Jim DelGrande and Al Hurley rig the helicopter for HETS

The decision to develop this capability within the team was not taken lightly. Two team members, Michael Coyle and Nick Zupan were trained for HETS in 2004, and had been participating in North Shore Rescue’s program since 2006. Their experience made the team more familiar with the tool, but for many years we felt that the volume of calls where HETS was required did not warrant developing the skills internally. This changed in 2009 and 2010 when there were several calls that required HETS to access the subject. Also, during the Tyler Wright search we found that team members were sent to extremely remote areas where it was difficult to insert and extract them by Helicopter, and having HETS available would have added to the safety of the operation, as well as extended the hours of useful searching they could accomplish.

Helicopter Essential Crewperson

Based on our needs analysis which included call volume, costs, risks, and safety considerations for our volunteers, we made the decision to develop the skills within the team. We proceeded on a fund raising drive to acquire the equipment and train eight team members in helicopter long line rescue, and late in 2011 we announced that the majority of the funding to support the program had been secured.

Coquitlam SAR is extremely proud to announce that our inaugural class of HETS trained members has completed an intense and thourough four day helicopter long line training course in Squamish, delivered by Emergco instructors Bill Mark and Gavin Reed and Talon Helicopters pilot Derek Riendeau. The three members of the team who were already certified (Zupan, Coyle and Colin Saurette) also attended the course.

Coquitlam SAR HETS Class of 2012

Members selected for this course are some of the most experienced, highly skilled and dedicated members of Coquitlam SAR. Each of them has a minimum of 6 years SAR experience, and represent over 140 person-years between in total. Five of them are SAR managers, all are Ground Search Team leaders, have First Responder or better medical training, and have Mountain Rescue training. The team has a mix of Rope Rescue, Swift Water, Avalanche Rescue and other SAR disciplines, many at the Team Leader or instructor level. One is a member of the Canadian Coast Guard, one is a professional fire fighter, and one is a BC Ambulance Paramedic.

R to L: Mike Coyle, Al Hurley, Wendi Harder and Darren Timmer

The team trained in risk management, leadership skills, helicopter rigging, reconnaissance, operations, and rescue techniques over several days. The training built on the already existing experience of the team with helicopters (used in most wilderness searches), working with Talon Helicopters, radio communications, resource and skills management, safety protocols and gear inspection and maintenance.

Over the next few weeks the team will become familiar with the HETS equipment, work on acquiring communications and other equipment, and begin building standard operating procedures for using HETS in a SAR task. The HETS team is looking forward to becoming operational for this summer.

Helicopter Long Line Training | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

Dr. Giesbrecht demonstrates heat treatment

We learned about the physiological effects of cold water immersion and submersion. Typical scenarios are breaking through ice or capsizing a boat. Contrary to popular belief it actually takes 30+ minutes for hypothermia to set in!

Dr. Giesbrecht developed the “1-10-1 Principle”. This helps you remember the phases of cold water immersion:

• 1 minute to control your breathing
• 10 minutes of useful muscle movement
• 1 hour before losing consciousness due to hypothermia

During all phases a PFD will greatly increase your chance of survival. Clothing will also help greatly by providing insulation.

Another important thing we learned was that you usually have time: both as the subject and as the responder. Control your breathing. Get over the panic. Make a plan. Take the time to do things right. You will be ok. We heard many examples where quick reactions escalated a cold-water or hypothermia emergency. Many deaths could have been avoided.

The Rescue

The second part of the course was practical. Two brave volunteers immersed themselves in the Fraser River. The water temperature was 8°C. So they were careful to go slowly and not jump in. After several minutes we helped them back out. We packaged them and applied heat treatment to warm them back up. Everything went smoothly!

Packaged Subject

This was a very interesting and worthwhile course for us. We will be sure to use the techniques and principles in our own responses!

We also enjoyed working together with all the other emergency workers at the course. There were members from the Coast Guard, medical army personnel, and of course other SAR volunteers. This is always a great chance to learn from others’ experiences.

