Search and rescue holds joint training with Blaine PD

Whatcom County Search and Rescue (WCSAR) held a joint training with Blaine Police Department at the Avista property, formerly known as Semiahmoo Highlands, on March 16. The training was WCSAR’s largest collaborative training to date with five of its six units, which included its dive team, four-wheeled vehicle rescue and communications. 

WCSAR Council treasurer Gwynne Gruizenga-Top said the organization’s units need to work more collaboratively, especially for natural disasters, such as the November 2021 floods in east Whatcom County.

“We saw the importance of individual units working together,” Gruizenga-Top said.

At the Saturday training, the first responders followed a scenario that a dementia patient wandered from their home in Semiahmoo and, both the missing person and a family member looking for them, became lost in the woods.

The organization invited Blaine Police Department to the training to demonstrate how WCSAR could help, Gruizenga-Top said. WCSAR has previously assisted Blaine police with searches for people with dementia and dive searches.

WCSAR, which began as an unofficial organization in 1955, is now a nonprofit supported by over 200 volunteers. The WCSAR Council governs the nonprofit and the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office coordinates missions.

WCSAR requires its members to meet training requirements and pay for their equipment and supplies.

Blaine City Council approved giving WCSAR $10,000 of reimbursable expenses last September to help the nonprofit construct a new facility in Everson. The nonprofit is raising funds for the $1.9 million facility because its building is anticipated to be torn down in May for a new Whatcom County planning department and public works building.

For more information on the organization, visit wcsar.org.