[SaraHap] SARA Happenings March 2011

[Kester Whyte]

Hi All:

SARA Happenings is issued to foster communication within the Search and
Rescue community in Alberta. It is going to 237 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.



*MARK YOUR CALENDARS*

Parkland Search and Rescue is pleased to announce a five day Search Manager
course, September 19 to 23, 2011. The course will take place at the Parkland
Search and Rescue Hall in Stony Plain, Alberta. This is a granted course so
there is no cost for instruction. All instructional materials and some meals
will be provided. Members will be responsible for their own transportation,
accommodation, and some meal costs, although some assistance may be
available.

A deposit of $100 to hold you place in the course will be required with your
registration application. The deposit will be refunded as long as you attend
the course or notify us by August 1, 2011 if you need to cancel. Do not pay
the deposit until you placement in the course is verified by the Parkland
SAR Training Coordinator.

For further information and to register, contact Ed Hornby, Training
Coordinator, Parkland Search and Rescue at: edhornby at telus.net


*MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
*
The deadline for the insurance reimbursement applications is over and we
have received three applications. We will be going over them on a case by
case basis and contacting the successful teams shortly. The cheques will go
out ASAP after the selection process is complete.

The training grant letters have been sent out by AEMA and a list will be
posted on the web site soon to aid teams in planning this summer’s events.
Regionalisation is very important so network with neighbouring teams to
maximize the training opportunities.

I will be meeting with the provincial government in the near future to
discuss the ongoing sustainability of the insurance funding and hope to have
firm commitment to present to the membership at the AGM on April 30th.

At the time of writing I am returning from a SARVAC board meeting in
Toronto. The theme of sustainability is an issue at the federal level as
SARVAC’s NIF ends this march. I will be sending letters to all the federal
cabinet ministers whose ridings are in Alberta urging them to ask the
minister of defence, the honourable Peter MacKay, to support SARVAC
financially as they do for CASARA and the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary.
This sustainability is very important as SARVAC is the voice at the federal
level for 300 teams and some 12,000 volunteers across the country.

Just a reminder, please send a rep from all teams to the AGM on April 30th
as your vote and ideas are what drive the success of our provincial
association.

President
SAR Alberta
Don Drebert  ddrebert at telus.net


*SAR ALBERTA WEBSITE CHANGES*

When dealing with changes to the SAR Alberta website we are now only going
to make changes once per month. It has been difficult at times with changes
coming and going constantly.
If you have changes that need to be made for the web site only, please have
changes into the SAR Alberta Secretary secretary at saralberta.ca  by the First
of every Month.
Changes to your membership information only not for the website may be sent
in at any time to the SAR Alberta Secretary.

Thank you
Mary-Ann Warren
Secretary
SAR Alberta
secretary at saralberta.ca
www.saralberta.ca


*SAR ALBERTA AGM*

The 2011 SAR Alberta Annual General Meeting will be held Saturday April 30,
2011. Registration starting at 08:30
The meeting room location is at the Radisson Hotel in the Jubilee Room
(lower level with wheelchair access), Edmonton South-4440 Gateway Blvd.
There will be an official notice going out in the mail shortly with more
information on this meeting.
Luncheon cost: $20.00
*Please RSVP for attendance to the Luncheon to Rodney Dietrich
accountinggod at shaw.ca
Deadline Monday April 18, 2011.

The following items for your review will be posted on the
SAR Alberta web site www.saralberta.ca
2010 SAR Alberta AGM Draft minutes  (on web site)
2010 Financial Statement
Draft Standards for adopting- (most on web site)



*SAR DOG NEWSLETTER*

Our March newsletter is now available on our web site -
www.sardaa.ca

Michelle Limoges    udcdoberman at shaw.ca
SARDAA Secretary & Dog Handler


*FOOTHILLS SAR NEWSLETTER*

The newsletter was sent to me by the secretary, Linda Rowson,
lindarowson at shaw.ca I won’t attempt to reproduce any of her Adobe layouts –
this newsletter was tasked with providing bare-bones information to all
Alberta  groups, some of whose members still have dial-up and other
communication limitations.

For a snippet glimpse at the workings of the group I’m pasting a couple of
items from it.

PRESIDENT’S RAMBLINGS –Lyn Michaud

Back in the thick of things again! No sooner had I arrived home from a week
of awesome wilderness alpine touring when the phone(s) started ringing. A
callout to Eden Valley was in progress for the next morning! Just time to
repack my 24 hour gear, print some maps and head out at 06:30 for the local
RCMP detachment and the Command Postshelter.

The search had been underway for a 22 year old woman for several days using
RCMP assets including dog teams and helicopter observations without success.
FSAR was called in to do a ground search on Saturday. We certainly covered
the terrain in a competent and professional manner under the leadership of
the Incident Commander –Corporal Hamelin, and the Search Management overhead
team ably led by Guy Sosnoski, Don Ward, and Sharon Sosnoski. Darrell Harman
took the radio operator’s chair and we had both Holly and Bert ferrying the
teams to their respective search segments.

Thanks to all the FSAR members who heeded the callout (22 in all), and also
to the overhead and transport teams. Usually we think of winter as a slow
period for us. But this winter has been somewhat different in many ways
including callouts.

