Central Okanagan Search and Rescue had a very busy long weekend

Photo: COSAR file photo

The weekend was a long one for Central Okanagan Search and Rescue with six separate calls in three nights.

It started early Saturday morning with a call to help police locate a missing swimmer in City Park.

"That call had a positive outcome as our members were arriving on scene," said COSAR spokesman Ed Henczel.

Later that afternoon, COSAR was called to help during the wildfire on Knox Mountain. The RCMP and 22 COSAR members worked together to perform tactical evacuations around Knox Mountain.

Members went door-to-door letting residences know about any evacuation alerts in other areas close to the fire.

COSAR also had their boat team on the water clearing an area so BCWS helicopters were able to get water.

"On the way back to the marina the boat team rescued two female paddle boarders that had been blown down the lake and were trying to get back to Paul’s Tomb walking along the shoreline," Henczel said.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, COSAR was then called to rescue an injured ATV rider in the Graystokes area. Henczel says 10 COSAR members were pulled away from the Knox wildfire and sent to assist in recovering the injured rider.

A helicopter was called in and two medically-trained members flew to area to provide medical aid while a ground team was deployed with ATVs and a UTV in case the helicopter was unable to evacuate the injured person due to darkness.

"The helicopter team was able to secure and removed the injured rider and get them back to Kelowna for medical treatment moments before helicopter operations had to be shut down," Henczel said.

The next day on Sunday evening, COSAR’s boat team was called upon again to assist a stranded boater on Okanagan Lake, but just moments after they were dispatched out, COSAR received a call that the boater had managed to get a shore.

On Monday night, just after midnight, COSAR received a call for a missing elderly woman in the Postill Lake area.

"She had gone for a hike earlier that evening and had not returned," Henczel said.

A total of 11 COSAR members were sent into the area when they received word from the RCMP that the woman had been located and she was safe and with her family.