Half a dozen Central Cariboo Search and Rescue crew members trained over the weekend at Blocks R Us, learning how to enter and mark a building during emergency situations at all levels.
“We’ve got six people here taking a train the trainer course,” said CCSAR Chief Rick White Saturday afternoon. “They are learning what to do if there is a fire, a flood, even an earthquake and a structural collapse.“
George Klemm with KGC Fire Rescue out of Parksville, taught the course, going over how to respond to a single event, a local event with multiple structures, a regional event such as a windstorm, a provincial event and ultimately a volcano.
“These guys need to be prepared for whatever they can do in small events, but we cover large events in the course,” Klemm told the Tribune.
On Friday evening, CCSAR members taking the course started out in the classroom at the CCSAR hall where they discussed different types of events and what they look like.
“We talked about this region specifically and what they need to know so that they have an awareness level on a lot of things and an operational level on some,” Klemm said. “Saturday and Sunday are hands-on.”
As the crew members worked at ripping parts of a building out, practicing various scenarios, Klemm said having the donation of a building from Blocks R Us is great because to go through a demolition permit is extensive.
Learning this way makes it an “interesting process,” he added.
White echoed Klemm saying without Blocks R Us owners Fred and Wayne Ball’s donation of a building, trailer, equipment, manpower and the space, the course would never have happened.
“They and Spectra who lent us some things for this course as well, are great community supporters,” White added.
CCSAR captain Bob Piderman said the course had been a blast so far.
“This is a nice extension of what we do in training for auto extrication,” he said. “We are looking for weaknesses and shoring them up for our own safety.”
Crew member Kyle Cotterell said it’s specialized training that prepares them for worst-case scenarios.
“It allows us to be more response-ready to our community and surrounding area,” Cotterell said.
