About Us
Our Team
Kent Harrison Search and Rescue is an unpaid volunteer organization with an average of 25 trained members.
Its primary function is that of a community resource to assist the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the British Columbia Ambulance Service and the British Columbia Coroners Service and Fire Departments in a variety of search and rescue functions.
2021 A record year!
Things have quietened down after the flooding following the atmospheric river events in November.
2021 has been the busiest year on record for Kent Harrison SAR, with 77 calls year-to-date and almost 6,000 hours of volunteer engagement. Many of the local forest service roads are out of commission due to damage caused by the extreme weather in November. All FSR's in the Chilliwack Forest District are currently closed. This will have an impact on our incident volume in the new year as off-roaders will be looking for new challenges.
The new boat (Spirit of Harrison) performed admirably during the evacuation of Rockwell Drive and was able to transport both residents and those trapped on Harrison East FSR to safety in Harrison. This was particularly ironic as 12 of our members, along with 2 vehicles and rafts were trapped behind a slide on Rockwell Drive and had to be evacuated.
The team is very pleased to welcome 5 new 'Members-in-Training'. This will bring our membership up to 32. We are sorry to lose long-time member Denise Scarborough, who after over 15 years on the team has decided to relocate to Manitoba. Good luck Denise and thank you for your service.
We would like to thank our local SAR Groups for their support as we continue to foster a close working relationship. This was critical during the floods and landslides. We have very supportive local governments and the level of planning and inclusion was evident during these exceptional incidents.
We would like to thank the District of Kent, the Village of Harrison Hot Springs, the Fraser Valley Regional District, and our partner agencies for their support. But most of all, we would like to acknowledge the support of our families. We could not provide this service without them.
We wish everyone a safe Summer 2022 season and encourage any backcountry explorers to visit www.adventuresmart.ca for a wealth of information. Please file a trip plan if you intend to recreate in the mountains.
2021 A new response vessel
In late 2020, KHSAR commissioned Silver Streak boats LTD, to design and build a 26ft Landing craft. Completely constructed of Aluminum, with an extended heated cabin, powered by twin Yamaha 200 outboards.
This vessel will allow KHSAR to access most areas of land along Harrison lake.
Delivery was made in Late July 2021, the vessel was named "The Spirit of Harrison"
Our History
Although originally formed in 1976, the team has only been receiving annual operating grants since 1991. Most of the team's equipment has been purchased through donations from community groups and businesses, as well as grants from the gaming policy and enforcement branch and the search and rescue New Initiatives Fund.
(National Search and Rescue
Secretariat)
Our Mission
Kent Harrison Search and Rescue, as a registered non-profit society, delivers a professional-quality search and rescue service to the community by developing and maintaining resources to safely, efficiently and effectively resolve incidents outlined in the risk assessment of the area.
We will conduct search and rescue missions when requested to do so by the authorized requesting agencies for lost or missing persons, or persons in distress in the province of BC without charge.
Our goal is to save lives.
