Finding lost people in the region might be a little easier for search and rescue teams thanks to a federal grant.
It will also help local search and rescue teams to teach people how not to get lost and what to do if a person is. The Lakehead Search and Rescue Unit was one of 21 units throughout the province to receive part of a $551,000 grant for new equipment. The $15,000 package includes everything from new computers to radio equipment. LSRU president Denise Wallace said it will also help keep training up-to-date for the organization’s 60 local volunteers. The current equipment was also getting old.
“Like all technology it ages,” she said. “We cant do it without the technology we’d be left behind.”
The technology will also help in preventative search and rescue programs so that people of all ages learn how not to get lost and what to do if they are.
Ontario Search and Rescue Volunteer Association president Horace Webb said prevention is a big part of what search and rescue units are about.
“We’re out there beating the bushes all the time really to enhance and help people to not become lost,” he said.
New radios will help teams communicate better and GPS software can help track those who find themselves lost.
“So that we know exactly the area that’s been searched and what part of they area’s been missed,” Webb said.
