HFRS Recert with Blackcomb Helicopters

NSR HFRS members participated in a "recert" with Blackcomb Helicopters in preparation for the Olympics. This satisfies the legal requirement with Transport Canada that NSR personnel must train annually with all their helicopter charter providers. It also gave members a chance to familiarize themselves with the pilots and with the aircraft that we will be utilizing during the Olympic Games period. Talon Helicopters was and will continue to be our primary helicopter provider before and after the Olympics. Blackcomb Helicopters won a PEP contract to provide a standby rescue helicopter during the games, and as part of that contract, the government has provided NSR/SAR with number of flight hours to be used for training, familiarization and orientation to the North Shore terrain.

Included in this exercise where: NSR HFRS technicians, NSR HFRS aware members, CARDA handlers and their dogs. The recert included the following components:

• Operational briefing
• Introductions (pilots and aircrew)
• Dryland rigging of helicopter
• 150 foot longline insertions to mountain gulley (in tandem and with CARDA dogs)
• 200 foot longline insertions to mountain gulley (in tandem)
• 200 foot rescue basket extraction from river bank
• Debrief, cleanup and paperwork

Overall a good experience for all members that were involved. Having regular exercises such as these keep all our skills honed and at the ready to render aid to the public.

For pictures of this training exercise check out our Flickr Page or Facebook Page.

Code Alpha Table Top Exercise

North Shore Rescue personnel were joined by representatives from various agencies (see below) last night for a table top exercise regarding avalanche response on the North Shore mountains.

• BC Parks
• Grouse Mountain
• Cypress Mountain
• RCMP/ISU
• CARDA
• BC Coroners Service
• Canadian Avalanche Center
• Coquitlam SAR
• Lions Bay SAR
• Surrey SAR
• Metro Vancouver Parks

Participants were assigned to various scenario groups covering each of the 3 local resort areas and asked to prepare an action plan covering the response to these scenarios. With a lot of cooperation and shared knowledge groups worked together to come up with a realistic response to each of these scenarios. Developing and maintaining a close working relationships with all stakeholders is an important part of emergency response and as such this exercise was a tremendous success.

For background information; Code Alpha refers to an avalanche preplan developed by NSR which sets out the response guidelines/resources/procedures/etc. for a situation where a civilian or a member is caught in an avalanche. This preplan allows for a response to a hectic and complicated situation fraught with emotion and confusion, in a thourough and systematic approach. Ultimately the goal is to protect the safety of the rescuers, while saving as many lives as possible.

2010 HFRS Training Exercise

North Shore Rescue HFRS technicians were joined by their fellow members as well as members from the Canadian Forces, RCMP/ISU, WVPD, Coquitlam SAR, Lions Bay SAR and the Canadian Avalanche Rescue Dog Association (CARDA) in a training exercise Sunday. HFRS techs honed their skills inserting and extracting personnel into steep terrain, requiring transfering members from the long-line to a anchored tether on the ground. This operation was run out of the Capilano Watershed and the insertion/extraction point was on the front side of Grouse Mountain near the BCMC.

This training exercise involved two machines from Talon Helicopters. The AS350 B2 (C-FTHY) flown by Derek Riendeau and the AS355 flown by owner Peter Murray. Helicopters flew members into and out of the site in an alternating pattern, communicating tactically via a simplex frequency to coordinate the movement of personnel. The key idea behind this exercise involved the need to be able to put many members on the ground quickly were light or weather could be a limiting factor on the rescue outcome. By having the ability to put a lot of manpower on the ground quickly, NSR can respond to calls more safely and increase the liklihood of a positive outcome.

Members also practiced extractions from terrain utilizing a rescue basket, suspended from the long line. This device is primarily designed for river/water rescue, however, it's application for mountain rescue is indispensible. If faced with a dangerous terrain or limited time, a stranded climber could be directed into the basket and flown a short distance to safety.

