2019 was another busy year for Kamloops Search and Rescue.

Volunteers put in nearly 3000 task hours over 59 operational periods during a total of 44 separate call-outs. Spokesperson Jen Stahn says that was the second highest number of call-outs on record with 49 tasks 2017. “So, we were just a few tasks less than that, but I think the big difference is last year we had our record high 72 operational periods and this year we had just 59, which means we spent less days on task.

She says they definitely had a few larger high profile tasks last year. “Most of our tasks tend to fly under the radar, but the big ones I think most people probably heard of was the Ben Tyner search in Merritt. That was 8 operational periods for us. So it was quite significant. Another one was Bjorn Collnes in the Monte Lake area. We spent four operational periods on that one as well.”

With the last three years being busier than normal, Stahn thinks it could just be that people are more willing to contact search and rescue than they have in the past. “Think the last three years have definitely been the busiest that we’ve had and a lot of that comes from more people just wanting to get outside. We do live in BC and people come here to explore the outdoors and enjoy being outside, so I think that’s part of it. But also, there is more of an awareness of Search and Rescue and what we, so I think we’re being called out more often.”

There were also close to 4300 hours of training put in and two new search dogs are now ready to get to work after passing their puppy training last year.