Photo: Kamloops Search and Rescue members taking part in helicopter hover/entry training in 2019. (via Kamloops Search and Rescue)

A working group aimed at ironing out the details for a new shared home in Rayleigh for Kamloops Search and Rescue hopes to begin meeting before Christmas.

The Thompson-Nicola Regional District board of directors has given staff the green light to proceed with creating a preliminary design and budget estimate with the City of Kamloops and KSAR for a shared search and rescue headquarters and firehall on Devick Road.

Now the working group consisting of TNRD, city and KSAR representatives will begin delving into the details of what a shared facility would look like.

“The initial concept — everyone likes the idea, but we need to get a more detailed design of what an actual joint facility between KSAR and KFR could look like,” Jamie Viera, the TNRD's general manager of operations, told Castanet Kamloops.

The working group will be meeting into 2025, and if the details are agreed upon, would then have preliminary design plans of the proposed facility drawn up.

The TNRD and the City of Kamloops would then look to the regional district’s board of directors and city council to determine the funding split, Viera said. It’s expected the TNRD would fund the KSAR portion of the build and the city would pay for the firehall component. The city also owns the land and would need to approve the appropriate use, Viera said.

He said the working group has access to some money that will go toward having preliminary designs drafted, but how much they will need to access for those plans still needs to be determined.

“They’re supposed to meet before Christmas,” Viera said of the inaugural working group meeting. “Our intent is that once we have an updated conceptual design, then we’d bring it back to the board and council and be released publicly what a joint-facility could look like and a construction cost number that would be needed.”

Two referendums for one project?

Viera said that if the board supports the project, it would have to get a loan approved via a public assent process as the TNRD only has grant-in-aid and annual operating grants for search and rescue groups. He noted Kamloops taxpayers would be included in this project regardless of the city’s involvement as they pay into regional district taxes.

He said the City of Kamloops’ funding its half of the building could be different from an assent process, as it may have other funds set aside for large capital projects and may not require borrowing funds.

A previously completed cost estimate for just a SAR headquarters was a little under $6 million, according to a TNRD staff report.

The general concept for this proposed shared facility is to have shared meeting, training and office space in the centre of the building, with each agency having their own devoted bays on either side of the building for vehicle and equipment storage.

KSAR is currently housed in a yard along Mission Flats Road, but throughout 2024 has been working with the TNRD and the City of Kamloops to find another location.

A 50-year search

KSAR president Paula Davies told Castanet a new, permanent home would allow KSAR to better support first responders and area SAR’s, aid their recruitment efforts and finally provide the organization designated, indoor training and meeting space.

“We just need a permanent home. We've kind of been looking one for looking for one for a long time — almost 50 years – and haven't ever had one," Davies said.

She said their current home is a 3,000 square-foot yard with a storage shipping container on it, which has been broken into numerous times and is not an ideal space.

She said KSAR has been at that location for a decade and the City of Kamloops recently provided them a lease extension so they don’t have to vacate come January.

Davies said one of the primary next steps for KSAR’s new home project is to discuss the concept of a shared space with Kamloops Fire Rescue.

“We just want to sit down and make sure that the building will have what we need in it and what they need in it, and have some shared spaces,” Davies said.

She said she sees a lot of positives with sharing a space with KFR, including cost sharing and shared training opportunities.

“I think it’s a win-win,” she said.

KSAR has $250,000 in reserve funds it will commit to the project, and would launch a $1-million fundraising campaign.

Davies said KSAR is a non-profit society that receives its funds from donations, the provincial government as well as the TNRD.

“But we don’t have any extra money for building a hall,” Davies said.

KSAR has been in search of a new facility for its headquarters for the past few years, since parting ways with the Cooper Family Foundation.