One Week In August: Stories From Search and Rescue in British Columbia

By Jim McAllister

One Week in August: Stories from Search and Rescue in British Columbia provides insights into how volunteer search and rescue groups, volunteer members, and agencies respond to locate lost persons and rescue those hurt or stranded.
Based on actual incidents and responses that took place during one week in 2004 under very challenging conditions, individuals and some of those rescued relay their first-hand experiences while the author provides further insight through his experiences over 45 years in search and rescue.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tellwell Talent
• Release date: Jun 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9780228892885

Jim McAllister

Jim McAllister has been involved in search and rescue for over 45 years, starting as a volunteer member in the Rocky Mountains in 1977 as a member of Golden and District SAR and then Cranbrook SAR. He became the SAR specialist for the Province of B.C. in 2002. In 2008, Jim retired from the provincial government as a director with Emergency Management British Columbia, then became a volunteer director for special projects with the British Columbia Search and Rescue Association. Jim has been involved with many major projects: the establishment of the Canadian Avalanche Centre, the updating of volunteer reimbursement rates, the establishment of health and safety guidelines, the formation of a joint health and safety committee, and the establishment of the British Columbia Search and Rescue Volunteer Memorial. Jim wrote a book on the last project, titled "A Monument to Remember."

Book preview

ONE WEEK IN AUGUST

Stories From Search and Rescue in British Columbia

Jim McAllister

ONE WEEK IN AUGUST

Copyright © 2023 by Jim McAllister

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Disclaimers

Any opinions expressed in this book are of the author or interviewees where quoted.

Every attempt has been made to verify the information provided in this book, reference materials are listed where possible.

Search and Rescue volunteers and agencies do not share the names of subjects (persons found or rescued). Where names are provided, they are drawn from media and/or other public documents.

Some of the activities mentioned in this book are hazardous without the proper equipment and training. No person should attempt such activity without such training and equipment.

Cover photo: Sebastien (Bass) Marcoux, Comox Valley Search and Rescue

Tellwell Talent

www.tellwell.ca

ISBN

978-0-2288-9287-8 (Paperback)

978-0-2288-9288-5 (eBook)

Dedication

To all Search and Rescue volunteers in British Columbia and around the world who give unselfishly every day so others may live.

I also dedicate this book to the many people who contributed to Search and Rescue and Emergency Management in British Columbia and have passed on. A few of these people are mentioned in this book; Bob Kelly, a gentle bear of a man, good friend and mentor; and Linda West who was a friend to all.

Jim McAllister

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. The provincial picture

Chapter 2. The missing elder of Kelly Lake

Chapter 3. Hiker stranded outside Whistler

Chapter 4. Lost prospectors near Spanish Lake

Chapter 5. Hiker with a broken ankle in Golden Ears Park

Chapter 6. Man trapped in landslide near Terrace

Chapter 7. Additional details on Search and Rescue in BC

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

References

Introduction

There are thousands of stories worthy of being written from the many years of Search and Rescue (SAR) in British Columbia. Each SAR response is different given the varied topography, weather, activity of subjects (person being searched for or rescued), and other factors. The number of SAR responses in BC annually has increased, from 747 in 1998 to 930 in 2004, when the incidents written about in this book took place, to 1,676 in 2020. In 2021, the number of incidents spiked to approximately 2,100, which is attributed to more people out recreating due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The incidents for 2022 dropped to pre-pandemic numbers.

The concept for this book started to gel in 2006. The Provincial Emergency Program (PEP) signed an agreement to co-host a SAR conference in Victoria with the National Search and Rescue Secretariat (NSS) in September 2007. The national conference, referred to as SARscene, was held each year and rotated between the east, central, and west regions of the country.

As the SARscene lead for PEP, and the agency representative on the newly formed British Columbia Search and Rescue Association (BCSARA) board, I thought a book written about SAR responses was a good idea. The book could then be sold at the conference with any profits going to support the eighty SAR groups and 2,500 SAR volunteers in the province.

