Notes

Roger Bates.
viii, 281 pages
illustrations (some colour)
Summary: Search and Rescue started off unofficially as a bunch of trampers or climbers going out to look for a lost party. Searchers were weighed down by heavy radios and equipment with cumbersome packs. There were no smartphones or GPSs, and helicopters rarely deployed. If found injured or dead, the missing party was carried out on a stretcher. Fast forward to 2020 and Search and Rescue is now a highly organized system of volunteers who work as a support agency to the New Zealand Police. Communications, technology and rescue equipment have changed dramatically, helicopters are readily engaged and lost parties are rescued much faster. A chronological summary of the progression of Land Search and Rescue in New Zealand is presented highlighting key people, challenges and improvements to the organization. Various case histories re explained, ranging from an underground cave rescue to extracting trapped climbers off New Zealand's highest mountain, giving the reader an idea of the type of categories of search that arise and how they are dealt with. Also outlined is what happens when 111 is called and how search and rescue operation works in the field and behind the scenes.