North Shore Rescue responds to four separate calls Saturday

It was a busy night for North Shore Rescue (NSR) Saturday as crews responded to four separate calls.

According to search manager Dave Barnett, they all happened within a short time of each other.

First call: sprained ankle, Cypress Mountain

The first call, which came in at around 6 p.m., was for a sprained ankle on Cypress Mountain.

“The individual wasn’t able to weight bear on his ankle, so we responded with a ground team and then followed up with an aerial extraction,” Barnett told CityNews.

Second call: broken leg, Mount Seymour

The search manager says the second call came in around 7:30 p.m. when the team was still working on the first rescue, this time for a broken leg on Mount Seymour. Crews already had Talon helicopters in the area, so they were able to respond quickly.

“We put priority on that call because the injury seemed more serious,” Barnett said.

“We were able to extract that individual to Inter River Park, where we handed him off to BC Ambulance. And in fact, he did have a broken leg, but was supported well by his colleagues until we got there with some medical assistance.”

Third call: diabetic in distress, 95 kilometres north of Pemberton

After that, NSR got a call from Pemberton Search and Rescue asking for support with an aerial extraction for a diabetic in distress.

“This individual was in a very remote area in the South Chilcotins. It was 95 km north of Pemberton. So as soon as we were wrapped up with the other calls and refueled, we departed with a medical doctor on board as well as our flight team. They were able to successfully hoist that individual, then take them to Pemberton hospital,” the search manager explained.

Fourth call: stuck climbers, Lions Bay

The Pemberton call wrapped up around 1 a.m., Barnett says, at which point Lions Bay Search and Rescue requested NSR’s assistance with some climbers stranded on the northwest ridge of the Lions mountains.

“I think they could have been off-route, so they were anchored to the rock face,” Barnett said.

“But again, thanks to Talon helicopters and our hoist capability, we were able to get those two climbers off.”

Challenging technical work

Barnett says the team’s most challenging calls come when they are flying at night or doing hoist extractions.

“It’s very technical work that we’re doing when there could be wind or other debris, obstructions. Sometimes these patients are in very difficult areas to access,”

As for Saturday’s rescues, Barnett says those being rescued had done many things right: they travelled in groups, they were well equipped with water, and they had good communication devices.