All 60 Of You Take A Bow

By Ben Meisner

There won’t be any parades, no medals (although there should be)  it was just a great deal of satisfaction and you get the sense of what the Prince George Search and Rescue and its associated volunteers are all about.

The rescuing of a man trapped in a cave high in the McGregor mountains last Saturday was a call above duty.

The accolades should go to the two helicopter companies that sent their pilots out, and the pilots who went out knowing full well that darkness was upon them, but they needed to get the first responders to the scene of the accident if they had any hope of saving the man’s life.

It should go to the Prince George Search and Rescue crew who in darkness climbed down 3,000 feet with a stretcher through some of the toughest mountain decent you would ever see, and I might add that all took place in the dark with only their head lamps to assist them

It also should go to the 442 Squadron who circled the site until they could drop a crew to the ground from a fixed wing aircraft, a Buffalo, to assist in the recovery.  Can you imagine dropping into the night all be it lit up with flares to what surely at some point has to be termed an unexpected landing?

It also should go the Cormorant crew who in spite of having one helicopter come up lame, returned to the scene and got set to receive the injured man.

It should also go the other six people who were in the cave at the time of the mishap.

How about the Quesnel Search and Rescue who gave a helping hand, the Nechako Lakes Group and the BC Cave Rescue team. Then there was the Alpine Club of Canada who became the cleanup crew.

There were 60 people helping  save the  man, of that number four were being paid, but certainly not enough to the risk they faced on Saturday night and early Sunday morning.

When the injured man recovers from hospital, and he will as a result of the tireless effort of these 60 people, he needs to take a bow before all of them. When he is finished, our City and region should take a bow to the 60 people would made it possible for him to be there. We are blessed to have them.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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