[SaraHap] SARA Happenings February 2010

Tue Feb 16 14:54:58 MST 2010

Hi All:

SARA Happenings is issued to foster communication within the Search and
Rescue community in Alberta. It is going to 226 e-mail addresses that are
listed as the primary contact of SAR Alberta member groups or which were
requested to be added to the mailing list.
Subscription and unsubscription information is at the end of the newsletter.

*CAVE RESCUE WORKSHOPS*

NOTE: Information on BCCR / ACRO events can be found at
http://www.missioncontrol.co.nz/itm/Calendar.aspx?ID=10

*ACRO/BCCR Cave Rescue Workshops* – Hinton, AB, May 21 – 25, 2010 (and Horne
Lake, BC if you can’t make the Hinton one!)

The annual round of Companion Cave Rescue and Cave Rescue Response workshops
are now being scheduled and registration is open.  Details for the workshop
can be found both on the event listing link above or on the cancaver website
at http://www.cancaver.ca/bccr/BCCRtrain.htm  The workshops are open to all
cavers and those interested in caving and cave rescue – including tasking
agencies. These workshops filled very quickly (max 20 participants) so don’t
delay in signing up and getting your registration form and fees in.

*Alberta Speleological Society Annual Bring a Friend Caving Trip *– Sat Feb
27, 2010, Rat’s Nest Cave

A great reason to support and join the A.S.S.!  Try your taste at caving by
joining A.S.S. members on tours through Rat’s Nest Cave.  For more
information refer to  http://www.caving.ab.ca/events  Note: trips are
usually organized by invitation of A.S.S. members to “friends” so call
around and find out which members are A.S.S. members and see if they’re
willing to take you on a trip!

*BC Cave Rescue Seminar *– July 2010, Vancouver Island
Check the events calendar above for more details as this event unfolds!
This is an intense 8 day seminar (day and evening!) covering all aspects of
self-rescue and organized rescue in cave environments.  It is usually
attended by those with a variety of backgrounds including recreational
cavers, cave rescue members, SAR volunteers, and other technical rescue
agencies.  There will likely be a contingent attending from Alberta so feel
free to join in!

*ACRO Training / Practices*
We hope to organize a number of one day training sessions for 2010 in
various topics including single rope technique, cave rescue pre-planning,
rope rescue rigging, mock drills, etc.  If you have suggestions for topics /
locations, please contact Cindy Heselton at acro_cindy at yahoo.ca

Cindy Heselton
Training Director
Alberta Cave Rescue Organization
http://www.missioncontrol.co.nz/itm/Calendar.aspx?ID=10

*FROM THE BOARD*

*SAR Alberta Annual General Meeting*
The SAR Alberta Annual General Meeting will be held Saturday May 1, 2010 in
Edmonton.
The location of the meeting will be announced.
Mail out packages will be going out in a couple of month’s time.

*New SAR Alberta Web Site Coming Soon
*The SAR Alberta website is being totally redesigned.
Look for the launch of the new web site in the near future.

*Mark Work Warehouse Discount Cards Now Available*
To receive discount cards for your volunteers, member organizations are
required to provide SAR Alberta a membership list and their annual
statistics.
Send your information to your Regional Director or Deputy to receive cards
for your members.*

Regional Elections*
Excerpt taken from the SAR Alberta Bylaws:
5.2.2
Each Region shall have an election for their Regional Director and Regional
Deputy Director prior to the Annual General meeting at which they are
installed.

If your region is without partial or full representation it is the regional
organization’s responsibility to elect interested parties to represent them.
If these positions are not filled the Board may appoint an individual to
fill the vacancies.

*New Interim Training Coordinator*
The SAR Alberta Executive appointed Norman Mathew as the new SAR Alberta
Training Coordinator. This position was vacant and with work being done on
the training grant it was important to have this position filled.

Mary-Ann Warren mwtracks at netzero.net
Secretary
SAR Alberta

*PINCHER CREEK – SPOT PROBLEM*

Pincher Creek SAR has recently been responded a couple of times
due to back country travellers activating their SPOT.  SPOT is
a satellite personal tracker, that can be used to send an emergency
alert.

We were unfamiliar with SPOT at the time and so did not know what
the limitations and behaviour of the devices are.  We are offering
our lessons learned to help other SAR groups.

The SPOT can only send messages, not received them.  It has no
way to verify that the message actually has gone out, so the SPOT
will automatically resend its message several times.  Due to the
irregular satellite coverage of the GlobalStar system, messages might
not be received by the satellites with any particular attempt.

