The importance of having a coordinated plan is being stressed.
OPP Sergeant Tom Laing is the Chief Rotary Pilot of Aviation Services spoke recently to emergency personnel from around the region gathered in Dryden.
Laing says their provincial search and rescue plan relies on synergy.
“If all the pieces of the puzzle are put together and communicating properly, then you get a lot more done with fewer resources.”
However, Laing notes “if everybody is doubling tasks and not speaking to each other, sometimes the ball can be dropped in terms of who should be doing what.”
Laing says “as long as things are commanded from one person and one search manager, usually all the tasks will be done appropriately and tracked appropriately for future reference.”
He says it’s especially important to have everyone working together in northwestern Ontario because of the vast area and limited resources.
Each region in Ontario has an emergency manager that will contact the search and rescue team and start coordinating an attack plan.
Laing says once they arrive to the area, they will be given a task and will search the area based on statistics using visual references, night vision goggles and infra-red cameras.
He notes everything is tracked on GPS.
The province has two helicopters based out of Orillia that are responsible for covering all of Ontario.
