with tape. We dressed in our gear and ran down the trail. Unfortunately their was tape everywhere. We managed to run the whole trail loop and back up before we found the site.

When I arrived on site, there was the subject sitting on a log in the river about 18ft from shore on the leading edge of a log jam. He was wrapped in two blankets and looking very cold, very hurt and was unresponsive. There was a bystander who crawled out on the log and had wrapped a rope around the subjects belly that was connected to shore. He was holding the subject up and was not comfortable with where he was, he acted on impulse and looked at me with a “OK now what”.

The location was safe to access, the leading edge of the logs they were on were a danger. More than anything if the subject fell off the log back into the river he would not survive, he would have gone straight into an entrapment and that would have been bad. There was no down stream danger to me to access as it was all wood, anyone with training would be safe; down street containment wasn’t an option. I was tethered to shore to keep from possibly falling forward and being committed to the leading edge and quickly made my way out to them. The bystander was telling me that if he let go the subject would fall in, so we traded places and he scrambled back to shore and safety. One down one to go…. The subject was in bad shape, he was confused and very badly beat up. He had a broken arm for sure but was covered in trauma. He was a about 200 lbs and not able to help in his rescue. Things got complicated from there on.

First I removed the rope from around his waist, if he fell in with that around his waist it would cinch and put him in a terrible body position in the current and entrap him. second I needed to get a PFD and line on him as all he had was a t-shirt and shorts to hang on too. I had Sam run a rescue PFD down my line to us and got it on him and tightened it up. I pulled a flip line out of the PFD pocket to tie up his broken arm and secure it up. Now what to do….

He couldn’t move around on his own. he was starting to come around and asked me what I was going to do. I showed him where we had to go and he said that he didn’t think he could do it. Wasn’t sure if there was any option but to physically carry him across the logs to shore. I told him I was going to turn around and I wanted him to flop down onto my back, I told him i was going to carry him to shore. He said OK, seemed sure I could do it. I wasn’t so sure in truth. I got him on my back’ pulled his good arm over my shoulder and pressed him off the log. I crawled across to the next log and sat him down. It hurt him allot. He said he hurt everywhere.  I climbed over the log while hanging on to him and lifted him from that log to another. Repeated the process till we were on the steep bank. I had the crew pull his tether as i lifted till we had dragged him to a secure location on shore.

BCAS was there and I had our SRT members stand between the shore and the subject to keep from any mishaps in the trip zone. We stripped him and started the primary survey, did interventions and packaged him up warm and ready for transport.

We used the stretcher and wheel to get him up the trail to the bus. i only made it halfway up before i had to step out. Between the long run into the site with a dry suit on, the physical strain of the extrication on the logs and the stretcher work; I was done……

The team did a great job and it was a quick response. We went back a few days later and conducted a swiftwater practice in the spot. We looked over the place he fell in, he was trying to save a pet. He went through 2 sets of creek wide log jams that would have pushed him through some small spaces. He also was forced over some nasty rock gardens that made his injuries seem less than what they should have been. To sum it up, I don’t know how he survived the swim. It wasn’t what i would call survivable, yet you have to remember that people go off Niagara Falls in a barrel and live.

Pic by John Tweedy

So when a call comes in of a snowmobile in avalanche terrain that has fallen down a mine shaft a 100′, how do you pre-plan for that??

This was a complicated call as we had to clear the site for avalanche with a level 2 forecaster. Than had to get a rope rescue TL with cave rescue and mine rescue experience to lead it. Had to get an air tester and get there before dark.

After some rushed planning, a forecaster, a physician team member and myself flew in to the site and found the site to be clear of avalanche danger, Dr Mike and myself jump out and took controll of the site. 8 snowmobiler on site with three 25ft in the hole. Go or no go decision had to be made. cave and mine rescue rules need to be respected. After securing the site for danger, I could see all three subjects in the hole and they were speaking to me and had been there for hours. Air quality was good (had a teaster with me), had positive air flow coming up shaft. Subjects were on a stable bench and safely accesable with little or no danger of rock fall or entrapment.  There was an amount of snow that could have fallen in but wasn’t enough to entrap or affect the extraction. Decision was made to call it a round cliff and get them out the last 25′ as they had managed to get the injured subject out 75′ or so on there own and cold and night were on there way.