In a previous FSAR newsletter your executive committed to follow up our 2011
planning session with specific actions. With that in mind we have taken
steps to assign areas of “process” responsibility to individuals within the
board. Some of these are now in place as follows:

President (Lyn Michaud) –board contact for Search Managers, Liaison with
outside agencies, directional oversight for FSAR as a group, Advanced Team
Leaders course project (until development is complete).

Vice President (Tim Woodland) –Compound, SAR Equipment, Vehicles, Alternate
to President for both Executive Meetings and General meetings. Provides
directional continuity and guidance to FSAR. Website when redesigned.

Secretary (Linda Rowson) –Archivist in all FSAR matters, minutes of both
general and executive meetings, Newsletter editor. Contact for membership
and callout process at the board level. Records retention. FSAR database
population and maintenance.

Projects (short term) also include Jacket program and Website redesign.

Treasurer (Bill Niles) –Manages the general finances of FSAR, Financial
health of FSAR, payables and receivables, audits and financial reports.

Director (Ron Rowson) –SAR Basics, Outdoor skills development programs
(future project) and Advanced Team Leaders course (when development is
mature).

Director (Larry Houghton) –Membership including recruiting.

Director (not yet named) –Training.

Director (not yet named) –Public Outreach and Funding.

Board as a whole: Represents the membership, makes tactical decisions in the
best interests of FSAR and provides a vision for FSAR going forward. These
changes will give our various committees and responsible project managers
much better lines of communication with the board and help the board better
understand their respective roles within FSAR. Thanks to the board members
who have volunteered to take on these specific roles thus far.

Our group continues to be a responsive, dynamic and evolving organization.
Your support and participation are essential to continued development of our
expertise.
Come out and vote at the March 2011 AGM.

Airport to be centre of ‘big’ search, rescue exercise
By Paul Cowley -Red Deer Advocate,
Published: March 04, 2011 6:54 AM
Red Deer Regional Airport will be a staging area for as many as four giant
CC-130 Hercules aircraft during a major military search and rescue exercise
planned for May. About 150 military and civilian search and rescue personnel
are expected to take part, including Para-rescue jumpers and aircraft from
the Florida based 39th Rescue Squadron.
“So when we come, we come big,” said Capt. Jeff Noel, public affairs officer
for Winnipeg-based 17 Wing, which is conducting the exercise along with 435
Transport and Rescue Squadron.
The annual exercise is described by the military as a simulated major search
and rescue deployment and training exercise (SAREX)and takes place at a
different location in Alberta each year. Last year, it was in Grande
Prairie, and the exercise returns to Red Deer for the first time since 2006.
“We try to move it around,” said Noel, who was in Red Deer on Thursday to do
advance work for the May 6-10 exercise. “We try to keep it varied so our
crews maintain their skills because we don’t know where we’ll operate when
we’re called out on a mission.”
The exercise will be divided into two phases. The first part will involve a
scenario to test the skills of the search master, staff and flying crews.
Most of the flying will take place in the mountains of the West Country.
Canadian Forces Search and Rescue technicians and U.S. para-rescue jumpers
will do parachute drops, likely in the Rocky Mountain House area, in the
second phase. The rescue training will allow them to practice jumping into
confined areas, assessing and stabilizing casualties and evacuating them so
they can be treated in hospital.
The U.S. 39th Rescue Squadron is sister squadron to the 435 Transport and
Rescue Squadron and the two have trained together. In Canada, the U.S.
contingent gets a taste of mountain rescues and in Florida, the Canadians
practice marine rescues.
“They are actually the search and rescue squadron that is assigned to Cape
Canaveral,” Noel said of the U.S. contingent, who are expected to bring
their own Hercules. “They are on search and rescue standby for when the
space shuttle goes and launches.”
435 Squadron has a Hercules permanently equipped to respond to emergencies
and ready to respond in as little as 30 minutes and, at most, two hours. It
covers an area from Quebec City to the B.C. border and as far north as the
North Pole.
Last July, the squadron sent two Hercules as part of a massive search effort
for a U.S. pilot who went missing in the Northwest Territories. The pilot’s
body was found in the wreckage of his single-engine plane about five days
later about 130 km from Norman Wells.
The Canadian Forces is involved in about 8,000 search and rescue missions a
year. About 1,100 involve using planes or boats.
Civil Air Search and Rescue Associations from Saskatchewan, Manitoba and
Alberta will also be involved and are expected to send a dozen or more
planes to participate. The volunteers fly their own small planes and are
trained in flying search grids. About 2,600 pilots and 375 planes are part
of the association in Canada.
Local police, fire departments and search and rescue volunteers are also
involved in the exercise so that they know how the military search and
rescue units operate and what they require if a major operation is needed.
pcowley at reddeeradvocate.com


*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. PLEASE DO NOT send me any .docx files; thanks.

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-- 
My fantasy "Rast" to be released by MuseItUp Publishing in March 2011.
"Arrival", "Deadly Enterprise",  "The Wildcat's Victory", and "The Wildcat's
Burden" are available here --
http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/eAuthor.php?Name=Christopher%20Hoare

See my website at
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and http://www.trailowner.blogspot.com/

<http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com>
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