More information on Dr. Giesbrecht’s “Cold Water Boot Camp”: http://www.coldwaterbootcamp.com

Hypothermia and Cold Water Rescue Training | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

Hey gang….Am back in Vancouver (temporarily) in the final stages of preparation for my trip to Nepal’s Pyramid Laboratory. I just wanted to give a brief update on what I have been up to over the past 4 months and the upcoming month and a half.

I have spent the last few months living on a lovely golf course in Kelowna and working at UBC’s Okanagan campus. My main job was instructing an exercise physiology course for third year students in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences. But most of my time was preoccupied for a 4 week period conducting baseline studies for our expedition to Nepal. The research we have been conducting is an assessment of brain, heart, and lungs during exercise, during alterations in arterial blood gases, and during pharmacological manipulations. I’ve attached several photos to this email to show how ‘fun’ this really is. Last week I had a catheter in my esophagus, my radial artery, and my internal jugular vein. The things we do for science… and an all inclusive trip to Nepal and the base camp of Everest. Although I get to be a subject in these studies I was also stupid enough to dream up some of them. A device I built to control arterial blood gases is a critical technology for our studies and involves us shipping fifteen 150lbs cylinders of O2, CO2, and N2 to our laboratory at 5,050m. These 15 cylinders left Vancouver a couple of weeks ago…will hopefully be through customs by the time I arrive and will be flown by helicopter 3/4 of the way to the pyramid. Yaks will be responsible for carrying these cylinders the rest of the way. Now hopefully I did the math right to ensure we have enough gases to carry out all of our studies.

Here is a blog that you may be interested in following about our research and it should be updated periodically throughout our trip.

I hope all is well and that you’re aren’t too busy these days.

All the best,

Glen Foster,  Ph.D

Update from Glen Foster | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

Wendi Harder, an eight year veteran of the team with skills as a team leader and swift water rescuer, passed the four day course recently held at the Justice Institute of BC in New Westminster. Some 20 volunteers came from throughout the province to take this training and be assessed and examined to determine if they are ready to run the course.

The course helps prepare individuals to run searches and rescues and is an intense four day session using a combination of theory and real life scenarios where the participants run a search and put into practice what they are taught in the classroom. They learn everything from search theory to how to handle multiple day searches to how to document the progress of a search.

Over the next few months Wendi will shadow the current Coquitlam SAR management team during tasks to gain operational experience and will be rotated into the roster when she is ready to run her first full search independently as SAR Manager.

As a side note, Wendi will also be participating in Coquitlam SAR’s helicopter rescue training program near the end of April.

Wendi Harder, new SAR Manager | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

Read Coquitlam SAR member Mike Coyle’s interview on being a  SAR volunteer.   Mike, along the other members of Coquitlam SAR and the hundreds of other Public Safety Lifeline Volunteers across British Columbia are all proud to serve.

For more information on National Volunteer Week, go to http://volunteer.ca/nvw

Coquitlam SAR and National Volunteer Week 2012 | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

At the same time four members were dispatched up an old logging road on Eagle Mountain with the Team’s Argo, an eight wheel drive ATV. Several other members were also dispatched from the Buntzen Lake parking lot to hike up to the top of Eagle Mountain. The snow elevation is at approximately 500 meters with well over 2 meters of snow at the top.

The first team in, traveling on snow shoes, quickly discovered tracks in the snow from the subjects and began to follow them. Shortly after that the Argo team also found tracks in the snow, however it was unknown whose tracks those might be. While entering the park to join the search, Search Manager Ian MacDonald spotted lights in one of the middle parking lots. He soon discovered there were two other hikers that were also lost and who had just found their way back to the parking lot. No one knew they were out there and they were not reported missing.

As mid-night approached two other Coq SAR members were about to be deployed to the last trail when the three subjects appeared in the parking lot. They had apparently not heeded the advice of the RCMP to remain where they were and decided to follow their own tracks in the snow back down the mountain. Had they stayed where they were they would have likely have been spotted from the air with the helicopter and the whole search would have been over within an hour.  Coq SAR now had 15 members on the mountain and it took until 5 am to get them out of the field. The team also spent the next day recovering their Argo, which had broken down at the top of the mountain.

