*** SAR Units Mobilize Fire Evacuations ***

From:	 Don Blakely [blakely1@junction.net]
Sent:	 Saturday, August 22, 1998 10:37 PM
To:	 sarinfo@istar.ca
Subject: SAR Units assist in evacuations

BC's worst fire urban interface wildfire situation ever prompted Premier Glen Clark to declare the Provinces first Provincial State of Emergency for a one week period in August. In what is believed to be BC's largest mutual aid SAR operation no less than 18 SAR units responded or were placed on standby for the evacuation of part of Salmon Arm and other small communities. These units came from all over the lower half of the Province ranging from areas as diverse as Vernon, Penticton, Oliver and Maple Ridge.

During a week long series of operations these SAR units gave door to door evacuation warnings, provided traffic control, manned HQ's and Emergency Operations Centres, assisted Evacuation reception centres, provided communications and other various duties. Shuswap SAR from Salmon Arm bore the brunt of the tasks but had assistance from no less than 12 units responding directly and with another 6 on standby. While preserving enough resources to maintain their own SAR capability and to perform other related tasks these units were still able to provide no less than 150 volunteers to respond to the evacuations at any one time.

Barriere SAR was notable in that it had just returned from evacuation duties in Salmon Arm when it was immediately called out on a search in its area.  Withs some juggling of resources they were able to successfully conclude that operation in less than 7 hours before it was again tasked to provide assistance to yet another nearby community that was facing imminent evacuation.  

Vernon SAR ( believed to be BC's largest SAR Unit) not only had to perform all of the above tasks but also had to man a staging area where other responding SAR units gathered to conduct final preparation and briefing before deploying directly into Salmon Arm itself. It was also two SAR Managers from this unit that coordinated the overall SAR response at the Provincial Field Response Centre in Kamloops.  

Don Blakely, one of those two SAR Managers, said "We were going full tilt for most of the 24 hour day every day. We finally began rotating SAR Managers from other units through the headquarters to give them experience at this level of operation and to create a pool of experienced personnel for future multi-agency incidents. It was an incredible and intense experience.  Thankfully the nightmare scenario of a person lost in an active fire area never came to pass."

The other SAR manager, Pete Wise, who is also the Regional SAR Advisory Representative, said "It just happened that last fall we prepared a Region-wide SAR Mutual Aid Plan. It was an invaluable tool in kickstarting the planning process once this operation began rolling. We used it as a blueprint when we began to look to other Regions for Mutual Aid assistance.  Thank God for pre-planning."

All operations were successful with no deaths or injury to volunteers. A wave of support and appreciation has been expressed by the affected communities and the Government for the invaluable services of the volunteers.  

Don Blakely SAR Volunteers Advisory Concil of Canada