The St. John’s Regional Fire Department is handing over responsibility for helicopter rescue services to the Newfoundland and Labrador Search and Rescue Association, but will maintain its high-angle rescue unit.
The helicopter unit responded to only five calls for ground search and rescue operations over a seven-year period, so the association will expand its ground search and rescue operations to cover the entire province including metro.
Because of a change in regulations with Transport Canada now overseeing, the fire department’s equipment, including the helicopter, is no longer certified. Achieving such a rating would cost tens of thousands of dollars extra.
Councillor Carl Ridgely, who chairs the regional fire services committee, does not expect any reduction in helicopter ground search services in metro.
He’s confident that the service will be the same or better because the ground search and rescue association does more of it—20 to 30 calls a year.
The association, which operates seven ground search and rescue teams across the province, looks forward to expanding their coverage to metro.
(Left to right: Mayor Danny Breen, Fire Chief Sherry Colford)
Sherry Colford, Chief of the St. John’s Regional Fire Department, does not expect to see any difference in response times for such services in metro.
Even if the SJRFD team got there first, they wouldn’t be able to do much until the helicopter arrived.
