Extremely Bad Publicity

Meanwhile, back in Canuckistan, one of the local volunteer search and rescue groups has been getting some negative publicity after the SAR Manager during a privately funded search for an individual who went missing about 7 weeks ago (last seen on a suburban street), commandeered the helicopter to repeatedly harass and berate two young men hiking in a nearby valley.

The whole episode is tough to put together from the available information but, apparently, the SAR group was using a helicopter and ground crews to search for a young British tourist who went missing back in November last year. This gentleman was last seen on a suburban street in Vancouver and may have been heading out for a hike. The official search was suspended when no trace of the man could be found but the SAR group has recently been funded by the family to resume the search. 

 

During the course of this new search two young men in their early 20's were spotted from the helicopter travelling through a nearby valley. Apparently, from the helicopter, the SAR group was able to ascertain (1) that there was an “extreme” (I quote) risk of injury and death; and (2) that the young men in question were incompetent. Under instruction from the SAR manager, the helicopter team detoured, landed, obtained emergency contact information from the pair of young men and instructed them to not go any further but to return the way they had come.

Post search, team members cropped out to protect the innocent

The two young men were later observed to have continued on their journey, climbed the mountain they were intent on and were spotted returning to their campsite. At this point, the SAR manager became inflamed – there does not seem to be a better word to describe his actions. Commandeering the helicopter, the SAR manager flew off to personally berate the two young men. As an aside, it's hard not to imagine that the biggest issue he had with the pair was that they had successfully done what he believed they could not. This however, is not the end of the story. The SAR manager then called the young men’s parents and finally followed up by releasing a media statement in which he again castigated the two young men. 

 

Most of the discussion on the intrawebs has focused on the fact that the SAR manager appears to have overstepped the bounds of his authority. But, the entire episode raises other issues, not the least of which is why the SAR group was endangering their own personnel in a search that had been previously suspended because there was no concrete information to indicate the lost individual was even in the area if conditions were as “extreme” as the SAR manager claims. After all, at this point, there is an infinitesimal likelihood of the young man being found alive somewhere in the wilds of BC. It is one thing to go out searching in poor conditions with the hope of finding someone alive, quite another to go out with no expectation of that outcome. 

Privately funded searches are becoming much more common and seem to be a general trend where we see the rich getting what they want at the expense of the poorer folk. What would happen if a real rescue were required during the period when all the time, resources and personnel of the team are being expended on a privately funded search that, at this point, is pretty hopeless. I am sure the SAR team in question would claim that they could easily shift gears and deal with a new emergency but this patently not true. Team members are already fatigued from a previous search, gear is misplaced and requires repair and restocking, and, daylight is likely to be short. 

Much dirty laundry has been aired in this debate including various and somewhat vague references to this particular SAR group searching peoples gear left behind in cabins, arguing with other rescue agencies on who gets to do what and how, interfering in other SAR groups policies, and, on numerous other occasions, berating various members of the public about various issues. Some of this may, of course, be sour grapes, but, there is also no smoke without fire.  Excuse the mixed and hackneyed metaphors.

At this point, I think the SAR group is doing themselves more harm that good, at least with the outdoor community, by using such emotive language to defend their actions. The so called perpetrators in this instance are repeatedly referred to by SAR personnel as children when the young men in question are actually in their 20's, experienced climbers are calling the “extreme” conditions “best climbing conditions” in a long time, and any question that new tracks will confuse searchers is patently ludicrous given that the subject of the search disappeared almost two months ago and is not walking about climbing mountains.