HALIFAX—Hikers don’t have to take “the kitchen sink” to be safe in the wilderness, but they should take more than a cellphone, say members of the Halifax Search and Rescue organization (HSAR) who are asking hikers to share responsibility for their own safety.

“You don’t need to take the kitchen sink with you when you’re going into the woods,” said HSAR communications officer Paul Service at a demonstration by an HSAR and RCMP on the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove trailhead Monday. “It’s really easy to be prepared.”

The non-profit has been called to more than 40 incidents of people getting lost in the Halifax-area woods so far this year.

The biggest problem they see these days, Service said, is an overreliance on cellphones for everything from navigation to flashlights.

“One of the things that we’re noticing consistently across the board with all these calls is how people are prepared to go out in the wilderness and how people are not prepared to be out in the wilderness,” said Service.

“Some of the calls we’ve had is that people have digitally relied on their devices, and of course the batteries fail or their connection fails,” HSAR’s search director Blair Doyle added.

Ultimately, Service said HSAR is there to support police, but also those who venture into the woods.

“Those people in the woods have a little bit of responsibility, too,” he said, adding there are “three T’s” to remember for a safe journey: trip plan, train for the appropriate conditions, and take the essentials with you.

They say the “essentials” are where most people fail, bringing only a little water, a phone and the clothes on their backs when headed out for a hike, Doyle said, adding there are a few easy supplies to pack that can make a big difference if something goes wrong on the trail.

As an example, Doyle and Service showed off a small, lightweight backpack with what they considered the bare essentials for a short wilderness trip.

Inside the pack: a water bottle, a granola bar for sustenance, backup battery for electronic devices, a small GPS, basic First-Aid gear, bug spray, a flashlight, a few pieces of extra clothing, a compass, a lighter and a paper map, sealed in a waterproof bag.

“This is just a small amount of gear that can help you control your day,” said Doyle. “If something does go wrong, we’re going to be there to help, but you’ve got the beginnings to make your day better.”

The organization’s 23 search and rescue teams are comprised of more than 150 volunteer members ready to drop what they’re doing, leave their day jobs, and spring into action whenever calls come in.

The volunteers come from a wide variety of backgrounds, some with serious wilderness or medical training, and others who specialize more on the logistics end of the operation. For example, chefs who prepare meals for those involved in search efforts.

Each team member deployed to a rescue carries their own 30 to 40 pound “functioning pack,” equipped with medical gear, food and water, clothing and other essentials to survive 24 hours in the woods. Doyle said volunteers assemble and train with their own packs to ensure they are as easy and efficient to use as possible.

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All of the equipment is designed to be resilient in harsh conditions, and easily transported through the woods or through the air, in the case of a helicopter rescue.

“The difference between survival and camping is stuff,” said Doyle. “If you’ve got it you can put it on, but if you haven’t got it, you haven’t got it.”

In order to bring all the right “stuff” to the job, Halifax’s search and rescue teams have been making use of new technologies.

RCMP representatives at Monday’s demonstration said the ratio of search missions to rescue missions has changed over the past five to 10 years, as new technology has made vulnerable hikers easier to find in the woods.

“Going back say 15 years ago, most of our calls were people that were actually lost,” said Nova Scotia RCMP’s ground search and rescue incident commander, Cpl. Laurie Haines.

In search cases like that, HSAR works with local emergency services to deploy a large amount of resources, including command teams, logistics teams and rescue teams to help locate and then rescue the person in danger.

“Over the last five to 10 years, we get a lot less people getting lost and now it’s a lot more rescues,” said Haines. “We have some idea of where the person is, but they’re unable to get themselves out of the woods and we have to send smaller, more advanced teams into the woods to get them.”

Doyle explained that once a hiker in need of help calls 911, dispatchers have already begun tracking the location of the call. The HSAR team can then use GPS to pinpoint the location of person and plan the most effective route in.

To help with these incidents, HSAR volunteers recently fundraised enough money to purchase a new, smaller rescue truck. The $130,000 vehicle is equipped with medical first-responder gear built for wilderness terrain, and helps speed up rescue team response times, said Service.

In the weeks since the truck has been in use, Service said it’s already been used in a number of rescues.

“The weekend that the truck came in we ran two calls. We cleared one and then the call came in for the second one,” he said.

Recently, HSAR also fundraised for a new “mule,” a single-wheeled rig meant to help carry stretchers through difficult terrain. Instead of a team of up to 12 rescuers helping to carry a stretcher through backwood trails, the mule allows a much smaller team to roll an injured person back to safety, and takes much of the weight off rescuers.

Though much of HSAR’s expenses — including all new capital purchases — are paid through fundraising, Service said the province and municipality each provide a limited amount of funds to help cover operational costs and search equipment expenses.

Julia-Simone Rutgers is a Halifax-based journalist and a freelance contributor for Star Halifax. Follow her on Twitter: @jsrutgers

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