Tri County Ground Search and Rescue

Tri-County 2007 ATV Draw winners are Anna and Andrew Ryan of Riverview. The Ryans were the winners of the draw held at Champlain Mall on December 20th. Pictured here are Mrs. and Mr. Ryan with Gilles Bourque of G. Bourque Sales, the supplier of the ATV.

Tri-County would like to thank everyone for their support of our major annual fund raising event. Through you generous support, the team raised $11,300 to support our activities for the coming year. We would also like to take this opportunity to wish every one a very Happy New Year.

It was a busy weekend for Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue with the team being called to two different search operations.

On Friday, November 9th, Tri-County was activated to assume the direction of a search for a 17 year-old in Highfield, near Sussex. Taking over from Greater Fundy Ground Search and Rescue, Tri-County directed the activities of York Sunbury, Miramichi and Greater Fundy, and Tri-County search resources in a search for a local resident missing since November 7th. At 12:53, SAR Command was advised the subject had reported in to police in Saint John.

At 1:30 pm on November 11, 2007, Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue responded to a request for assistance from Codiac Regional RCMP for a search operation in the Irishtown Nature Park area.

Information gathered by the RCMP indicated a 62 year-old gentleman was reported missing from a special care home in the early hours of Sunday, 11 November. Tri-County arrived on site at 2:00 pm and assumed direction of the operation from a search base at the Irishtown Nature Park.

At approximately 5:00 pm the subject was located by Codiac Police Dog Services. Unfortunately the subject was deceased. Tri-County personnel assisted the RCMP and Coroner Service in recovering the subject. The incident was concluded at 9:00 pm

A total of 22 Tri-County personnel responded to this search operation for a total of 140 seacher hours.

On Saturday, November 3rd, during the height of Tropical Storm Noel, Tri-County Ground Search & Rescue responded to a request for assistance from District 6 RCMP in Sunny Corner, to locate two over-due hunters. Tri-County personnel left Moncton at midnight Saturday morning in the middle of the storm. The Moncton based Tri-County Ground Search & Rescue team was joined by members of the Miramichi Ground Search & Rescue team.

The search effort started upon the arrival of Tri-County’s search management team at 3:00am and continued throughout the day. The two hunters were located by Tri-County personnel at 12:02 on Sunday. Although cold, wet and hungry, the two Toronto hunters were in good spirits and excellent physical condition.

Tri-County Search Manager Darren Meredith praised the hunters for having stayed in one location over-night and getting as much protection from the weather as possible. “By staying calm, staying put during the worst of the storm, and helping searchers locate them by firing their rifles at regular intervals, these two hunters made their recovery much easier” said Meredith.

Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue and Miramichi Search and Rescue are two of the provinces volunteer teams that provide specialized search and rescue to the province’s police forces.

 

Tri-County GSAR spent the weekend of October 27-28 in a training exercise with elements of the 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise) - VIII CH- from Moncton and Sussex, in Fundy National Park. As part of the Canadian Armed Forces civilian assistance role, the VIII CH can be called upon to provide assistance to civilian authorities in a number of roles, including the military support of ground search and rescue operations. The Fundy Park training was designed to provide VIII CH personnel with a general orientation to SAR operations and to demonstrate somoe basic ground search and rescue skills.