Training conference a big success
June 30, 2013
Search and rescue personnel and emergency responders from around the region gathered in Bonners Ferry last weekend  for an excellent Summer Training Conference.
Most photos courtesy of Dave Kramer
If you were going to get lost, last weekend would have been the time to do it. The Idaho State Search and Rescue Association summer training conference brought volunteer Search and Rescue members from all over the state, British Columbia and Montana along with law enforcement from city, county, state and federal agencies to Bonners Ferry.

Boundary Search and Dive Rescue Team hosted this year’s training conference and had a high level of training courses for those that attended to improve their skills and knowledge.

A U.S. Air Force survival instructor shows the art of "furring" a stick to more easily start a fire ...
The two day conference was filled with great instructors covering their specialties and working with the conference attendees. During the conference they received training on searching rivers and lakes and safety around water instructed by Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office along with having a chance to see some of the specialty equipment that they have available including an unmanned underwater robot and side scan sonar.

There was a refresher course on navigation with map and compass and using GPS units in searches followed by a Wilderness First Aid course dealing primarily with hypothermia and ended with “packaging” a hypothermia patient for care in a wilderness setting where immediate help may be hours away.

Friday afternoon also included a tracking class taught by the U.S. Border Patrol and the Idaho Trackers Association.

Saturday’s training continued with a course taught by MedStar Helicopters on safety when working around helicopters, setting up landing zones and preparing patients for transport.

MedStar brought one of their helicopters in for the training for a firsthand look at the equipment and to answer any questions that the group had.

... A lesson Tom Hanks would have appreciated when he was "Castaway!"
The afternoon session was filled with great demonstrations by the four U.S. Air Force survival instructors, who demonstrated different ways to signal for help or mark an area for rescue by a helicopter, setting up shelters, fire building in difficult conditions and appropriate gear to carry when on a search.

Not all of the conference was instruction.

Boundary Search and Dive Rescue had placed five geo-caches (hidden containers) and provided the longitude and latitude locations of each so participants could try and locate the geo-caches, which were all within a two mile radius of Bonners Ferry in their downtime.

There was also a fun shoot on Friday evening at the Bonners Ferry Gun Club, where Ed Robbins and Fred Nystrom built a unique shooting challenge for the group.

The conference ended with entertainment by Jim Bottoms and a nice dinner catered by Jill’s Café on Saturday night.

Boundary Search and Dive Rescue greatly appreciated the local businesses that contributed door prizes and supplies to make this conference a success.

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Attendees at the conference learned much more from four of the world's best survival instructors.


Safeway and Super One for food donations, Huckleberry Variety, Larsons, CarQuest, Bread Basket and Offroad Performance for door prizes and supplies. Author Patrick McManus also sent two autographed books for the conference, as he remembered getting lost in Boundary County several years ago and being found by Boundary Search and Dive Rescue Team.

Mountain Springs Church hosted two of the meals for the group and all of the instructors that gave of their time and skill to better prepare the Rescuers.

Danny Rawson, President of Boundary Search and Dive Rescue Team, had a dedicated group of team members who worked tirelessly to bring this training to Boundary County.

If you have skills that you feel would benefit the team and want to be part of a group that helps others during a time of need, we encourage you to come to one of our meetings on the second Thursday of each month in the Waterways/ Search and Rescue building located just west of the Fairgrounds at the first boat launch. Meetings begin at 6:30 p.m.

Idaho State Search and Rescue Association has a membership of 933 members in Idaho. The group supports local search and rescue groups and Idaho Sheriffs with their resources and training.

On Sunday, following the conference, the State Association held their business meeting.

Local Search and Rescue member Dave Kramer was elected as Second Vice President of the Idaho State Search and Rescue Association.

The association usually holds three training sessions per year for the overall group, a fall, winter and summer session. They try to hold one of the three sessions north of Lewiston.