From wuth at castrov.cuug.ab.ca Tue Jan 17 12:12:45 2012 From: wuth at castrov.cuug.ab.ca (Brett Wuth) Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:12:45 -0700 Subject: [SaraHap] SARA Happenings January 2012 In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20245.51245.127967.436034@fiore.castrov.cuug.ab.ca> 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. Apologies for the late arrival...the mail program isn't speaking to me again. (Editor) ------------------------------ *MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT: 2012-01-11* Happy new year to SAR providers across the province from myself, the executive, and board members. We wish you all the best in the new year and successful searching to all. *Government* With the new year comes new challenges to overcome in terms of dealing with the government, tasking agencies, and municipal governments. I will rise to the challenge to effectively represent the needs and the best interests of the search and rescue community to the best of my ability for the remainder of my term as president. One such challenge that has come to my attention in recent weeks is the Office of the Fire Commissioner has taken over as the lead agency for search and rescue in the province of Alberta. I have been asked to attend a meeting with the OFC and in the interim have asked they provide a meeting agenda and an official press release of the changes so I can have it posted on our web site, but at the time of writing, none has been produced. I would ask that the topic of the change be discussed at the grass roots level, so please send comments and questions to your regional representatives as well as myself at president at saralberta.ca. It is important to me to represent the membership's wishes and to be informed as to their thoughts. *Training* On January 5th, Norman Mathew, our provincial training coordinator and I met with Tom Sand and Tina Bak from AEMA to determine the training grant selection. We were provided with a list of requests prior to the meeting to give us time for thoughts of regionalisation and how to get the best bang for our training buck. The meeting went very well and lasted approximately three hours. There were some problems with information missing from the applications but with a quick call or e-mail I am happy to say compliance has been met and as of Jan.11th the requests are on their way to the minister for approval. Once again the total asked was for just short of $300,000.00 and it was a tough decision to trim it to $150,000.00. With the mindset of regionalisation we believe we made the best decisions for all involved. Hats off to Norman for being so vigilant and dedicated to volunteer the time required to help out. *RCMP* On January 5th, I also met with Cpl Al Fraser with criminal operations in K division. For those of you that don't know, Al and SGT Mike Self are in charge of all things SAR at the provincial level. It is my job at SAR Alberta to maintain a relationship with the RCMP and bring forth any issues that affect Search and Rescue's performance in the field and for developing standards and procedures that fall into line with the way the RCMP expect us to operate on their behalf. I came away from the meeting with a sense of pride with the SAR teams' performance as there were no issues, which is a good thing. Good work to all teams involved, as building and maintaining credibility is essential to our success. *Insurance* I would like to include an introductory letter from our new insurance broker Rob at Del Fisher: "I would like to introduce myself, Rob Klewchuk, and my company, Del Fisher Insurance Inc., as your new broker contact for the Search and Rescue insurance program. Del Fisher Insurance Inc. has been involved in the Calgary insurance market for over 30 years and is looking forward to providing excellent service and helpful insurance information to all of the Alberta SAR teams. There were issues with the insurance renewals this term due to the transfer of this account from Jardine Lloyd Thompson to Del Fisher Insurance. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the teams for their patience and quick work in getting their insurance renewals completed and sent back to me in record time. To avoid a repeat of the 2011 renewal issues, each team contact will be receiving a renewal email containing the information required to process the renewal no later than July 1, 2012. Please send me your updated information no later than August 1, 2012. If your team has not received this renewal information email by July 1, 2012 please contact me at rob at delfisher.ca or 402-230-3811. *Newsletter* I received an e-mail from Chris Hoare on the 9th of January requesting that I find someone to replace him as editor of SARA Happenings. Chris has been doing the news letter since 2005 after retiring from work in 2004. When he started, the idea was a simple text platform for people to access on dialup, but with the advance of technology and the computer world what it is today Chris does not have a setup to handle graphics that so many people send to him. I would like to thank Chris for all his support in the past in getting the message out to all the people who subscribe to the newsletter and all the best in your official retirement. Chris has agreed to stay on until the AGM and if anyone is interested in the position please contact Chris or myself. Once again thanks for a job well done. *Meeting dates* Board meeting dates: January 28th in Red Deer March 17th in Edmonton AGM April 28th in Edmonton Thank you Don Drebert President SAR Alberta ------------------------------ *H2S SEARCH