Facebook/Technical Search and Rescue @tsrgp

By Justin Dionne

Search and Rescue

New hardware on the way for Grande Prairie Technical Search and Rescue

Apr 3, 2019 | 5:30 AM

Grande Prairie Technical Search and Rescue is looking to build on a strong 2018.

President of the organization Christina Fobes presented a 2019 grant funding report to the Infrastructure and Protective Services committee Tuesday, where she highlighted some of the stats and new additions from 2018, which include a jet boat donated by NuVista.

“We got the boat last year. We ended up getting it from a company down in Red Deer,” says Fobes. “The funds were donated by a local company, and we’re just getting it ready for this year. We had to put a bottom on it just so it’s river ready, and we’re getting personnel trained, but it will be ready this summer.”

Fobes adds river safety is going to be put in the spotlight this spring as GPTSR is putting together a plan to promote safety along the Wapiti River. Her report says that last year, eight new Operational Members were added to the team, six new SAR Managers were trained, four Swiftwater Technicians joined the team, and eight Wilderness First Responders were added to the medical team.

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Along with a new boat, GPTSR has also acquired a new mobile command trailer which was donated by Schlumberger. Fobes says the command trailer should be operational within the next few months.

Fobes says GPTSR has also been receiving the help of a helicopter pilot from McLennan.

“Anytime that we do have a search, we’re able to utilize him. We’ve used him on a couple of different occasions. What we do is: he comes and we put a spotter in the aircraft so he does have the ability to have a FLIR , so he has heat detecting capabilities as well. We also have the mutual aid agreement with the CASARA, the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association to put planes up as well. So that we have people in the air, we have people on the ground, and we’ll have people on the river this year, for sure.”

The breakdown of the GPTSR 2019 Grant Funding Report was as follows:

• City of Grande Prairie: $25,000, 19%
• Fundraising: $27,350, 20%
• County of Grande Prairie: $22,500, 17%
• MD of Greenview: $20,000, 15%
• MD of Spirit River: $5,000, 4%
• Government of Alberta: $10,308, 8%
• Saddle Hills County: $22,500, 17%