A big training weekend

A BIG TRAINING WEEKEND FOR KSAR

Incident Management Course and a joint KSAR & Coastguard Exercise

Another full training weekend for Kuaotunu Search and Rescue (KSAR) with a National Incident Management course in Waihi which was attended by several members of our management team. We were teamed up with Police SAR and other LandSAR volunteers from around the Waikato district. We also participated in an operational Coastguard/KSAR Search & Rescue Exercise here in Whitianga.

The National course was an “Incident Management Team” 2-day course and was attended by Rae Mitchell, Sarah Ford, Simon Stigner, Sue Forster, Fiona Murphy and Justin Murphy. These members were updated on the latest Police and Land SAR NZ Search procedures and protocols. These courses are essential to ensure effective analysis of a Missing Persons behaviour and their possible decisions so that we can effectively task field teams to search for them in the right areas to achieve our goal, which is of course to bring the missing person safely home!

Our local KSAR Exercise, led & hosted by Whitianga Coastguard was a great opportunity for our units to collaborate and develop an understanding of how we function individually, and also to identify areas where we can work together in an operational capacity to complete our tasks. This exercise involved vessel / water safety and specific training on transferring an injured person in a stretcher from land to a coastguard vessel and involved all three Whitianga Coastguard vessels – TeMorehu, Takareto and the Endeavour.Tessa Darwin, Regan Crosland, Flynn Battard, Darren Butler, Shannon Gregory, Emma Summers, Mike Naylor and Georgia Tecklenberg were the lucky ones who seized the opportunity and are now able deploy for a search using the superb Coastguard resources anywhere on our eastern coastline.

So all in all an intensive training weekend – we all need to go back to work for a rest!

By Fiona Murphy – KSAR Group Training Officer

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