The sixth annual ‘SARnival’ saw close to four dozen search and rescue volunteers at Summerland’s rodeo grounds on Saturday.
Teams from across the Okanagan Valley joined together to test their search and rescue skills with First Aid, extrication of an injured party, ropes and navigation training.
Dale Jorgensen of SAR Penticton said, the event wasn’t set up like a competition but a way to get volunteers together and learn the latest techniques.
“It was a great event, we had six teams participate and it is a great way for different regions of the Interior to get to know each other and share their search and rescue skills with one another,” said Jorgensen.
Kelowna’s COSAR team’s took to Instagram to share their excitement with this year’s ‘SARnival’ event.
“This annual event provides search and rescue volunteers a chance to hone their skills and get to know their counterparts from other teams. We had so much fun that our media team forgot to take pictures until the very end of the event,” said the Cosar team.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bv8Q5xuBbEB/
Kelowna COSAR team member Brad Trites said he will definitely be attending again next year.
“SARnival was a great event. Our teams often work with each other on challenging mutual aid tasks, such as the recent search for the missing cowboy near Merritt, and events such as SARnival give us a chance to get to know each other in a low-stress environment and ultimately increase our cross-team strength when we are called out on task. Penticton Search and Rescue did a great job organizing the event and I look forward to attending next year,” said Trites.
According to the B.C. Search and Rescue website, there are 2,500 volunteers involved across the province.
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