PG Search and Rescue receives supplementary funding from provincial government

The BC Government announced an additional $10 million in funding for search and rescue operations across the province today.

Prince George Search and Rescue will be getting just over $93,000 and SAR Manager Jeff Smedley says they already have a couple of ideas for how they’ll spend the money.

“We haven’t narrowed down exactly what we want to do with this money but it comes as an excellent opportunity because we’ve got a couple of high ticket projects on the go that we’re working on. One of the projects we’re working on is the class D fixed line – that’s the one underneath a helicopter.”

Smedley says currently, the closest fixed lines are in Jasper and Kelowna.

“The other thing that we’re looking at is a response vehicle. Our truck – we’ve had it for about 16 years now. It works well as a command vehicle. So we have a number of big ticket items on the go here – this is excellent timing for us.”

Smedley says the current uncertainty around community gaming grants, which are a core source of funding for the organization, makes the funding boost a big boon to their operations.

“We can’t run without the gaming grant. Between $50,000 and 70,000 that we get from gaming is what keeps our organization going. Without it, we’re hat in hand to the community.”

“We recognize that there’s work to be done on the community gaming grant file but this, in essence, says we understand how important this is,” says Prince George-Valemount MLA Shirley Bond. “Additional funding was required and so we stepped outside that model and dealt with the provincial organization.”

Bond says the additional funding will continue into next year. PGSAR will receive an additional $93,000.