Three kinds of messages can be sent: Check-In-OK, Need-Help, and 911.
Each message includes your GPS location (lat and long).  Check-In and
Need-Help will send a text or e-mail message that you can set ahead of
time to up to 10 people.  911 goes to the nearest 911 centre.

The Check-In-OK message in sent every 5 minutes for 20 minutes.  The
Need-Help message is sent every 5 minutes for an hour.

The people set up to be notified may receive the message multiple
times.  This has caused difficulties for us, before we understood
how the SPOT worked, because families were imagining that the button
was being pushed several times.

911 will send a message every 5 minutes for as long as the device
is left on or until Cancel is pressed.

If you receive a notification related to SPOT Need-Help messages, we
recommend you discuss how the SPOT works with the family, to make sure
they are not misinterpreting the level of urgency.

If you discuss our experiences with SPOT, you can contact:
Janet Jones <jljones100 at hotmail.com>

*CALLING ALL TRACKERS*

Michelle Hebert (UTS Sign-cutter) and Les Brace (Canadian Tracking
Technologies) invite you to join us in a tracking exercise.

We supply the location, scenario to work out, meeting room for briefing and
debriefing, help for novice trackers and interested people, snacks and
lunch.
You supply tracking stick (some extra available), notepad and pencil, and
enthusiasm.
All trackers are welcome.,

Purpose:  To get the tracking community together for practice and
socializing.

Where:  Mulhurst Lutheran Camp, www.mulhurstlutherancamp.ca
When: April 17th, 2010, 9:00am to 5:00pm

Note: (hours for this practice can be claimed as UTS tracking hours)

If you are interested in coming or have any questions,  please contact
Michelle.
mhebert at airsurfer.ca
780-445-9022

*A REMINDER FROM “K” DIVISION*

Believe it or not spring is just around the corner.  With spring,
comes various SAR gatherings and of course volunteer recognition
activities.  You are reminded that Search and Rescue groups are
encouraged to review their records and submit the names of eligible
volunteers.

It is the responsibility the volunteer’s Search and Rescue team, as
well as the volunteer, to ensure that an application is submitted to
request an award. Applications must be submitted to the RCMP “K”
Division SAR Coordinator by February 28th, 2010. Incomplete applications
will not be considered and will be returned. Completed forms must be
sent to the RCMP “K” Division SAR Coordinator via E-MAIL:
mike.self at rcmp-grc.gc.ca  OR al.fraser at rcmp-grc.gc.ca  This is
applicable to the initial launch as well as through coming years. The
RCMP will not be maintaining a database of Search and Rescue volunteers
and automatically generating the awards.

Cheers......Al Fraser

Corporal W. A.(Al) Fraser, MOM, KStJ, BA, BEd.
Operational Readiness & Response Coordination
Emergency Operations Program Coordinator
RCMP "K" Division - Alberta.
Work - (780)412-5662
Fax - (780)412-5801
Pager - (780)418-9138
Cell - (780)405-6004

e-mail: Al.Fraser at rcmp-grc.gc.ca

For year round emergency preparedness information www.GetPrepared.ca

*A LINK FROM RIC
*
This Red Deer Advocate article showcases RD SAR equipment:

http://www.albertalocalnews.com/reddeeradvocate/news/local/Search_and_rescue_team_has_high-tech_equipment_83244117.html

Submitted by Ric Henderson   rhenderson at reddeercounty.ab.ca

*SARA HAPPENINGS SUBMISSIONS*

Our regular publication date for mailings of SARA Happenings is the middle
of each month. Please note that the deadline for material is the 14th of
each month.

Does your group have an event posting for the SARA Happenings mailing? If
so, please send information 1-1/2 months prior to the dates you wish
advertised. It will then give ample time for those reading it to respond.

Please send all material to the editor; Chris Hoare at  choare at shaw.ca
PLEASE DO include contact information for members to gain further
information.

To subscribe or unsubscribe visit
http://castrov.dyndns.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sara-happenings  enter
your e-mail address and click on "Edit Options". Automatic subscribers will
need to click on "EMail My Password to Me".  You can subscribe and
unsubscribe on the same page.

-- 
"Arrival", "Deadly Enterprise" and  "The Wildcat's Victory" are available
here --
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/eAuthor.php?Name=Christopher%20Hoare

See my website at http://www.freewebs.com/chriskander/ and blog
http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://castrov.dyndns.org/pipermail/sara-happenings/attachments/20100216/c26edbc8/attachment.htm 