On Monday, Feb. 17, Kimberley Search and Rescue (SAR) were in the midst of a rescue when they noticed an unidentified drone in the area, preventing them from potentially calling in a helicopter.
"A couple of challenges to what we do: if someone’s flying a drone, I can’t fly a helicopter," said Peter Reid, manager and search manager with Kimberley SAR. "As soon as that drone went in the air, the helicopter option was completely out the window.
"The public really needs to understand the airspace is highly controlled and helicopters will not fly if there’s a drone flying around. For obvious reasons, it could be pretty disastrous.
"So, unfortunately that meant that card was taken off the table for us."
Reid explained that four young skiers had somehow got lost or disoriented skiing at Kimberley Alpine Resort, and somehow ended up in Mark Creek.
"They were communicating with the ski hill for a while and then the ski hill realized that they actually weren’t below the Tamarack chair, which is where they thought they were. That is where the last rescue that we performed for the ski hill was, which was technically out of bounds," Reid said. "They realized holy smokes these kids are on the other side, so this is definitely not ours and they called 911 and got us cast out."
SAR immediately responded, ultimately picking up the four skiers, who Reid said were all fine, just cold. SAR had told them to stop moving, which they did, and SAR was able to pick them up, putting them on snowshoes so they could walk out and to a place where they could put them on snowmobiles and return them to their family.
Reid said that for a rescue of this nature, they absolutely would have looked into requesting a helicopter.
"What we look for is what is the fastest, best resource to put into the area," he explained. "And our go-to certainly is helicopter because of where we live and the length of time it takes to get people out.
"So I could fly a helicopter in there and pick them up and have it done in half an hour, or I could spend the three hours it took us to ski down and dress them up appropriately and then walk them to the point where we could put them on snowmobiles and then snowmobile them out, it just becomes quite a bit of a longer effort.
"And we have no idea who’s running the drone, we have have no way of getting it to not fly, so it just becomes a serious hazard for us."
Reid added that the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association (CASARA), a volunteer search and rescue program, has drones that SAR could have utilized if needed, but because there was that uncontrolled drone in the area, that also was not an option.
Reid was on the tip of the spear leading this particular operation, so he and the team notified command that there was a drone in the area and the management team made a social media post about it, which read, 'If this is you, please get out of the area immediately!'
Within 15 minutes the drone was gone, but Reid said at that point the helicopter was off the table as SAR couldn't be sure who was flying the drone, and if it might return.
He added if they are doing a large search where they are running drones, they will put out a Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM, letting other air traffic know that they are operating in that area and that it should be avoided, allowing SAR to fly safely.
Beyond this rescue, Kimberley SAR has helped get a few stranded people out of the backcountry this year, and a couple of injured sledders.
Reid said SAR's main messaging, as always, is that if you are planning to venture into the backcountry make sure people know where you're going and when you'll be back. The best way to do this is by filing a trip plan on adventuresmart.ca. The other key thing is to pack the essentials and be prepared to wait for SAR to get to you.
"Our response time can be very limited, because one of the things we need to do is find a helicopter and there’s not a helicopter just sitting in standby for us," Reid said. "So we’re requesting from commercial providers to get a helicopter and sometimes that means that commercial provider might be doing some other job and they can’t just stop that job. So be ready to wait for us."
People also should know that there is no charge if SAR is deployed to come rescue, so do not wait to call 911 for help.
