North Shore Rescue sees spike in calls, set to break annual record soon

NORTH SHORE (NEWS 1130) – North America’s busiest volunteer search and rescue team has been inundated with calls this year and is already close to shattering its annual record.

North Shore Rescue responded to 151 calls last year, which was a record. They’ve already had just shy of 140 calls in 2021.

There are a couple of reasons why volunteers are so busy this year, the most obvious being the pandemic. Due to strict restrictions during COVID-19, people have stayed close to home and many have ventured into the backcountry, as a result. With that, crews are often called out to help people who aren’t well-prepared or educated about the local trails.

“Not only North Shore Rescue, but all the search and rescue teams in the province, have seen a significant increase in the number of call-outs,” said North Shore Rescue Leader Mike Danks.

“We really attribute this to the amount of people that are getting out in the backcountry. We have a lot of novices that are getting out. The trails are busier, so people are pushing back further into more remote areas, into terrain that’s less travelled. In turn, people are not able to stay on those trails and are calling for help when they get off trail.”

Related article: North Shore Rescue challenges you to ‘Survive Your Own Adventure’

He adds calling them is the right thing to do, stressing they will never charge people who need help in the backcountry.

“I think for a lot of people that weren’t getting out previously, they’ve now seen that we have such a beautiful backyard to recreate in and that’s becoming more of a common thing for them to do. People are getting better. They’re becoming more prepared but we’re still going to have circumstances where they have a trip or a fall or they misjudged the time to get back before dark.”

.@NSRescue is about a dozen rescues away from breaking last year's record for number of calls-out and it's only August. The team issued this graph. It says people being stuck close to home during the pandemic is one reason for the uptick and helping other SAR teams another. pic.twitter.com/56wz8QahiV

— Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) August 5, 2021

Another reason the team is getting so many calls is because they’re being tasked with helping other search and rescue crews around the province, which are also dealing with a heavy caseload.

“A lot of the aircraft that are typically local to the North Shore … are all fighting fires right now, so aircraft are very limited at this time. Again, that’s a link to why we’ve been busier just because we do have an aircraft here for much of the time. Other teams have been struggling to get aircraft,” Danks said.

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When asked if search and rescue teams are learning anything from this experience, Danks insisted it’s not a matter not having resources, but rather an availability issue.

“There are times when we haven’t had an aircraft either and we’ve done an overland extraction, carrying a patient for over eight hours on one of our local trails. It really comes down to what equipment you have and then having a back-up plan and having the resources to be able to carry out the call with whatever tools you have available.”

For anyone heading out to the trails, North Shore Rescue recommends checking its list of 10 essentials to bring along.