The Cariboo's Dave Ireland has reached a landmark few, if any, can claim.
Ireland has dedicated 50 years of service to search and rescue in the province through the Provincial Emergency Program Air service (PEP Air).
PEP Air, a member of the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, provides air support to the Canadian Armed Forces, RCMP and B.C. ground search and rescue crews. PEP Air also gets called in during emergencies to help with photographic assessments for Emergency Management and Climate Readiness BC.
Ireland, the retired pilot and committed volunteer, was honoured in Kelowna on May 7 for the incredible feat of half a century of important and life-saving service.
Central Cariboo Search and Rescue's (CCSAR) Rick White said Ireland was already doing his work with PEP Air when White joined CCSAR in 1997. While PEP Air is separate from CCSAR, Ireland's group of local air support used the CCSAR building for their meetings and worked with CCSAR for some rescue operations.
Ireland volunteered his time and his airplane to support ground crews in search and rescue missions through PEP Air.
White said the air support Ireland provided the ground SAR efforts over the years has been invaluable.
"I don't know what we would have done without PEP Air," said White, explaining the air support was critical in many instances by providing the "eye in the sky" they needed to initiate ground searches.
When people were reported missing but there was not a last known location from which to initiate a search, it was the air support which could help give the ground crews something to start with.
White himself said he was a spotter in an airplane on one incident, and while he said the experience was "neat" he also said it was very hard.
"I have a lot of respect for Dave and his team," said White.
While the use of drones and electronic signalling devices have changed a lot about how search and rescue operations work now, with many operations now being rescues instead of searches, White said the work over the years by volunteer pilots like Ireland has been instrumental.
"He's devoted most of his life to it, he's saved a lot of lives and he's made our jobs easier," White said.