PROTOCOL* Pincher Creek SAR and Shell Canada have negotiated a protocol for the involvement of SAR responders in incidents of H2S release in the area managed by the Shell Waterton facility. H2S, a gas that is poisonous at higher concentrations, is found in some natural gas regions. An H2S release can require shelter-in-place or evacuation notifications. Under the protocol, a Pincher SAR Manager will be notified of incidents and join the ICS structure as a technical advisor on SAR. If a search is to be performed, it will be lead by Pincher SAR drawing on personnel from Shell, Pincher SAR and neighbouring SAR groups. The protocol addresses safety as well as the training of both SAR and Shell personnel. It was tested in an exercise in November. Shell anticipates that if this protocol is successful, Shell will use it as a model to negotiate similar agreements with SAR groups near its other holdings in Alberta and B.C. If you would like more information, see http://pcsar.webhop.org/mediawiki/index.php/Protocols/Shell_H2S or contact pcsar-preplan at castrov.cuug.ab.ca. ------------------------------ *SCENT DOG NEWS* This item was submitted for the December issue, which did not go out due to a lack of submissions. Sorry, Michelle, but I felt your own notice to your regular readers would suffice and avoid sending a newsletter with one item of news. Best wishes for happy holidays. Please see our December newsletter at www.sardaa.ca scroll down to Scent Dog News... Michelle Limoges SARDAA Secretary/Treasurer & Dog Handler ------------------------------ *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. To subscribe or unsubscribe visit http://castrov.dyndns.org:8080/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. -- My fantasy "Rast" was 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 http://www.christopherhoare.ca/ and blogs http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com and http://www.trailowner.blogspot.com/ From kwhyte2 at gmail.com Thu Feb 16 19:56:06 2012 From: kwhyte2 at gmail.com (Kester Whyte) Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:56:06 -0700 Subject: [SaraHap] SARA Happenings February 2012 Message-ID: *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. ------------------------------ * CHANGE NOTICE FROM SARDAA * NOTICE - Effective Immediately (February 13, 2012) SARDAA's new 24-hour Emergency Contact Number is - 780-405-6084 Michelle Limoges *udcdoberman at shaw.ca* SARDAA Secretary/Treasurer & Dog Handler ------------------------------ * WING NIGHT * Another message from Michelle: Unfortunately editor cannot guarantee the poster would display for everyone in the newsletter, so I am adding the details below. Hi all - attached is a poster announcing our 2012 Wing Night event - please plan to attend with your friends if you can! If anyone can't come but would like to send along a silent auction item, please let me know by March 1. Hope to see you there!!! Michelle Limoges SARDAA Secretary/Treasurer & Dog Handler 14th annual Wing Night. Everyone Welcome Thursday March 8th 2012 @ 5:00 t0 10:00 pm Average Joe?s All Star Bar 390 Baseline Road Sherwood Park AB (between Mark?s and Home Depot) Silent Auction and 50/50 draw. ------------------------------ * NEW OLD NEWS * The following articles were sent by Mark Symbaluk at Hinton SAR Editor is printing one and providing the link to the other. They are a very good illustration how some searches never go away unless positive results are gained. * Rescue team seeking members * Posted 3 years ago By Richard Liebrecht richard at hintonparklander.com As the Stephanie Stewart disappearance investigation enters its third year, Hinton Search and Rescue (SAR) is feeling the burn. "We could use some fresh legs," said Marc Symbaluk, president of the local search team. He captained the initial intensive searches immediately following Stewart's disappearance. Though the RCMP have long called off an active, ongoing search, Symbaluk said that his team has to be ready to go at the beck and call of investigators. He said many people in the community showed an interest in joining Search and Rescue during and following the first searches for Stewart, but that was not the optimal time to expand the group's numbers. "You need trained people [during a search]. We're not reactive - we're proactive and need to be ready to go," he said. "There's a perception that we still do lock-arm grid searches. Those days are done. SAR searchers are trained to think." The group still finds itself with about 30 members - eight serving as a core group. Many are long-time volunteers, but their advanced age may limit them to certain roles and the group could use more boots in the bush. Part of the training for SAR can include rock climbing and tracking techniques. However, there are many other roles to play to suit other ages and abilities. "You don't have to be physically fit and ready to hit the bush. You can get on the radio," he said. "You just need to be willing to take the training." http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2008/08/25/fire-tower.html ------------------------------ * 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*<3H$>PLEASE DO include contact information for members to gain further information. PLEASE DO NOT send me any .docx files; thanks. To subscribe or unsubscribe visit http://castrov.dyndns.org:8080/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sara-happeningsenter 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. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://castrov.dyndns.org:8080/pipermail/sara-happenings/attachments/20120216/b219e065/attachment.htm