News Releases

Manitoba’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) team will set up and test emergency response equipment including a solar-powered tent and the Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) will deliver a winter rescue and survival course for emergency response personnel during a remote deployment exercise in Waterhen Feb. 12 to 14.

 

Manitoba’s USAR team is prepared to respond to any emergency anywhere in any weather.  The team participated in a national exercise in Toronto in November and a Churchill exercise in October that developed team capacity to respond to the remotest areas of the province and Canada’s Arctic. USAR can provide technical rescue services for many emergencies.  This exercise will also allow the team to test new equipment for cold weather use.

 

About 40 members of the team, under the direction of the OFC, will continue to test and evaluate equipment such as the solar-powered tent and a computerized incident-management system.

 

To lessen the impact on the environment, no matter where the USAR team is deployed, the OFC has converted its base camp to biodiesel and has replaced several portable generators with a single high-tech, high-output generator.  New systems are also in place to reduce all camp waste and provide for a water purification system and a waste-water management plan.

 

The OFC has the responsibility for running the 100-plus member USAR team in Manitoba, made up of emergency response professionals from municipal and provincial services. The USAR team can be mobilized within hours and has the capacity to be self-sustaining for up to two weeks in any weather anywhere in Canada.

 

There are five USAR teams across Canada based in Vancouver, Calgary, Manitoba, Toronto and Halifax, funded in co-operation with the Government of Canada.  The teams were formed after the terrorist attacks in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001.

 

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