Columbia Valley Pioneer staff
While Columbia Valley Search and Rescue (CVSAR) continues to save lives, it is struggling to find more space to operate amidst a 45 per cent funding cut.
Search manager Nancy Lorass laid it on the line for the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) during a committee presentation on September 5.
“We’re bursting at the seams,” she said while explaining their goal to acquire more space.
She noted the volunteer group that works 24/7 is seeing an increase in callouts, noting they moved their command trailer to the airport to improve their response time.
Lorass stated they received a number of calls at Bugaboo Provincial Park, including one where an individual fell 10 metres and broke their arm.
Volunteers also rescued a glider pilot who crashed a couple of years ago, and a child from a cliff area after an accident involving a bicycle.
A crew rescued a couple of people from Sinclair Canyon this summer, and attended to a young climber who tumbled down Catamount Glacier after a boulder gave way when she grabbed it.
Last summer the group rescued an individual after their leg became trapped between two boulders, Lorass said.
She noted that CVSAR is one of 78 teams operating in the province. Training includes swift water rescue, rope rescue, high angle, and glacier travel.
Lorass reminded the public to not jump off the cliffs at Windermere Wells, adding there is a fatality in that area every two or three years.
She noted that RCMP divers have not yet found the bottom of these wells, which are “dangerous.”
Lorass said they had already signed training contracts when the group was suddenly hit by a reduction in government funding.
“We are actively pursuing grants,” she told the RDEK.
Area F director Susan Clovechok said she will work with CVSAR to compose a letter (to the province) in the hope that funding will be reinstated.
