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Oplopanax Horridus

Oplopanax Horridus

A veteran SAR volunteer's experiences in British Columbia

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    • On Blaming the Victim
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Smart Phone and GPS

By Michael Coyle Posted on 15/01/2014 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with GPS, rescue, smart phone, tech
Smart Phone and GPS

Clarifications and reiterating smart phone GPS capabilities, PLBs, and how to automate the process of determining someone’s location.

Cypress Mountain and charging for rescue

By Michael Coyle Posted on 14/01/2014 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with no charge for rescue, opinion, SAR
Cypress Mountain and charging for rescue
Picture credit Trevor Hawkins

Cypress Mountain has posted signage indicating anyone calling for rescue could be charged a “fee” of $1000. Why this policy is extremely misguided.

SAR in BC for UAV operators

By Michael Coyle Posted on 13/01/2014 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with emergency management, ICS, incident command system, management, SAR, technology, UAV
SAR in BC for UAV operators

Some resources on how Search and Rescue works in British Columbia for UAV operators.

Community Emergency Response

By Michael Coyle Posted on 10/01/2014 Posted in Blog Entry, Short Posts Tagged with Autism, CERT, community, dementia, emergency management, VOST
Community Emergency Response

The concept of an Community Emergency Response team is an interesting one that could be used to search for people with dementia among other emergencies.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: the basics

By Michael Coyle Posted on 08/01/2014 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with SAR, technology, UAV, video
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: the basics
QuadCopter UAV

Some basic facts about the operational use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Search and Rescue in Canada, and in BC

2013 Review

By Michael Coyle Posted on 31/12/2013 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with 2013, review
2013 Review

A very quick review of 2013, and some goals for 2014

Current Crowdsourced SAR effort on the North Shore

By Michael Coyle Posted on 27/12/2013 Posted in Blog Entry, Short Posts Tagged with crowdsourcing, SAR, search, technology, Tyler Wright, video
Current Crowdsourced SAR effort on the North Shore
Flying over Whistler Village in 2008

SAR teams on the North Shore are attempting to reproduce a crowdsourced SAR effort pioneered in 2010 on a massive 16 day long search.

Denial of grant illustrates SAR funding issues

By Michael Coyle Posted on 18/12/2013 Posted in Blog Entry, Short Posts Tagged with funding, SAR, sustainable, Whistler

Whistler SAR’s annual grant was denied, illustrating one of the many flaws in BC’s SAR funding model

Letter to CBC’s The Current

By Michael Coyle Posted on 09/12/2013 Posted in Short Posts Tagged with dementia, letter, SAR, urban SAR
Letter to CBC’s The Current

The Current, CBC’s national show, did a broadcast on Dementia and I decided to write a letter outlining some of my own opinins.

Dementia Prevention and Search Resources

By Michael Coyle Posted on 04/12/2013 Posted in Blog Entry Tagged with alzheimer's, dementia, resource, SAR
Dementia Prevention and Search Resources

A list of resources to help prevent the wandering of people with dementia, and to assist SAR groups to search for them

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