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Oplopanax Horridus

A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia

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Category: Blog Entry

Regular blog posts

SAR Days 21 through 38

By Michael Coyle Posted on 18/07/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with SAR, SARDay

That’s a lot of SAR Days. Since last I posted, we’ve done 18 days of training, mostly in the Rope Rescue area. Itemized below and updated in my ongoing log. Day 21: Technical travel skills. At least half of the …

SAR Days 21 through 38 Read more »

Maps vs. Air Photos

By Michael Coyle Posted on 02/05/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with how-to, map, opinion

Now that everyone with an internet connection has access to Google Earth and Google Maps, we all have access to some fairly high quality air photo imagery. This might seem to be a good thing, but there are problems with …

Maps vs. Air Photos Read more »

Busy Week(s): SARDay 15, 16,17,18, 19 and 20

By Michael Coyle Posted on 02/05/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with SAR, SARDay
Busy Week(s): SARDay 15, 16,17,18, 19 and 20
Roland Webb, 1975-2013

SARDay 15, 16,17,18, 19 and 20

SAR Day 14: Executive Meeting and MIT Exam

By Michael Coyle Posted on 22/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with SAR, SARDay

Executive meeting again (for our team these are once a month).In addition,a task review would be conducted, examining what was done and how things could have been done better or differently.And finally, even though our MITs (Members in training) have …

SAR Day 14: Executive Meeting and MIT Exam Read more »

SAR Day 13: Search for missing hiker near Wigeon Creek

By Michael Coyle Posted on 22/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with rescue, SAR, SARDay, search
SAR Day 13: Search for missing hiker near Wigeon Creek

On Monday evening the team was paged to search for a missing hiker in the Wigeon Slough area

SAR Day 12: First aid field day

By Michael Coyle Posted on 18/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with first aid, SAR, SARDay, training

Day three of the first aid course is a field day. Of course, even a field day involves some teaching, and Rollie does a good job using the back of the truck as a whiteboard. Today we covered spinal immobilization, …

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SAR Day 11: Classroom first aid

By Michael Coyle Posted on 17/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with first aid, SAR, SARDay, training

The first full day of the SAR Wilderness First Aid course was spent in the classroom. Among many other things we spent a lot of time on taking accurate vitals. This is essential in order to establish weather the subject is improving …

SAR Day 11: Classroom first aid Read more »

SAR Day 10: CPR/AED

By Michael Coyle Posted on 16/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with first aid, SAR, SARDay, training
SAR Day 10: CPR/AED
Well hello there.

SARDay 10

SAR Day 9: Advanced first aid techniques

By Michael Coyle Posted on 15/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry, SAR Day Tagged with first aid, SAR, SARDay, training

All SAR members have basic first aid skills, but in addition to the basic stuff we’re often called to assist members of the team who are paramedics, nurses or doctors. We currently have 4 paramedics, 1 firefighter, 1 coast guard …

SAR Day 9: Advanced first aid techniques Read more »

GPS vs. Paper Maps

By Michael Coyle Posted on 14/04/2010 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with GPS, map, navigation, opinion, technology
GPS vs. Paper Maps

Ever since I saw my  first mapping GPS I’ve been pretty critical of them (well, those that know me know I’m pretty critical about everything). To be clear I’m not critical about the basic utility of plotting your position on …

GPS vs. Paper Maps Read more »

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