(L-R) Ken Duncan and Kevin McNeill have a combined 50 years of experience with Nanaimo SAR. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

valued organization

From humble beginnings to a place to call home, Nanaimo SAR celebrates 30 years in service

Dec 30, 2021 | 5:20 AM

NANAIMO — From the comfort of a newly refurbished home base of Nanaimo Search and Rescue (SAR), longtime members reflected about the early days of the once small organization.

Ken Duncan joined Nanaimo SAR within two or three years of their inception. The previous search manager is still an active member after nearly 30 years of service.

“At that time there was a little bit of equipment stored at members houses. For meeting space when we first met it was in the sub basement of City Hall,” Duncan said.

Duncan vividly recalled the less than glamorous meeting space filled with unused items like old filing cabinets.

For several years Nanaimo SAR bounced around to other local government buildings and fire halls for meetings

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Duncan recalled memorable call-outs, some incredibly tragic.

In 2001, a child and adult died following a sudden blizzard on Mount Benson. It was a beautiful day for much of the area, however Duncan recalled stormy clouds forming around the mountain several hours before being paged out.

The deceased were from different groups of people who joined in an effort to get out: children who went snowboarding on fresh and quickly accumulating snow, and hikers who got lost in the midst of heavy snow and fading visibility.

The venture turned tragic after darkness set in.

“In several places they tried to grab for shelter in the trunks of tries and burn their $20 bills and driver’s license trying to start a fire,” Duncan said.

The ground went from bare to thigh deep in snow in a matter of hours, Duncan recounted.

Nanaimo SAR occasionally re-enacts the case to gauge human behaviour of missing subjects in similar conditions.

On a much lighter note, Duncan recalled a professional photographer in distress on Mount Benson above Witchcraft Lake as darkness set in.

“He was taking flash pictures, put them up on on his screen and would then walk ahead. Every ten seconds he would take a new picture. It worked, he got himself out,” Duncan laughed.

Kevin McNeill, past president who served with Nanaimo SAR for 22 years, said the non-profit officially became a society in November 1991 after original members scrambled to assemble the required number of members.

McNeill said an original member went to her mother to not only get her signature, but she become an integral part of the organization.

“At the time you needed to have 10 people to start a society. She became the tenth person and search manager and we used her house,” McNeill said of Carole Wright.

When McNeill joined in 1999 Nanaimo SAR was responding to about 20 calls a year. That number has since grown to three times that number.

“The first search I was involved in was looking for an elderly gentleman who walked everyday from his house on Hammond Bay Rd. to the mall…Finally somebody went and asked the ferries: he’d gone over to Vancouver to see his sister,” McNeill said.

While he believes people are more prepared for outings in the back country, McNeill is concerned cell phones and various apps give people a false sense of securitiy.

“Cell phones don’t work well when they are cold and are of little use if they don’t have any power,” McNeill said.

Following a lengthy journey to upgrade and expand their headquarters on Fourth St., McNeill and Duncan believe the facility offers peace of mind for its members and allows them to better serve the community.

Nanaimo SAR president Carly Trobridge is confident their organization will be able to handle consistently high call volumes.

“Not only because of the new hall, but the skill set of our members and dedication of our members..I think we’re prepared for growth and to meet it head-on, we really enjoy what we do so it makes it really easy,” Trobridge said.

Nanaimo SAR will respond to about 60 calls for help this year, a new record.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes