Campbell River Search and Rescue

Campbell River Search and Rescue Society is a group of dedicated volunteers who provide a vital lifeline to those who are lost or injured in the beautiful wilderness of northern Vancouver Island.

The nature of search and rescue work in British Columbia seems to be changing. Because of technology, we are doing less actual searching and more responding to calls of help from people who can tell us where they are. But the challenge for us is that we must still stay trained and ready for the next big search.

Campbell River Search and Rescue would not be a fraction of what it is today, without ongoing support from our community. Local government, service clubs, businesses and individuals have contributed enormous resources toward training, equipment and facilities, and for that we are very grateful. Tax deductible donations can be made directly through our website.

BC SAR Groups do not solicit funds by phone

Neither the BCSARA nor the Search and Rescue groups recognized by the Province as part of the Public Safety Lifeline solicit funding by telephone. You can learn more about this policy, and what to do if someone has contacted you by phone claiming to be a SAR group requesting funds here: BCSARA : Telephone Solicitation

It was another busy year for Campbell River Search & Rescue.

As always, the range of our call outs are wide and varied over Vancouver island and it’s inlets and surrounding...

SRD Recognizes Volunteers Judy Hagen and Marg Carr for Ten Years of Regional Emergency Support Services

Picture attached: Rick Wall (Chair, NIEP Society) acknowledged Marg Carr & Judy Hagen with flowers and...

We are #CRSAR – Meet Eric Teramura

WE ARE #CRSAR Search and Rescue works because of a dedicated group of volunteers. This dedicated group of volunteers...

Water flows down Elk Falls Canyon to increase to accommodate steelhead migration - Campbell River... Water flows down Elk Falls Canyon to increase to accommodate steelhead migration.
Public safety advisory in place for the river from John Hart Dam to Elk Falls during the migration flows.
Public safety advisory in place for the river from ...

SRD looking for Public Safety Lifeline Volunteers - Campbell River Mirror Great opportunity to help your community in times of emergency. Click the link for more info.
Emergency Support Services, Radio Communications and Animal Response volunteers all sought

Special Public Avalanche Warning Special Public Avalanche Warning extended to the island.
Special Public Avalanche Warning for South Coast and Vancouver Island

B.C. search and rescue getting record number of emergency calls https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1847945795812?fbclid=IwAR0U-JKZyOtFwhlnvkSyi_TjwQ4wpbSh_3U12CqRpdWV9DeSJ_-W_w-3Lj8
British Columbia's search and rescue teams are fielding a record number of emergency calls as more Canadians head into the wilderness.

Timeline Photos CRSAR thanks all our community members for helping to support our work! We wanted to say a special thank you to Janice Sewell for helping us fundraise. These cool masks can be found at the Crow's Nest Art Gallery.

Timeline Photos Winter adventures bring different challenges. Have you checked out https://adventuresmart.ca/winter/winter.htm ? Awareness and proper training is critical if you plan on spending anytime outside during the winter. Write a trip plan, take a training course, and make sure you take ...

Timeline Photos Campbell River SAR is looking into the new year! What outdoor adventures do you have planned this year? Check out https://adventuresmart.ca/ for trip planning and advice!
British Columbia Search and Rescue Association BC AdventureSmart

Experts urge extreme caution as beginners flock to B.C.'s backcountry amid high avalanche risk |... Be safe when considering backcountry travel this winter. BC has seen an exponential increase in backcontry users.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/backcountry-avalanche-caution-bc-1.5869336
Experts are urging all backcountry users to get or upgrade their avalanche skills training after a string of recent fatalities and close ...

Rescue our Rescuer- Janet Rygnestad Do you know this rad human who has undoubtedly helped you or touched your life in a positive way? Darn tooting rights you do! We now have an opportunity to help her out and surround her with a whole lot ...

CHEK News Campbell River SAR experienced a large increase in calls last year as more people headed outdoors. They expect 2021 to be just as busy.

Campbell River Mirror Be careful if you are around the Campbell River as BC Hydro is going to be increasing the flows on this river till mid February.
Anglers entering the river below the John Hart generating station until mid-February are advised to ...

