CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C- A regular practice night for Campbell River Search and Rescue was interrupted by rescue work on Tuesday.
According to a news release from the organization, a call came in around 7:10 p.m. for a medical rescue from the Bella Coola RCMP. A man had been rock climbing just outside of Bella Coola, and had fallen over 40 feet from a rock face.
He was believed to have suffered head injuries, and was laying at the bottom of a cliff.
“We immediately activated our rope rescue team who was dispatched via helicopter to Bella Coola,” read the release.
“Due to failing day light it was a close call to get a team there. It’s a two hour flight to Bella Coola and we managed to launch a team with rescue gear with the hopes of getting there and providing a rescue attempt or at least provide medical care through the night until day light when a long line rescue could be initiated.”
When the team was around 20 minutes away from the area, word was received about a forestry helicopter that was working nearby which had rescued the man.
He was taken to hospital in Bella Coola, with the possibility of flying out the next day for more advanced care.
A call from the Sayward area came in around 8:15 p.m. the same evening, after a man went missing on the H’kusam Trail near Sayward.
“We activated a second simultaneous search for this individual,” read the release.
“This male was delayed in his travels and was able to self-rescue as crews from CR were responding.”
According to Grant Cromer, the manager of the organization, it’s not rare to have two calls at the same time.
“Numerous times over the years we often get tasks to respond to simultaneous incidents, we have to manage our resources and hope we don’t get two specialized rescues at the same time, we have limited manpower and limited equipment especially for specialty rescue scenarios, but we can always activate neighbouring SAR groups to assist if needed,” said Cromer.
“This type of call volume is typical for this time of year, the good weather is bringing more people out recreating and certainly the calls for medical rescue will continue.”
Cromer believed that Campbell River Search and Rescue is well suited to respond up the North Island and inlets up the coast.
“There are no other SAR groups north of us, the Coastal Mountain Range provides a wall, we pretty much take ownership of the coast up to Bella Coola, and most of our calls involve extensive helicopter travel,” said Cromer.
“Two hours to Bella Coola by helicopter is not unusual for our group, helicopters provide us with quick access to some pretty remote locations along the coast, we can land in a remote river valley up one of the coastal inlets, load an injured subject and fly to Port Hardy hospital in a few hours, that make take days by conventional means of boating and ground travel.”
