The story of Michael St. Laurent being found ten days after he had gone missing (the exact circumstances of which remain unclear) while hiking on the North Shore mountains of Vancouver has understandably received considerable attention in the media (click here for the story in The Vancouver Sun). Alongside the epic tale of Rita Chretien – the woman who was found seven weeks after her van had got stuck in mud on a remote logging road in north-east Nevada subsisting on only water and tiny amounts of trail mix (click here for the CBC story) – these events truly represent the indomitable will of the human spirit.
To those who may get lost and require search and rescue, these survival stories ought to reinforce our resolve to never give up. To those in a command and authority position in search and rescue however, it places them in an difficult position.
Because these subjects survived for such improbably long periods of time, does it impose on SAR Commanders a duty to continue search efforts as long as those experienced in North Vancouver or Nevada? Incident commanders will typically take into account a myriad of factors – including subject survivability – in determining how long to search. But should these two successful stories represent the outer edge of search duration? Should searches in the mountains extend into the weeks or even months? Or should these two incidents be regarded as outliers – statistical anomalies – that miraculously defied the odds and not affect how SAR Commanders run their search? Or should these anomalies serve to move the line further and longer in terms of how long to search?
The answers to these questions cannot be made in isolation removed from the circumstances of a particular search. Each search and rescue incident will have its own unique set of facts and circumstances. The question, however, remains on the table and will likely have to be confronted the next time a search is downsizing as the estimated probability of the subject’s survivability approaches nil and someone asks, “What about Michael St. Laurent or Rita Chretien? Why can’t we keep searching?”
What will be done then? I don’t know but I don’t envy the SAR Commander having to make that call.
To those who may get lost and require search and rescue, these survival stories ought to reinforce our resolve to never give up. To those in a command and authority position in search and rescue however, it places them in an difficult position.
Because these subjects survived for such improbably long periods of time, does it impose on SAR Commanders a duty to continue search efforts as long as those experienced in North Vancouver or Nevada? Incident commanders will typically take into account a myriad of factors – including subject survivability – in determining how long to search. But should these two successful stories represent the outer edge of search duration? Should searches in the mountains extend into the weeks or even months? Or should these two incidents be regarded as outliers – statistical anomalies – that miraculously defied the odds and not affect how SAR Commanders run their search? Or should these anomalies serve to move the line further and longer in terms of how long to search?
The answers to these questions cannot be made in isolation removed from the circumstances of a particular search. Each search and rescue incident will have its own unique set of facts and circumstances. The question, however, remains on the table and will likely have to be confronted the next time a search is downsizing as the estimated probability of the subject’s survivability approaches nil and someone asks, “What about Michael St. Laurent or Rita Chretien? Why can’t we keep searching?”
What will be done then? I don’t know but I don’t envy the SAR Commander having to make that call.