Happy New Year Everyone! Here are some interesting facts from our 2020 year.

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Comox Valley Search & Rescue We support this House of Commons e-petition, and would certainly appreciate your signature too.

Hero reflects on harrowing rescue of man from raging Vancouver Island river - Campbell River... A job well done by our friends at Arrowsmith SAR! This is what we all train for.
Nick Rivers rappelled into the Little Qualicum River to save a man clinging between two waterfalls

British Columbia Search and Rescue Association "Since April 2020, crews have been deployed for almost 1,600 search and rescue missions. This means in 2020, ground search and rescue (GSAR) crews have responded to more than 300 additional callouts compared to the same period in 2019 and ...

Photos from Campbell River Volunteer Search and Rescue Society's post #skikind and we will all have a better winter.
#crsar #bcsara #sar

British Columbia Search and Rescue Association 289 #BCSAR volunteers, 35 tasks last week. You can help reduce the number and severity of incidents by leaving a trip plan, training and taking the essentials. You can also make yourself searchable by wearing RECCO technology. Learn more and shop here 👉 https://www.shop-bcsara.com/en/cad/category/19825
Full weekly incident report 👉 http://ow.ly/jV9j50DEdeQ
📸: Central Fraser Valley SAR

Hypothermia occurs when your body loses heat faster than it produces it. It is possible to experience hypothermia on a what seems like a simple adventure on a chilly day.
Hypothermia can occur when...
❄️ Wearing clothes that aren't warm enough for weather conditions
❄️ Staying out in the cold too long
❄️ Being unable to get out of wet clothes or move to a warm, dry location
❄️Falling into the water, as in a boating accident
❄️Living in a house that's too cold, either from poor heating or too much air conditioning
Check out BC AdventureSmart for more details about hypothermia.
🧤🧣🥾 stay warm and stay safe!
https://www.adventuresmart.ca/land/survive-hypothermia.htm

☀️Sunshine and cold temps in the forecast🥶
Pack extra warm layers, fire starter, emergency blanket, food, extra battery pack for your phone (batteries die much quicker in the cold), but even better a satellite communication device. No matter how simple or small of an adventure you may think it is, just keep these items in your pack all winter. Stay safe, while having fun!
https://www.adventuresmart.ca/land/survive-essentials.htm
#AdventureSmart
#hypothermiahappens
#hypothermia
#essentials
#10Essentials
#tripplanning

Vancouver Island Avalanche Center Society Thursday's avalanche bulletin is calling for an EXTREME danger rating at the Alpine level and a High danger rating at Treeline and Below Treeline.
A persistent weak layer exists in the snow pack that has been easily triggered by skiers, snowshoers, and snowmobiles. There have been MULTIPLE human triggered avalanches that have resulted in full burials this past weekend. Luckily there have been no fatalities.
It is not the time to venture into the backcountry. Please stay safe and keep updated on conditions at
https://www.islandavalanchebulletin.com/
The recent storm snow and winds have formed soft slabs in specific (west facing slopes) in downwind areas that are reactive to human triggering.

Special Public Avalanche Warning Special Public Avalanche Warning extended to the island.
Special Public Avalanche Warning for South Coast and Vancouver Island

Comox Valley Search & Rescue Comox Valley Search & Rescue performed a rescue in the backcountry yesterday involving a significant avalanche event.
Avalanche hazard remains HIGH for the entire island at all elevations. Please visit https://www.islandavalanchebulletin.com/ to review the bulletin.
To review safe winter travel please visit https://www.adventuresmart.ca/winter/winter.htm
*Edit: updating avalanche to size 2 as it involved burials. Thanks Vancouver Island Avalanche Centre.
CVSAR wrapped up January with 2 calls today. The first had 9 members plus 2 K9s assisting Campbell RIver Search and Rescue in Tahsis successfully locate a missing person.
The second call was for a ski touring group That triggered a size 2 avalanche that buried multiple subjects just North of Mt Apps. The group was able to conduct self rescue but a female skier sustained fractures to both legs and a dislocated shoulder. RCMP Air 8 was able to insert members of CVSAR who stabilized the subject and evacuated her to the Courtenay Air Park where the woman was transferred to a waiting air ambulance for further treatment in Vancouver.

