KSAR garage (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

KAMLOOPS SEARCH AND RESCUE

Time running out for Kamloops Search and Rescue to find a new home

Sep 8, 2023 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Search and Rescue’s (KSAR) need for a new home isn’t a new issue, but it is becoming more acute, as space and time is limited at its current site.

KSAR has just over 15 months to find the first of two needed solutions to their space crunch.

“In an ideal world, we are going to need something short term to get us by until we can find land, a building, funding and solve the long-term picture,” said Randy Price, KSAR vice-president.

The current situation has KSAR forced to store some of its equipment outside of its bursting garage. President Paula Davies stressed that simple square footage for vehicles is not the only thing lacking at the current location.

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“We definitely need the space to park our fleet but we also need space for a meeting room and a place where we can train, maybe an office. We just need a bigger facility for all those things,” stated Davies.

To that end, Kamloops city council accompanied team members on a recent tour of a new facility in Vernon, getting an up close look at what’s needed in the community. Councillor Margot Middleton noted the importance of having a world class facility as Kamloops promotes itself as a tourism destination for outdoor recreation.

“We need to make sure that we have adequate services, particularly emergency services, for [tourists] when we invite them here and encourage them to come. This has to be a top priority,” Middleton told CFJC Today.

If they follow the Vernon blueprint, a new permanent home would cost approximately $3.8 million. That funding would be sourced from a number of different avenues.

In Vernon, funding was secured through the regional district and an alternate approval process.

“We are trying make every possibility available for finding land and hopefully building a building. We are in those works, of finding land, talking to everyone and hopefully they will come up with a solution,” said Davies.

KSAR does receive funding every year, but those dollars are put directly into operational costs to continue the organization’s important work.

The goal of getting a proper space to facilitate the lifesaving work they do, isn’t a new task, but one that is taking up valuable effort and energy from the team.

“There are too few people trying to do too many things and nothing gets done as well as we’d like to get it done,” said Price. “And if we didn’t have to worry about a building and we had a building, we could work on building a stronger team to serve the community and regional district better — focus on what we got involved for.”