Check out more pictures of this exercise on the NSR Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/northshorerescue

New technology lets NSR members search for avalanche burial victims from the air

NSR members have received the Barryvox VS 2000 Pro External helicopter based avalance transceiver for use in SAR operations. This unit is suspended below the helicopter and allows the technician to locate a burial victim (who is wearing a transceiver) without ever setting foot on the ground. This technology makes our lives safer in hazardous avi terrain, allows for quicker pin pointing, and reduces overall risk.

Recently members trained with this unit in the Seymour river valley along with pilots from Talon Helicopters and their new AS355 TwinStar Helicopter.



More information can be obtained on this unit at the following links:
http://www.girsberger-elektronik.ch/media/documents/HEA_ADE.pdf

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/datasheet-pdf/012/DSA00204901.html

http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/Comparison.asp

Helicopter Flight Rescue System Exercise 2009

North Shore Rescue members, HFRS technicians, and kayak response team members gathered along with BC Parks rangers on Sunday for our annual recurrency, HFRS awareness and lead-up to a large scale January excercise on Grouse Mountain. The day consisted of a briefing in the morning, followed by in and out rescue evolutions utlizing "screamer suits" for rapid deployment. In the afternoon, members practiced with the river rescue basket by doing short-haul and in-out trips.

Although the weather was far from cooperative, conditions did permit for the large majority of the training/recurrency/lead-up to go ahead.

Overall a busy weekend for rescue volunteers; with hover entry/exit training on Saturday, and Helicopter Flight Rescue System training on Sunday. This level of dedication keeps us ready to respond to a call, and allows us to best serve the public interest. Although these training sessions are of a significant cost to the NSR society, the safety and performance results are without a price tag.

One of the key features of this exercise is the demonstrable need for a non-military rescue helicopter to be made available during the Olympics for "outside the fence" calls. NSR has a strong relationship with Talon Helicopters, who have both the right aircraft (small, powerful aircraft capable of safely entering tight terrain) and the expertise (flying ability, terrain knowledge, and invaluable familiarity with local SAR teams) to perform safe, efficient and life-saving operations that may otherwise be unavailable during the 2010 winter games. It is hoped that the provincial government will provide a standby civilian helicopter for local SAR teams during the event.

MIT Exam

Last Saturday we completed our Members in Training (MIT) exam on Seymour.

The 3 MIT's had to complete a number of stations demonstrating their proficiency in a number of areas including -

Rappelling
Ascending a rope using prussiks
Anchor selection and creation
Knots
Stretcher Rigging
Rope Rescue 3 to 1 system
Tandem Prussik belay
Avalanche Beacon Search
First Aid/Hypothermia Treatment
Shelter Building
Map and Compass and GPS skills

The exam went well, and congratulations to our MIT's for completing the exam!

If you are interested in joining NSR - now is the time to apply! We are holding interviews over the summer.

Training and Seymour Search

We started off last night with training, equipment maintenance, and reviewing some video of Hannes' accident site. I will leave this for another discussion as there were some interesting points about the type of snowpack that is present this year.

Nearing the end of training we received a call from a missing backcountry snowboarder on Seymour who was lost. Due to the events of last week you could see our motivation was a little lacking, however, rescues don't take a break unfortunately.

We headed up Seymour at about 9pm and started hiking/snowshoeing down Suicide Gully where we believed the subject to be. As we descended the gully we set off parachute flares, and talked to Gord (the subject) on the phone. He informed us he could see the flares so we knew we were closing in.

The gully had large holes and undercut snow increasing the danger of breaking through a snowbridge and falling into the creek - careful travel was required. As well, we had a few parachute flare malfunctions, one of them burning a hole in Greg W.'s glove as it burned without launching and another one melting my glove as it launched - reminding us to always wear gloves when launching flares.


We found his tracks and began following them down the gulley. The tracks kept leading up the side of the gulley and back down, dramatically increasing distance travelled and elevation gain and loss - it was a bit of stairmaster hike.