Yesterday evening we were tasked to locate 2 snowmobilers in the Mount Adrian area who did not report back to their vehicle at the end of the day. With the assistance of Comox Valley Search & Rescue and NISA - North Island Snowmobile Association we were able to locate the subjects and return them back to their vehicle.
Here’s a great reminder from our friends at BC AdventureSmart regarding snowmobiling,
Snowmobiling in backcountry areas means severe weather and avalanches are real hazards. You and everyone in your group must be self-sufficient—carrying all the proper gear (transceiver, shovel, and probe) and have avalanche training. AdventureSmart is a great resource to help you get informed before heading outdoors.
Remember the three Ts—trip planning, training, and taking the essentials.
#KnowBeforeYouGo #bcsar #crsar #AdventureSmart

BC AdventureSmart Join us on one of the following dates to learn all about the
3 Ts (Trip Planning, Training and Taking the Essentials), what to do in an emergency and how to stay safe while enjoying the amazing backcountry that BC has to offer:
February 10 @ 6:30pm: https://fb.me/e/28gMinxeE
February 17 @ 7pm: https://fb.me/e/1O6hNDMyB
March 17 @ 7pm: https://fb.me/e/iQgyGo3mA

North Shore Rescue Over the last few weeks our team and others have received a number of inquiries about how SAR teams get location information from the smartphone of a missing subject (assuming their phone has reception where they are and they are able to communicate with authorities). As such, we thought it would be of general interest to describe some of the technology that is used on the "back end" of a SAR response in the Province.
If you are lost in the backcountry and have cell reception, your first action should, of course, be to call 911 so you can let authorities know you are lost and in need of rescue. When your phone makes an emergency 911 call, it will connect with any cell tower in range, even if it is not from your network provider. (Therefore, a 911 call may go through even if you are not otherwise able to get cell reception where you are.)
If you are familiar with your smart phone's capabilities, you may know how to obtain its GPS reading. (On iPhones, for example, the GPS coordinates are displayed at the top of the built in compass app if location services are turned on.) During the 911 call, you can relay these coordinates to the operator, who will then pass that information on to search crews.
Authorities and search crews are quickly and easily able to get location information from your cell phone even if you do not know how to find this information yourself. When you call 911, emergency operators are able to use their network technology to get an accurate location fix on your cell's location, without needing any further action or input on your part.
Further, when SAR crews are communicating directly with you during a response, we can easily get your cell's location information ourselves. We use technologies that are created by developers who are intimately familiar with the realities of backcountry SAR. They allow SAR personnel to instantly get your GPS information from your phone by the simple exchange of txt messages and the click of a link - no app, download, or other action is required on your part. At the fringes of cell reception, the exchange of txt messages is almost always more reliable than other network connections, meaning SAR crews are still able to get your coordinates when data is spotty and calls get dropped. It doesn't get much easier to use than this.
Importantly, both of these methods not only provide emergency personnel with your GPS coordinates, they also return and map an estimate of that coordinate's error radius (since you're never going to get pinpoint accuracy based on a cell phone's GPS, especially in mountainous terrain).
We have evaluated other systems from private companies, such as "What Three Words", that require the download/installation of an app and the use of a proprietary location system that has no widespread adoption. Given the technology described above - readily available to SAR crews in the Province and about as easily accessible as we can get - we do not see a place for them in the BC search and rescue community and do not advocate their use.

CHEK News Campbell River SAR experienced a large increase in calls last year as more people headed outdoors. They expect 2021 to be just as busy.

Happy New Year Everyone! Here are some interesting facts from our 2020 year.

Avalanche Canada Caution backcountry users in the Coast Mountains ⚠️
There were at least four large avalanches that occurred yesterday in the mountains close to Whistler and Pemberton. They ran on a weak layer that formed in mid-December, now buried 60-100 cm below the snow surface. Three of these avalanches were human-triggered and involved people.
The layer is likely to remain a problem for several days and could potentially become more reactive in response to storms forecast for Wednesday. Stick to lower angled slopes and avoid riding on steep slopes or in large, open bowls.
Get the forecast 👉 www.avalanche.ca
📷: Anton Horvath
📷: from the MIN- http://bit.ly/3mVJlMn
📷: Shane Szocs

Happy Holidays from our family to yours!

