Big interest in joining VSAR

Apr 16, 2025 | 11:27 AM

Vernon Search and Rescue has had an impressive initial interest in new volunteers.

The search and rescue group (VSAR) opened its recruitment process in March, which garnered a lot of interest from prospective volunteers who turned out for information sessions.

“During the information sessions we had, I’d say, just under 140 [people] that registered for the session, so quite a big group interested in coming out,” Shane Kohlman, V-SAR’s Director of Membership, told Vernon Matters.

“We got 50 or so applicants [out of those information sessions] and we’re just in the process now of going through those applicants.”

The 50 applicants will have to go through an informal and a formal interview process before the search and rescue group makes any final decisions on who they want to bring into the organization, with Kohlman saying only 12 to 15 new members would be accepted at the end of the process.

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The V-SAR representative said they do that to make sure they get the right people joining the ranks.

“It’s a big commitment on both sides of it,” Kohlman said.

“It’s a big commitment for them, so we want to make sure that they understand the commitment, the time commitment and things like that. And then for our team it’s a big commitment because we’re training them and investing and showing them and there’s a lot of time involved in doing that.”

V-SAR recruits every two or three years to fill any gaps created by people leaving the group and ensuring they have a full team ready to respond to emergencies.

Kohlman noted the majority of the volunteers were in their 50’s or 60’s, saying it’s difficult to get younger members as they have more commitments outside the group such as work or their families. However, he did say they did have a few younger members, and there were some younger prospective volunteers being interviewed as well.

The group plans to have the current slate of prospective volunteers narrowed by May, at which point those new members will undertake some training to ensure they are fully certified and prepared to respond to emergencies.

Kohlman said that process should be completed by December, so the new members should be ready to respond to emergencies such as lost snowmobilers and skiers in January of 2026.

He added they usually have around 40 or 50 applicants every time they open their recruitment process, so though there was a lot of initial interest, this was not a record year for new applicants.

by Liam Verster

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