North Shore Rescue breaks all-time record for calls-out in a year

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – One of North America’s busiest search and rescue teams has set a new all-time record for the number of calls-out it tackles.

On Wednesday afternoon, North Shore Rescue was called to Dog Mountain to help an injured hiker. That call was the 145th call of 2020. The last time they were close to that number was 2018 when NSR ended the year with 144 calls for help.

.@NSRescue was called to an injured hiker on Dog Mountain earlier. This is the 145th call of the year for BC’s busiest search and rescue team, which is an all-time record. NSR dealt with 144 call-outs in 2018. They’re worried about a jump in calls during the holidays. @NEWS1130

— Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) December 24, 2020

Rescuing the injured hiker wasn’t the only call on Wednesday. Volunteers had to use night vision goggles from their helicopter to spot two others who had also gone missing near the Suicide Creek drainage, that was the 146th call and a rescue made a little easier as the team rolls out new night-vision imaging systems. Previously, that kind of technology had only been restricted to other organizations like the police or military, and the provincial government hopes to gather data from this pilot project to figure out how critical it is for teams, like North Shore Rescue, to have night-vision capabilities.

NSR Team Leader Mike Danks says getting the technology is incredibly important, not just because they’re dealing with an increase in calls, but more of them are being carried out after sunset.

“We’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of calls that have been coming in on an annual basis. And then when we actually look at the data, it clearly showed that 37 per cent of our calls were coming in an hour before darkness or after darkness, which is a pretty significant amount and that really puts pressure on our team to respond in a heightened fashion to try and beat sunset and this is going to take that pressure off now.”

.@NSRescue also recorded its 146th call of 2020 last night using new night-vision technology to spot two hikers in steep terrain. Pic on the left is in complete darkness through night-vision goggles, on the right is w/the spotlight from the chopper. https://t.co/nOcZL7ObcQ https://t.co/abMoCCMsOT pic.twitter.com/oiaTe0juZ3

— Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) December 24, 2020

For years, one of the trends NSR has noticed is people hiking up a mountain hoping to catch a beautiful sunset but not realizing they’ll have to come down in the dark and often times they’re not prepared with the right equipment.

Related Stories: 

• North Shore Rescue gets approval to use night-vision technology for searches by air

• NSR warns volunteers may not help you in dangerous areas

• North Shore Rescue issues warning, on pace to set new record

“The calls before sunset… this is a typical thing that we see when people do get lost, they wait until the last minute to make the call and that’s why we really encourage people to make that call sooner so we’re not under a time crunch to get them out before darkness.”

The team started using the night-vision technology less than two weeks ago and Danks expects they’ll use it frequently as people venture out during the holidays.

For anyone heading out to the trails, NSR recommends 10 essentials to bring along.

-With files from Hana Mae Nassar