Emergency Services

Having signed on with Campbell River Search and Rescue (CRSAR) in 1992, Grant Cromer is now one of the longest-serving members of the team.

“Nobody told me to leave,” he jokes. 

“I’m still here.”

Grant, who is a career nurse, serves as one of the managers and also handles some of the ground search and rescue training, focussing his efforts on rope rescues and swift water rescues.

He remembers his training as pretty informal when he joined up. In the time since, things have advanced significantly, as members typically take part in certified courses now.

“The whole training program has come a long way,” he says.

The CRSAR team has also grown and has just added 17 new recruits to the team of about 40 — all the more important because search and rescue is nobody’s day job and not everyone may be readily available to help out when duty calls.

“We’re all volunteer, so we make do,” he says.

As well as working out of the local office, Grant has devoted time to working with the provincial organization and recently finished his term as North Island regional director for the B.C. Search and Rescue Association.

Amanda and Barry Glickman realized emergency communications service was lacking on Cortes Island a few years back.

From their time at sea they had experience in the field, so they decided they could help expand the network of people trained to provide emergency communications.

“We believe in this issue,” says Amanda.

They started by training local amateur radio operators but understood there was a lack of sufficient infrastructure, and that for an emergency system to function properly the region would need to have to train other operators, beyond Cortes.

“We went off to various communities and taught courses,” says Barry. “We now have exercises that cover the whole region.” 

This training has expanded throughout the communities of the Strathcona Regional District, including Campbell River, Tahsis, Gold River, Zeballos and Sayward. 

Early on, with no financial support, the couple taught many courses at their own expense. Typically, Barry and Amanda volunteered a couple of thousand hours each year.

Eventually, enough people were trained to set up volunteer communications teams in the SRD, and funding was leveraged to cover some expenses and provide emergency equipment.

“When people realized it could work, money started coming in,” Barry says.