Rather than attempt to write the book myself, given it would be my first and I had other time pressures as the Director of Management Services, I reached out to Dave Perrin, an author whose storytelling abilities I loved. Dave was a retired veterinarian from Creston, BC, who wrote books about his experiences in the area, starting with Never Turn Your Back in a Barnyard. Dave self-published his books, and after several conversations, he liked the concept and said he would undertake the writing and sell his book to SAR groups at a discount so they could raise funds!

After providing information on some responses that had special human interest perspectives to Dave; Cyndie Jones, project lead for the development of the major AdventureSmart outdoor safety program, met with Dave while she was in the Kootenays. Unfortunately, the book did not happen at that time due to the short timeframe, and although volunteers who were involved in the responses were interested, it was difficult to draw out their thoughts. Two of those SAR incidents are included in this book: the missing elder of Kelly Lake and the lost prospectors near Spanish Lake.

The search for the missing hiker near Whistler also had a SARscene 2007 tie-in. Brad Sills, an SAR manager with Whistler SAR, presented on the search and rescue of Sam Black, including a video interview with Sam, at the opening ceremony on the experience.

Another story included in this book is about the rescue of a hiker with a broken ankle. While a helicopter can often be used to quickly access and transport someone who is in a known location, this incident highlights that, due to weather and other factors, that is not always possible.

The weather impacted all the responses detailed in this book, as it does for many every year. Even with increased use of technology and aircraft, it is critical that SAR respond with large numbers of volunteers on the ground.

As I started out saying, there are thousands of stories of Search and Rescue in BC worthy of a book. When I started as the SAR specialist for PEP in 2002, one of my goals was to attend some large responses in different areas of the province to provide provincial-level assistance. This was a great learning experience and lead to a similar approach during large responses to natural disasters. Observing without being drawn into the ongoing management of the response and being ready to assist if the incident command had requests for further provincial support was very effective.

That same summer, some of the largest and most complex searches in BC occurred. The search for a missing hitchhiker along the Highway of Tears from Prince George was an incredible undertaking, with over 1,500 kilometres of roadways searched by vehicle, plane, and helicopter, and by walking roadsides looking for clues. Unfortunately, Nicole Hoar has not been found as of 2023 and remains one of the many missing women along this highway.

A month later, reports of a missing ten-year-old boy along the Salmon River north of Prince George resulted in a large-scale search involving police, SAR volunteers, members of a forest firefighting crew, air search crews, and other responders. Unfortunately, Joseph Andrews has never been found. I attended both of these searches.

In late August 2002, another massive search for two missing hikers took place on Mt. Elizabeth near Kitimat. Under extremely challenging conditions, resources from across BC conducted the search using every technique available. The body of Christina Huckvale was located and recovered on August 30. During a break in the weather a month later, the body of Chris Markoff was spotted during an air search and recovered. I was unable to attend this search but remained involved at a provincial support level.

In July of 2003, I was acting as the director at the Provincial Regional Emergency Operation Centre (PREOC) in Nelson, supporting the response to the record forest fires threatening communities. There are a number of linkages between SAR and response to civil emergencies, and some people say that SAR is the duct tape of emergency management given the volunteers assist in many different ways, including evacuations. A better description would be the Swiss army knife!

During a review of the SAR assistance in the wildfires of 2003, some SAR members stated they did not understand what role SAR had in natural emergencies. Long-term members such as myself remember that organized SAR came from the civil emergency days during the 1950s and 1960s. During the wildfires in the Okanagan and Thompson regions, there were over sixty thousand people evacuated, and many more evacuation alerts and notices were delivered, largely by SAR volunteers.

Based on the discussion with SAR volunteers about their experiences in the wildfire response, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Sgt. Don Bindon drafted a protocol that outlined what roles were appropriate and evacuation guidelines with details such as how to mark residences with different coloured flagging tape. Don wrote the protocol while we were attending the Washington State SAR conference in the spring of 2004.

With the increasing number of natural disasters since 2003, SAR volunteers have a higher profile in emergency response. During the wildfires of 2017, they were instrumental in the safe evacuations in Williams Lake and 100 Mile