PICTOU COUNTY VOLUNTEER GROUND SEARCH AND RESCUE

This organization is a volunteer service to assist an agency of jurisdiction (police agency) to find lost people. The team provides training to volunteers to be able to locate lost people who may be despondent or have dementia autism or just have gotten misdirected while out hiking. Team members may also be involved in prevention programs like 'Hug-A-Tree' with AdventureSmart. Hug-A-Tree teaches children how to prevent getting lost and what to do if lost. Trained team members also service clients with Project Lifesaver of Nova Scotia which provides a transmitter bracelet to families who have loved ones that may bolt or wonder. This allows the client to be located using a electronic tracker by a Project Lifesaver trained GSAR technician. Our organization must recruit volunteers and train regularly for this work as well as maintain vehicles and equipment (computers radios gps etc) to do this work. They team also assists other teams in Nova Scotia when called upon by the Incident Commander (RCMP or police agency). Another mandate of GSAR is civil emergency response activated by Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office. This is not a new service but one that is being activated more due to climatic emergencies like hurricanes floods and fires. Our volunteers have helped out with Hurricane Dorian and Fiona as well as floods.