Three new mountain bikes were bought to bolster Penticton and District Search and Rescue's new bike team, search manager Dale Jorgensen said.
(SHANNON QUESNEL / iNFOnews.ca)
July 25, 2013 - 1:27 PM
PENTICTON - A new search and rescue bike team, and new mountain bikes, will make it easier to find lost or injured cyclists.
Penticton and District Search and Rescue are training their members to be part of a new team to better cover the Three Blind Mice mountain biking area and urban zones search manager Dale Jorgenson said.
The team also bought three new mountain bikes at a discount with a $4,200 donation from the Community Foundation of the South Okanagan and picked up a free bike rack. The combined total value is more than $6,000. They also added repair, transport and safety equipment to its inventory.
Jorgenson said the rescue team is also changing how it finds lost people and creating a new response plan for the Three Blind Mice mountain biking area. The plan will have prepared response tactics and more resources available to shorten the time in finding lost riders.
The Three Blind Mice and nearby trails cover an area of 20 square kilometres and has more than 100 km of trail. Almost all of it has been surveyed and helicopter landing zones, staging areas, and access routes have been recorded.
The rescue team can also call on helicopter assets in the event of an emergency in the Mice.
Jorgenson said there will be more tactics for urban searches as well. Unlike other vehicles, mountain bikes provide an ideal platform to search rural or suburban roads and trails because they can cover a large area quickly and quietly, making it easy to spot or hear a person who is lost or injured.
To contact a reporter for this story, to send photos or videos, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca, call 250-488-3065 or tweet @shannonquesnel1
News from © iNFOnews, 2013