A volunteer team called upon to aid in the search for missing people in and around London has acquired some new gear to get the job done faster.
The London Search and Rescue Team (LSAR) unveiled two new electric-assist, all-terrain bicycles and an automated external defibrillator (AED) this week. The team called the new equipment a "game changer" as it will allow them to conduct rapid searches in a much shorter amount of time - potentially saving lives.
"If we were tasked with finding a missing individual who was out on the Fanshawe Loop, it may take us two to three hours on foot to search and that is two or three hours where if someone was in some form of medical distress we wouldn't be finding them," said LSAR Commander Jamie Walls. "With this kind of new bike we can probably do the Fanshawe Loop in 25 minutes. So they enable us to step up our game."
According to Walls, the bikes can travel at speeds over 30 kilometres an hour and are outfitted with first aid supplies and repair kits.
Walls said the team had been toying with the idea of getting regular bicycles to aid in searches for sometime as ATVs and other small recreational vehicles aren't able to cover all the necessary terrain within its 150 km search radius. However, it was the staff at downtown bike shop To Wheels that steered the team to the electric-assist bikes.
"[The staff] asked us why would you arrive out of breath? Why would you arrive having just pedaled your heart out to a situation where you are going to have to react in some way? And it was one of those things where once someone says something that makes so much sense you wonder why you didn't think of that," Walls said.
The team does not have a formal funding source and relies on public and community donations to cover the cost of training, uniforms, and equipment. It used a $10,000 donation from Lutheran Social Services London to purchase the new bikes and AED.
"It would have taken us over a year to raise the money needed," said Walls. "So them donating that $10,000 took this project from an idea we were hoping to fund in a couple of years to bringing it to fruition very quickly. We couldn't have done it without them,"
The London Search and Rescue Team is a non-profit agency that was founded in 2002. It consists of nearly 80 volunteers who can be called on by local police services to assist in the search for a missing person. On average the team is tapped to help in searches between 10 to 15 times a year.