If you find yourself down in Connor Park this Saturday, don’t be alarmed if you notice some increased activity as the Moose Jaw Search and Rescue (MJSAR) volunteers will be on site conducting a training exercise.
The group will be in the park from 1 to 6 p.m. to take part in the hands-on portion of their ongoing Near-Water Awareness Course. MJSAR Vice President, Sue Knox, says that there is no emergency and asks the public to stand clear while they train.
“It is a closed training course,” said Knox.
“If they see us in orange down around Wakamow on Saturday, (the public should) know that we are training for a specific purpose and they can watch but stay back and out of the way.”
She noted that while they won’t be present, local emergency services including the MJ Fire Department, MJ Police and local RCMP detachments have been notified ahead of time that training operations are taking place.
The training session is a continuation of a multi-step program that, prior to the upcoming hands-on component, involved online certification and information courses for MJSAR members to better prepare to assist with rescues taking place in and around the water.
According to Knox, MSJAR members are in for a rigorous crash-course on the topic.
“Saturday is a full day. We have three hours in the pool and then about a four and a half to five-hour session in the field that'll be down in Wakamow, closer to the river area,” Knox explained.
The training will encompass numerous critical skills, ranging from river mapping and the identification of obstacles—hidden or otherwise—locations where individuals may become trapped, to undertows and the hazards posed by overhanging trees and undercut banks.
“They’re going to train us to recognize those hazards in the water and to be able to help the rescue group that would normally do a rescue like that. In Moose Jaw’s case, that is typically the fire department.” Knox said.
“For the most part, we would stand back and be the administrative group on shore and let the fire department do their rescue. Our people are not trained to go in the water yet, but we are certainly going to train to be assisting the fire department or emergency services people that are trained to do that.”