North Shore Rescue needs new signal system to keep caches safe and accessible
Posted November 22, 2014 10:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
NORTH SHORE (NEWS1130) – Over a two-week span during the summer, thieves broke into and robbed caches containing important gear used by North Shore Rescue. No one has ever been arrested and now the organization has come up with a way to fight these criminals, but they need donations to make it happen.
The group’s Mike Danks says they’ve replaced the original locks on the caches with new high-grade commercial ones that can’t just be smashed open with a rock, for example. However, as a result people who get stuck in the backcountry from now on won’t be able to access them and Danks adds there’s no other choice to keep the equipment safe.
“It’s critical, for not only our members, but for members of the public in need. When we need to access those caches, we need to be 100 per cent confident that the equipment is in there, that everything is up to date and we can utilize that equipment at a moment’s notice when we’re in that area.”
“It’s mostly survival and rescue equipment, but we also have extra clothing, we have chainsaw stretchers, tents, hypothermia equipment, food, firestarters — basically it’s everything you’re going to need when you’re stuck in the backcountry and in bad weather. There is all types of medical equipment as well.”
So, if you or someone you know is stuck on one of the local hills and the caches are locked, what are you supposed you to do?
“What we’re trying to do now is have some sort of signalling device on each of our caches. We just need to make sure it’s secure enough and then it’ll be able to send a signal to us to let us know that someone is at the cache and they are in need. That is the next step, but everything comes down to funding. In order to do that, we need to have the technology to make it happen and we need to fabricate something on those caches to make them secure enough to have that device out.”
Danks adds it’s been frustrating — they’ve never been able to figure out why someone would want to steal their stuff. “We haven’t had any luck. The RCMP have been watching the caches closely, so we feel very confident this is not going to happen again.”
The thefts cost the organization more than $40,000 and Danks adds for a group that relies only on donations — it’s been a huge hit to their bottom line.
