Preliminary approval granted for new $10M search and rescue base in Kamloops, B.C.

Plans for a new Kamloops Search and Rescue base in Rayleigh are moving ahead.

Directors with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board unanimously approved covering almost 60 per cent of the nearly $10-million cost.

The new facility will also be home to a fire hall, replacing the existing one in Rayleigh.

The project, first proposed in November 2023, is needed because volunteers said they have outgrown their current space and were called out a record 75 times in 2024.

KSAR President Paula Davies said they normally attend fewer than 50 calls per year and often search forests, trails, rivers and lakes beyond city limits.

Their Swiftwater Rescue team recently searched the Thompson River for a university student from India who drowned July 6.

His body was found July 15 by a KSAR volunteer kayaking near McArthur Island Park.

KSAR's Frank Pryce said the complex will include a training centre for volunteers from smaller outlying communities.

"We've had conversations with them and they're all keen to be able to come here, so we're doing training that is going to help all the teams because they're all in very small buildings that don't have the ability to do all that stuff," said Pryce.

The City of Kamloops is expected to commit $2.4 million at an upcoming council meeting.

The rest of the money, $1.4-million, will come from Kamloops Search and Rescue through a fundraising campaign.

KSAR President Paula Davies hopes people they've helped rescue in the past will make donations.

"If they see the benefit of SAR teams and they have the means of making a donation, then that's great. Everything helps," said Davies.

Ashcroft Mayor Barbara Roden chairs the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board.

She said it makes sense for the TNRD to jointly fund this facility with the City of Kamloops, but she also wants support from other levels of government.

"They are there in every corner of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, and it is going to benefit so many people over so many years," said Roden. "Why the province cannot fund something like search and rescue is absolutely beyond me. This is a case where the province needs to step up to the plate and start contributing."

It's not clear how soon construction could start because Kamloops city council has yet to approve its share of funding.

The lease for the existing base in Mission Flats expired at the end of January 2025.

The new site is on city-owned land at 4420 Devick Road.

Davies said there's no rush to start construction because the city has given them permission to stay in Mission Flats until the new facility is ready.

"The city has graciously said that as long as you are working towards a home and basically will be gone as soon as we can move into our new home, they will let us stay there for the time being, so we won't be kicked out onto the street."

Before TNRD directors voted, Davies told them $500,000 had already been raised.