Comox Valley Search & Rescue We support this House of Commons e-petition, and would certainly appreciate your signature too.

Our members were out both days this weekend practicing avalanche rescue techniques. Remember to check reports on the Avalanche Canada app if you are heading out of bounds, wear a beacon, carry a shovel and probe know how to use them, and don’t go with anyone who does not. Stay safe and have fun ❄️
#bcadventuresmart #tripplanning

British Columbia Search and Rescue Association Holidays hours - same as last year! Always there for you!
Happy Holidays everyone!
School is out and winter break is officially on! Things look quite different this year, but one thing that doesn't change is that the unpaid search and rescue professionals of BC are ready to help you 24/7/365 and services are always free. Happy holidays and cheers to a safe season from all of us at BCSARA!

BC AdventureSmart TRIP PLAN Tuesday
〽️
Look closely, can you see the degree of those slopes?
👀
“Slope angle, or incline, is one of the most significant terrain characteristics that determines whether an avalanche can occur. Slab avalanches most commonly occur on slopes between 25° and 45°, and since slab avalanches are the most deadly, these are the slopes we’re most concerned about. The problem is these are also the slopes most backcountry recreationists tend to seek. For slopes less than 25°, the stress on the snowpack tends to be greater into the slope than down-slope, which helps to hold the snow in place. For slopes steeper than 45°, the down-slope component of stress due to gravity is so great that the snow has a hard time bonding and cohesive slabs usually don’t form.”
Quotes Avalanche Canada
〽️
Get informed before you go outdoors.
SPECIAL EVENTS, register & mark your calendars;
• Jan. 6: Snow Safety Education /Backcountry with us.
https://fb.me/e/1lvkMg1JU
• Dec. 17: Riding Out of Bounds ... What you need to know with Avalanche Canada.
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8012084468249703696

BC AdventureSmart ❄️ SLEDDER SUNDAY ❄️
ABILITIES; ‘exceeding them’ is the 3rd cause of search & rescue incidents during winter in BC.
TRAINING;
- Obtain the knowledge & skills you need before heading out.
➡️ Avalanche Skills Training(AST), navigation, route finding ➕
- Know & stay within your limits.
➡️ Decision making; make them with GROUP DYNAMICS in mind.
What training do you have?
Who taught you to ride?
How do you keep fit (💪🏼🧠) for sledding?
🎥 Dave Norona (🙏🏾 Dave!)

Photos from Campbell River Volunteer Search and Rescue Society's post #skikind and we will all have a better winter.
#crsar #bcsara #sar

Donate to CR SAR

Campbell River Search and Rescue, like other SAR groups in BC relies upon donations and grants in order to maintain our equipment, train our volunteers and keep the lights on.

Faire un don maintenant par CanadaHelps.org!

Our Sponsors

Is this an emergency?

For emergencies call 9-1-1

If you are concerned about a friend or family member who is missing, overdue, or possibly injured, please call 911. We are only dispatched via the Police, Fire or Ambulance service. They will make the decision to call us. We would rather be called sooner than later; we don’t mind being turned back when the person shows up without incident! Our (Non-Emergency) Phone: 250-923-2500

Campbell River Volunteer Search and Rescue Society

Welcome to Campbell River Search and Rescue

Join our fantastic volunteers

Campbell River Search and Rescue

BC SAR Groups do not solicit funds by phone

It was another busy year for Campbell River Search & Rescue.

SRD Recognizes Volunteers Judy Hagen and Marg Carr for Ten Years of Regional Emergency Support Services

We are #CRSAR – Meet Eric Teramura

Connect with us online!

Donate to CR SAR

Is this an emergency?

For emergencies call 9-1-1

AdventureSmart Message - Trip Plans

AdventureSmart Message - Be River Smart

AdventureSmart Message - Strathcona Provincial Park