A TRAINING session turned into a real life search for Terrace Water Rescue (TWR) members earlier this month.
TWR members were training on the Skeena River near a local canyon called Hells Gate Oct 16.
During the training, the RCMP notified the team that a suspect unresponsive body was floating in the Skeena River and gave a description of the possible subject.
The team responded quickly as its practice was just downstream of the police-initiated search.
Water rescue members, along with the RCMP, searched the area upstream but were unable to locate anything or anyone in the water fitting the description.
The search concluded and water rescue members resumed their practice.
Swiftwater Rescue Technicians had installed a Tensioned High Line across the river at the most dangerous part of the canyon.
Tensioned high lines can be a useful skill in the wilderness and even an urban setting.
Whatever the setting, the need is the same: to get a patient or "victim" from point A to point B safely, effectively, and efficiently.
Water levels are lower this time of year but at high water conditions, this part of the river is treacherous to both boaters and fisherman.
The team can build a high line system to transport an injured hiker over an impassable ravine 100 feet in the air or take that same high line system and use it in an urban setting to transport gear, tools, or victims over a field of debris from a building collapse.
The TWR team was able to transport one of its members from the far shore to the river centre and then lower the member into the waiting boat.