They call it “The Beast”, and it’s the newest tool for Sunshine Coast Search and Rescue.
It’s proper name is a UTV; a small, go anywhere vehicle, that can operate on tracks like a tank. And it’s already proven its worth.
Sunshine Coast SAR volunteers were training on it over the weekend, when they were called out – and the UTV got them to the scene easier and faster.
Search Manager Alec Tebutt says the idea of getting the UTV was born a couple of years ago.
A 30 thousand dollar gaming grant helped cover the cost. (You can see video of “The Beast” in action here.)
Nanaimo Search and Rescue just got some vehicles too, and spokesman Kyle Van Delft says it wouldn’t have been possible without a generous private donation.
The 100-thousand dollar donation paid for two trucks dedicated to carrying the team’s water and rope rescue gear. It was made in memory of Robert Brondyke,who drowned in the Nanaimo River in 1986, at the age of 18.
