Being involved in the search and rescue business isn't for everyone. It takes a special mindset, a wide range of skills and the ability to drop everything in an instant to be involved. Volunteers make up the vast majority of search and rescue teams, dedicating their own time to serve
'We literally couldn't without volunteers: Inside Whanganui Land Search and Rescue
Whanganui Chronicle
9 mins to read
Volunteers at Whanganui LandSAR have training once a month, with the focus constantly rotating. Photo / Supplied
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"We only have a relatively small police squad. We couldn't do it all on our own," Wright said.
"Without exaggeration, volunteers are fundamental to every search that we do. We literally could not do searches without volunteers."
The Whanganui area includes Whanganui and surrounding coastlines to Pātea, up to Taumarunui and across to the Ruahines near Taihape.
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With a wide variety of landscapes in the area, from mountains to rivers, bush, sea and urban areas, Wright said it was important to have a range of people with different skills suitable for each environment.
Police work closely with a number of local outfits when a search is being carried out.
Local volunteer organisations involved might include LandSar, Coastguard, Midwest Helicopters, Palmerston North Rescue Helicopter, Ruapehu Alpine Rescue Organisation, Amateur Radio Emergency Communications, New Zealand Defence Force and more.
Land Search and Rescue (LandSar) is a national volunteer organisation that helps lost, missing or injured people across New Zealand.
Group support officer Jeff Franks oversees and supports volunteer LandSar groups across the lower North Island, including Whanganui, Taranaki, Palmerston North, Horowhenua and Wellington.
Gone are the early days of search and rescue where almost anyone and everyone would get called to assist with searches in the bush, Franks said.
Now, LandSar members must meet prerequisites and go through training to ensure they are a suitable fit.
They have to be at least 18 years old, physically fit, have bushcraft skills, have appropriate gear to be self-contained in a backcountry environment for two days and be available for searches at short notice.
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Potential volunteers are then taken into the field for the night and assessed by LandSar, who look at their gear, how they adapt to the outdoors and how well they fit in with the team.
Once accepted as a volunteer, new members are expected to complete three courses within the first year, which include first aid, search techniques and track and clue awareness.
After that, they are considered operational.
They also have to be competent in river safety, helicopter safety, navigation using maps and GPS, bushcraft and radio use, to name a few.
With more than 3500 trained volunteers across 62 local groups, LandSar has a strong foothold along the length of New Zealand.
"It's no longer calling up a few hunters and sending them into the bush to look for someone," Franks said.
"These are people that have done a lot of training to be in this position."
There are two main sides to LandSar - the field operation, those on the ground carrying out the search; and the incident management team (IMT) who assist in search and rescue operations behind the scenes with things such as logistics, intelligence, public information management, welfare and safety.
Franks said although it was important to have boots on the ground, it was equally important to have support from those behind the scenes.
"Not everyone that wants to join search and rescue needs to be a tramper or a hunter. They can be someone that just really wants to help out and get involved. It is really diverse. There is always a role for someone."
Twenty years ago, 99 per cent of missions were looking for people lost in the bush, Franks said.
Over the past few years, LandSar has seen an increase in urban searches for people with conditions such as Alzheimer's disease who have wandered off and become lost.
"It is quite a big thing. It is something that is happening a lot now. So it has certainly changed a bit."
Franks said LandSar spent a lot more hours training than operating in the field for a live mission, just to ensure volunteers were ready for whatever scenario they may be thrown into.
"It's a funny thing because no one wants the phone to go because that means someone is in trouble, that's what you are there for."
Whanganui's Elly Arnst got involved with LandSAR in 2017.
"I was just keen on tramping and I knew a member of the local group and he suggested I joined and it just went from there."
Now chairwoman of LandSar Whanganui, she oversees a team of 30 people.
They meet for training once a month, with the focus generally rotating depending on the group's needs.
"Sometimes it will be classroom activities, which might involve rope tying, first aid or navigation exercises," Arnst said.
"For outdoor training, last month we did orienteering. Before that we did navigation and radio work. It changes every month so it is quite exciting."
Whanganui LandSar does not have many operational callouts and most of the time is spent training for such events.
However, the Whanganui team supports neighbouring regions such as Taranaki, Manawatū, National Park and Tararua when additional searchers are needed.
"We have had a few callouts over the last year. There was one period where we were getting called out every fortnight for two months, and then you would have nothing for 12 months. You definitely have to be patient and that is why training is important to keep motivation up."
Arnst said self-sufficient outdoor skills, teamwork, enthusiasm, patience, good situational awareness, being able to follow logical instructions while also thinking outside the square were some of the skills and personality traits that were needed.
"There have been some great and not so great experiences. You sort of need to go in with the mindset of if you don't find anyone, but you have cleared that area, you are still helping with the search.
"Everyone wants to be part of the group that finds the person alive and well like a fairytale. You definitely bond with people in hairy situations.
"There is actually a bit of waiting list. We like to keep it around that 30 number [of volunteers], just because it gets hard to manage the training and we don't really need more than that."
People who want to learn more about being involved in search and rescue can visit the LandSar website at www.landsar.org.nz
Whanganui is lucky enough to have an expert search dog handler in its own backyard and Arnst hopes more people would like to become handlers in the future.
Lois Blackmore is a dog handler for the New Zealand USAR Search Dog Association.
Contracted by Fire and Emergency New Zealand in the event of an emergency, USAR search dogs help to locate people trapped following the collapse of structures, in the event of earthquakes, tornadoes, landslides and other disasters.
Besides Blackmore, only five other operational dog handlers are part of the search association.
"We are always looking for more because New Zealand will need more in the time of an emergency."
Blackmore said they did all sorts of training to mimic real-life scenarios, with specific training on Sundays and then maintenance training throughout the week.
It was a very time-consuming process to become a dog handler.
"It isn't everyone's cup of tea by any means. You have to be totally committed. But it is such a rewarding career."
Someone interested in becoming a dog handler would be made the "subject" for six weeks to see how they were in the environment, how they interacted with the dogs and if they fitted the life of a dog handler.
"I would hide you in wardrobes or rubble and the dogs will search for you, and I will be looking at your interaction and see how you react in the environment," Blackmore said.
After that, there are a series of procedures and background checks through USAR Search Dog Association. It can take up to 18 months of training to become operational.
"My life is work, dogs, sleep. It has been that way for about 15 years. That is all it is. We are on call 24/7 really.
"My dogs have actually never been deployed. There have been some close calls."
Although they hadn't been required yet, Blackmore said they needed to be ready at the drop of a hat.
"On one hand, you seriously want something to happen so you can go out. You do all this training and you want something to happen. On the other hand, you don't want it to happen because that means people's lives are at risk.
"You have to be honest, there is an adrenaline rush."
Those interested in learning more about becoming a volunteer can visit www.usardogs.org.nz