Coq SAR would like to remind hikers that there is a lot of snow on the mountains this year and that it will likely last well into June or July. It is during this time of year when lost hikers are most likely to become hypothermic, simply because they are not prepared for the colder climates at the top of the mountain.  Please ensure you have the 10 essentials with you like a map and compass, which the subjects of this search did not have.

Eagle mountain search report- April 7 2012 | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

Glen Foster in the Lab

Their destination is the Everest Pyramid laboratory, located at 5,050 metres, where the team will be conducting research on the effects of altitude on the human body for 6 weeks. The study, titled Integrative physiological adaptation to high-altitude: a scientific expedition to explore mechanisms of human adaptation, encompasses eight separate experiments ranging from cerebrovascular, cardiopulmonary, and neurocognitive health to measuring the effects of acute mountain sickness and sleep apnea.

Glen, in the mountains

According to information posted by UBC, Glen and his fellow researchers are also the test subjects for this study. They are currently gathering base line information and making other preparations in Kelowna.

Glen will leave for Nepal in April, and we wish him good luck in his research.

For more information and media coverage of the expedition, see the following links:

• Atop Everest for Health Research, UBC Dept of Public Affairs
• UBC Okanagan Researchers Heading to Everest, CHBC News
• UBC Okanagan team heads to Everest for high level tests, Victoria Times Colonist
• University Researchers Everest Bound (video), CHBC news

Team member heading to Everest for medical research. | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

The team was formed in 1972 after a search on Burke Mountain required a SAR team to be called in from another community. The city felt they needed their own team. Originally comprised of police and fire department personnel, the team is now completely staffed with 50 volunteers.

The team’s search area covers 1,600 square kilometres, the largest in the lower mainland. The members are trained in search, swift water rescue, rope rescue, communications, helicopter safety, avalanche awareness, tracking, navigation, wilderness survival, basic first aid, advanced first aid and soon Helicopter Long Line rescue.

To date the team has conducted over 650 tasks. During those tasks the team has found 821 lost people, rescued 68 injured people and recovered 61 bodies. Over 65,000 hours have been logged by Coquitlam Search and Rescue Volunteers on tasks and further countless hours on training.

Also recognized were Dan Cook and Ian Cunnings.

Mayor Richard Stewart presents to Dan Cook (photo: Ian Thompson)

Ian Cunnings accepting his certificate (photo: Ian Thompson)

Cook joined the team 35 years ago and retired only recently, however he still assists the team from time to time when requested. In 1982, Dan ran one of the team’s largest searches and served as the team’s first Team Leader (now known as president). Cunnings joined the team 30 years ago and shortly after became a search and rescue manager. Ian’s year of experience in search and rescue resulted in his being hired by the Provincial Emergency Program where he now serves as the Search and Rescue Specialist for Emergency Management BC.

Garry Mancell, accepting a certificate of recognition of 40 years of service to the community on behalf of the team. (photo: Ian Thompson)

Garry Mancell, President of Coquitlam Search and Rescue received the recognition on behalf of the team. “It was a great honor to represent the team for this recognition”, Mancell said. “Being part of this team has been most satisfying. The dedication of each and every member is unlike anything I have been involved in. People are aware of the work we do during a search or rescue but they don’t hear about the hours spent training and honing our skills to be ready. Dan Cook and Ian Cunnings are examples of the years of dedication many of our members of put in. It is an honor to be a part of this team.”

Dan Cook, Mayor Richard Stewart, Garry Mancell and Ian Cunnings (photo: Ian Thompson)

Coquitlam SAR Recognized for 40 years of service | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKozdBQI5w&feature=youtube_gdata_player

There`s also a related video of the HET (helicopter external transport) extraction (courtesy of Curtis Jones from North Shore Rescue):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s3s-MW0L_g&feature=related

Video from last summer’s Debeck creek rescue | Coquitlam Search and Rescue

SAR member observes a small avalanche

Safely ski cutting the slope

Niko Weiss instructing SAR members on Mount Seymour

Organized Avalanche Response, Mount Seymour | Coquitlam Search and Rescue