This went safely and quickly. We had rigged the system and sent an attendant down to secure all three subjects on the ledge. We first brought up the injured subject in a pick-off style rescue as time and distance was short and a full package was not necessary. Subject had a broken wrist and foot, but was in good shape and spirits, just cold. The other 2 had managed to lower themselves down on an old ski rope. Very lucky they had managed to access and raise the injured party to the place they had. they were all put into harnesses and bee suits and raised one at a time in a timely fashion. The injured subject was packaged by Dr Mike and was prepared to transport by snowmobile skimmer. Breaking down the site and getting everyone off the mountain was the real chore. 26 people were on site by the end and it was like herding cats to keep a head count and organize the return of all.

The biggest pain about this call was the go or not go decision as it was a round cliff and was only able to be assessed on site as to if it was able to be executed as a round cliff rescue, mine rescue or cave rescue. When someone says mine shaft, it sends up many alarm signals as to who or how the rescue should be handled. Problem being this can’t be assessed till the right person is on site and it is able to be assessed without being compelled to act no matter what is found. This was done based on experience and an unclouded mind to act.  I made the decision to call it a round cliff and get them out as no other hazard was presented to delay rescue to wait for another form of specialty rescue.

The second pain with this call was the media….. Unbelievable response from national media on this call. Not sure why they keyed on this call as much as they did but they were pushy, underhanded and called all day for a week. I was in contact with the subjects family and they told me that a reporter had pretended to be a family member to be able to talk to the subject while he waited in the ER room.  I have dealt with this before with high profile calls but didn’t expect this much from this call. I felt sorry for the family as they were hounded. I have no problem with giving media information within my power, but when they are rude and forceful they will get nothing.

This call was filmed for the show as much as we could without it hampering the effort. I think that the media was aware of this and that’s why they pushed so hard to get the footage. It will be a good positive show that will show the incredible effort put forth by the snowmobiler support to the subject before we were able to access the site. Very positive call.

Its been weeks since we have done a call out. Very slow fall, hope this doesn’t mean a crazy winter season….

Finally got called out today for a rescue of a fella who had his quad roll over on him. Unfortunately i was on the main lake fishing when i got the call and was to late to get there to be of any help. Its to bad, the fishing was hot!

I have been stopped many times this past few weeks by folks that have seen the show, very positive remarks and feed back. Almost all stated they were surprised at what we do and at what level we are trained. Also many thanks and words of appreciation for doing this volinteer work. I really excited that SAR members across Canada are being recognized for the work they do.

Was called out for 2 young males who were caught out on the top of a cliff off of a popular hiking trail in the city of Trail. They thought it would be a short cut but ended up losing light and became stuck. SAR and local fire rescue crews walked them out. They lite several fires on the side of the mountain to attract attention to their situation.

Another example of poor planning…….

On the tower tonight with the crew, bloody cold up on the steel. Winter is here for sure. I think we should get a swiftwater practice in before the snow falls.

Back from Montreal tired and full of information.

It was a great few days networking and learning new things. Our presentations seemed to be well recieved and everyone had great things to say about the show. Montreal is an incredible city. It was great to see so many freinds from all over the country and the world!

Saw the second show last night on TV, the Grey Cr crash. I had picked up the camera kit the day of that call in the mail about 10am, got called out about 5:30 that night and decided to start filming. Can’t believe after 5 days of winging it with a camera i had never seen before, I would be watching it on TV a year and a half later.  Who knew……

Well… quite a weekend.  Left Thursday for Van, had a BCSARA directors meeting. Managed to squeeze in several other meetings while I was there. Didn’t get back till near 2 in the morning on Monday.

Just about ran over a Ferrari on West Broadway with the Tahoe, would have been a bad way to start a day.

Busy week cleaning up loose ends at work as I’m off to SARSCENE in Montreal on Friday. Looking forward to seeing everyone from the SAR community.

  Had a call out today for a boat in distress. Was a very successful call out with 4 subjects and 2 dogs rescued from a rocky shore line and a swamped boat. found out after that they had been there all night trying to self rescue and call friends for help. Sheilah, Lou, Al, Randy and myself crewed the rescue boat, check out Sheilah’s blog for more detail.