It’s been a quieter summer this year for Kamloops Search and Rescue volunteers, with just eight calls in June and July, down from 12 in 2018.

Spokesperson Jenn Stahn says none of those calls have been for water rescues or recoveries, which she says is surprising.

She notes though that it’s also possible that the rainy July in Kamloops led to more people staying home.

“Kamloops Fire has been called out for one of two so far this summer, but luckily when they go in, typically it’s for a rescue,” she said. “If we get called in, it tends to be more for the recovery side. We definitely prefer if it’s a call for Kamloops versus Kamloops Search and Rescue, for water searches at least.”

As for the types of calls where volunteers have responded to…

“Two of them have been assisting BC Ambulance on an injury,” Stahn added. “We’ve also had a couple calls that have been to assist RCMP for missing people and then we’ve had a couple that we’ve luckily been stood down on fairly quickly because the people were actually located before we could get to the scene.”

She says there have also been no calls to help with evacuations due to floods or fires unlike the past two years.

“So aside from the water, the lack of fire in our region has definitely kept us a little bit slower,” she said. “There have been years where summers have been busy, while in other years the winters have been busier.