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A Search and Rescue team's third most important asset, after people, and skills, is equipment. While an operation can continue under an individual's own skills and personal gear, the team devotes a large amount of it's time and resources evaluating, acquiring, training with and maintaining it's equipment.
Equipment is the most visible aspect of a SAR team, and we spend many hours training to know exactly what each items is used for and how it works. Under any conditions, be it a blizzard in the Fraser Valley, a Flood on the Coquitlam River, an avalanche on the Grouse grind, or a mudslide on the North Shore, this stuff has to work when we need it.
Vehicles:
Coquitlam 1, or "Coquitlam Command" is our mobile incident command post. It contains most of the specialized equipment we may need to perform any kind of search or rescue: ropes, hypothermia treatment, first aid, communications equipment, etc. Everything is there, packed, and ready for a search.
Coquitlam 1 has been used in almost every search performed in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody since 1995, and has been sent to assist in searches in North Vancouver, Langley, Burnaby, Maple Ridge and many other places.
Coquitlam 2 is our secondary command post, transportation and utility vehicle. It can also be used as a command post. When we are called by other search teams in the Province, this is the first vehicle we send. It comes fully equipped for multi day searches involving mountain rescue, avalanche rescue, rope rescue, and when towing the Argo or Polaris boat, ATV and inland water rescue.
Coquitlam 2 has been sent to help with the Kelowna and Barriere Fires of 2004, to Mt Baker to assist Washington State, and to all areas of the Lower Mainland, Whistler, Pemberton, Hope and the Fraser Canyon.
Coquitlam 3 is a trailered Polaris rigid hull inflatable with a 150HP Jet drive motor for river, lake and swift water searches. It can be used as a dive platform, transportation vehicle and search platform. It's equipped with marine and VHF radios, standard marine safety equipment and spotlights.
Coquitlam 3 has been used in the Fraser River, Pitt Lake, Pitt River, Indian Arm, Burrard Inlet, Buntzen Lake, Sasamat Lake and Burnaby Lake.
Our newest vehicle, is an Argo 8x8 Avenger 8 wheel drive amphibious all-terrain vehicle. This little gem also comes with winter tracks (like a tank) for winter travel, a winch, and can seat 6 searchers, or four with gear.
We're currently in the process of becoming familiar with the capabilities of this vehicle, but based on past searches in the Burke Mountain, and Buntzen Lake area, this resource will cut many hours of search time, and make transporting people, patients and equipment to and from the field much faster and safer.
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