Penticton search crews answer flurry of calls over long weekend

Volunteers with Penticton search and rescue were kept busy over the Labour Day long weekend responding to five rescues.

Penticton and District Search and Rescue manager Kelvin Hall said the first call came Friday morning, Sept. 4, with B.C. Ambulance asking for help evacuating a seriously injured paraglider from the mountains near Hedley. The search and rescue team’s long-line helicopter team was dispatched along with a ground crew.

A B.C. Emergency Health Services helicopter team was also dispatched to the scene, where search and rescue personnel found the injured person, provided basic first aid, and got them ready to be airlifted to Kelowna General Hospital.

Three more rescues were made on Saturday with both air and ground units deployed, he said.

The first call was to rescue an injured ATV rider in the Tulameen area around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. That call was followed by a second one to rescue another ATV rider in the Bear Creek area.

Then RCMP contacted search and rescue to investigate a vehicle collision on Highway 97 south of Penticton. The returning search and rescue helicopter was able to locate the vehicle, which had no occupants inside.

On Monday, a crew rescued two hikers suffering from hypothermia in the Matriarch Mountain area in Cathedral Provincial Park. The hikers had run out of supplies and had turned on their distress beacon.

Penticton Search and Rescue has been called out 55 times so far this year, which is above average.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to tips@infonews.ca and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.

Steve Arstad

I have been looking for news in the South Okanagan - SImilkameen for 20 years, having turned a part time lifelong interest into a full time profession. After five years publishing a local newsletter, several years working as a correspondent / stringer for several local newspapers and seven years as editor of a Similkameen weekly newspaper, I joined iNFOnews.ca in 2014. My goal in the news industry has always been to deliver accurate and interesting articles about local people and places. My interest in the profession is life long - from my earliest memories of grade school, I have enjoyed writing.
As an airborne geophysical surveyor I travelled extensively around the globe, conducting helicopter borne mineral surveys.
I also spent several years at an Okanagan Falls based lumber mill, producing glued-wood laminated products.
As a member of the Kaleden community, I have been involved in the Kaleden Volunteer Fire Department for 22 years, and also serve as a trustee on the Kaleden Irrigation District board.
I am currently married to my wife Judy, of 26 years. We are empty-nesters who enjoy living in Kaleden with our Welsh Terrier, Angus, and cat, Tibbs.
Our two daughters, Meagan and Hayley, reside in Richmond and Victoria, respectively.

Steve Arstad's Stories

More Articles