SARBC

Special Services Unit (SSU)

The Special Services Unit [SSU] is comprised of four Divisions that provide specialized SAR resources for use within B.C. on behalf of the Search and Rescue Society of British Columbia.

The SSU’s Mission Statement is: To provide specialized equipment and expertise not readily available to the Search and Rescue Community within the Province of British Columbia in order to provide rescue or resolve in regards to a missing person incident.

In addition, the concept of the Special Services Unit is not to duplicate any local resource.

Once a call has been received by the 24 hour operations centre an immediate pager system trip is carried out. The duty incident commander evaluates the urgency of the response and notifies the incoming personnel. To ensure the most effective utilization of resources the overhead management team is paged out. The overhead team provides constant computer analysis from Victoria base to the field SSU team via a computer Data Link. This allows the SSU team in the field to carry out complex search methods without the need to transport an entire Overhead Management Team and their vast amounts of equipment to the site. While most search teams prefer daylight, the SSU teams are far more effective at night in the wilderness search environment. This night shift approach has proven to interface well with other on-site search teams. SSU personnel, while on scene, will not be in uniform unless otherwise requested. The object of SSU is to save lives, not to create friction amongst other response personnel. The bottom line of SSU is we are there to help. SSU can facilitate the interfacing of advanced SAR methods into difficult search situations. Any team in B.C. can call 24 hours a day. The external physical response capabilities of SARBC are only provided by the Special Services Unit [SSU]. The SSU is divided into four service divisions: Analysis and Operations Division Advanced Human Detection Division, Technical Services Division and Rescue and Marine Resources Division.

• Services Provided by the SSU
  
• Analysis and Operations Division
  
• Advanced Human Detection Division
  
• Technical Services Division
  
• Rescue and Marine Resources Division