At one point Gord ascended the snow slope and his tracks dissapeared into some cliff bands. We opted to drop down and around and luckily gained voice contact with him and were able to access him via a steep snow slope.

We found Gord (aka Gord the Mountain Goat) at about 2:30am, he was unijured but cold as he was wearing only shorts and t-shirt and it was close to zero degrees. Greg and Mike G. provided some warmer clothes, food and water and then helped Gord down the steep snow slope and back onto our up track.

We started the hike out, and got back to the parking lot at about 4:30am.

EDIT: Note from Tim Jones

Just as we were debriefing a second time on Johannes's tragic accident our SAR MGRs pagers went off . I took the call from the RCMP and found out we had a potential Suicide Gully task for a lost snowboarder. Everyone in the room looked at each other but we immediately were back in the saddle again. It was a long drawn out affair as you will see reading John's Blog but to me is was sign that our team is coping very well with the loss of our teammate and is doing what we do just as well.

A very proud moment to be a Member and Team Leader of North Shore Rescue

Tim Jones
Team Leader
North Shore Rescue

Succession Plan

NS Outlook article discussing HFRS and NSR's succession plan by Kelly McManus -

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/northshoreoutlook/news/43111137.html

HFRS Pictures

I have created a NSR Flickr account and uploaded a number of photos including pictures from last weeks HFRS course and drill.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/northshorerescue/

Helicopter Flight Rescue System (HFRS) Training

Helicopter Flight Rescue System (HFRS) Training - Sunday January 27th, 2008

On Sunday January 27th, 2008 North Shore Rescue team members participated in a skills workshop practicing pickoffs from steep snow slopes using HFRS. Team members arrived at Mount Seymour parking lot at 0800 and headed to the preselected exercise location. Upon arrival, NSR members put crampons on their boots and descended the 45 degree slope on ropes. The drill required the members on ropes, to dig a platform into the snow, from which a patient could be packaged, and a HFRS rescuer could land and remove the patient with the Aerial Rescue Platform. This was done by two teams of three, overseen by the technical instructors on site, Dave Sulina and Stan Sovdat.

When the platforms were completed, members placed a separate anchor for which the HFRS rescuer would anchor into upon landing. The purpose of this was to provide an independent attachment, should the helicopter be lifted by an updraft causing the rescuer to come up. In this situation rather than pulling everyones anchor, it would only affect the rescuer who is safely attached to the master attach point (map) of the helicopter long line.

Upon completing these tasks, members waited for the other portion of the exercise to get underway. The helicopter flown by Peter Murray of Talon Helicopters arrived at NSR Bone Creek helispot facility where the HFRS coordinator in training boarded the aircraft and flew to the training site to assess the weather and location. With variable weather, and the time frame of a skills workshop, the HFRS coordinator in training made the call to scrap the HFRS portion of the exercise. Overall the exercise was a tremendous success, with NSR members practicing essential skills, and the HFRS coordinator in training being given the opportunity to make a risk assessment call, which was the correct one.

HFRS: Helicopter Flight Rescue System

Last Sunday was an HFRS (helicopter flight rescue system) also known as HETS (helicopter external transport system) training day to practice HFRS awareness and skills. The day consisted of long lining Kayak team members into a location beside the Seymour River. Non-HFRS members where also involved in assisting and getting training in HFRS procedures, including an orientation flight.

Mike - HFRS Coordinator in Training.

Fiona - Decked out in dry suit, swift water rescue equipment, and HFRS gear.

The helicopter flight rescue system debrief.

Highline Across Lynn Creek

Last Tuesday we set-up a highline across Lynn Creek.

After testing the highline by sending some MIT's (Members in Training) across, we confirmed that yes, in fact it was set-up correctly, and sent a few other members across as well.

Stretcher Evacuation

Training last night was stretcher evacuation traversing a snow slope and then a raise. Location was Cypress Mountain - conditions were -3 C, snowing, with a slight crust on the previous snowpack.

Illustration of set-up (left). Illustration credit - Bob Manson.