Source: Radio New Zealand
Wanaka LandSAR volunteer Gaz Dickson had given up hoping for a better way of getting helicopters out to trapped, lost and hurt people. Supplied
Search and rescue experts are hoping to see the back of an emergency dispatch system they say is tangled and can run two speeds, faster or slower depending who is paying.
A trial of a new way of sending out helicopters flew under the radar till RNZ revealed it last week.
Scott McKenzie of the Helicopter Association was unequivocal: “I think it’s fantastic for the general public because they can expect to be assisted a lot sooner.”
For now, though, Gaz Dickson is super frustrated about search and rescues and had given up hoping for a better way of getting helicopters out to trapped, lost and hurt people.
“Oh mate, my frustrations over the years and currently is on max,” Dickson told RNZ.
A veteran guide based at Wanaka, he had seen it all in 40 years of saving people off mountains and cliffs, some of it not pretty which he blamed on a “weird” fragmented dispatch system that often got in the way of very skilled people including police, firefighters, paramedics and volunteer teams like his.
“I’ve been to a job in Wanaka where it was a cliff rescue job. Two fieries turned up first, clambered up the cliff to the dude, then the air ambulance turned up, and then us after that.
“And you’re just shaking head going, this is wrong.”
‘Is it the right thing?’
He had watched air ambulance choppers fly overhead – at a cost of over $8000 an hour, versus less than half that for a smaller Squirrel chopper – to jobs he said did not suit them (they cannot do cliff rescues on their own, for instance), sidelining and demotivating his Land Search and Rescue volunteers.
Gaz Dickson, volunteer member of Wanaka LandSAR, 40 year vet of mountain rescues. Supplied
“If something turns up, they [the public] go, jump for joy. But is it the right thing that turns up?
“Me as a taxpayer, and for me and being in SAR watching, I go … why did we send that? It’s three times the price.”
Dickson put it down to four agencies competing – police, ACC, ambulance and the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) – and their budgets.
Police and RCC are the only two legally manadated coordinating agencies.
Scott McKenzie who chairs the New Zealand Helicopter Association said it was a two-speed system depending if police were in charge – which was about half the time – or if it was the Rescue Coordination Centre, RCC.
At RCC work volume had leapt as personal locator beacons became popular; for police, calls had jumped as 111 coverage expanded.
Chair of the New Zealand Helicopter Association Scott McKenzie. Supplied
“In my experience, RCC worry about the effect first and then the budget second,” said McKenzie.
“Whereas in some police districts, they can worry about the budget first and the effect second.”
Rescue was RCC’s core business, so typically it would send a chopper with a winch to, say, an injured tramper who set off their locator beacon.
But if the alert came in on 111… “With the police, it could take a bit longer because they tend to utilise the most economic means of getting to the person as possible with helicopters being last because of the significant expense that helicopters … costs the police district.”
‘Now that doesn’t give the best outcome for the person who’s lost’
McKenzie said this got worse as the end of a financial year neared; also, no matter how good police at the scene were – as was often the case – if a police district commander had limited experience of search and rescue that did not help.
Dickson agreed police higher up the decision chain and away from the front line could be a chokepoint.
“There’s different funding mechanisms and the police districts have their own budgets and the SAR coordinator for that district has to work within that district’s budget,” said McKenzie.
“Some districts have significantly more search and rescue budget, such as the Wanaka-Queenstown area versus Hamilton or Northland.
“So their budgets are a lot less. And certainly in these fiscal economic times, the districts will be limited in the amount of budgets,” McKenzie said.
“A long-term SAR coordinator in a police district has very good context and is very good at calling out the right aircraft for the task or the right capability for the search and rescue task. But sometimes if they’re coming to the end of the financial year and the budgets are constrained, then they’re more limited at calling out a helicopter.
“Now that doesn’t give the best outcome for the person who’s lost.”
Others who had reported running into the money barrier were firefighter cliff rescue teams needing a flight, as RNZ has reported previously about a series of problematic rescues in the last two years.
A cliff rescue in Northland in January. NZ POLICE / SUPPLIED
‘Much improved’
Police did not agree to an interview.
Previously they said, “While understanding the necessity of rescuing people who are in danger, it is important that all agencies are fiscally responsible.”
In a new statement they said people might get the impression RCC always sent a helicopter and maybe police did not, but this was in part because more complex operations were often passed from RCC to police, who had resources and staff on the ground locally, to assess what was best to send. This would not always be an air ambulance, they said previously – and this was agreed by all sources RNZ talked to.
Police said even under the new system they would still make decisions on choppers for 2000 rescues a year.
But it would be “much improved” and “streamlined”, with the correct “asset” (like a helicopter) decided on by SAR officers in an operations room at RCC with real-time info and direct communication channels, they said.
It “better ensures that calls for urgent assistance are received by the organisation best equipped to respond”.
“The question of who will cover the bill for the aviation assets tasked by RCCNZ at the request of police is a matter the Aviation Futures working group is addressing currently.”
‘Game changer’
Wendy Wright, chief executive of NZ Land Search and Rescue (LandSAR). Supplied
RNZ last week revealed the agencies had finally agreed to overhaul the current tangled system, essentially expanding RCC’s powers. However, already concerns had been raised if the resources would flow to the agency to match that.
This ‘go’ decision came after the trial of a new system last October around Wanaka that Dickson was part of.
He only found out at a BBQ last week about the green light to go further, made in late March.
“I was happy. It’s a game changer for us,” Dickson said.
“If the concept of RCC being the manager … of the air assets for SAR beyond the road end, if that doesn’t happen, we’ll stay in this weird world of frustration.”
The new system would not be perfect – everyone RNZ had talked to agreed the system was complex having developed over many years of often earnest but mismatched improvisation – “but it’s a hell of a lot better than where we are right now”, said Dickson.
The national chair of LandSAR that oversees all the volunteers Wendy Wright echoed that.
“My expectation absolutely is that we’ll see a high level of confidence, we’ll see a much better streamlined process of tasking,” said Wright.
“And actually, what’s most important is those that need rescuing, they’ll get what they need.”
Scott McKenzie said helicopter operators expected teething trouble but backed it.
It had taken seven or eight years to get here largely due to agencies not wanting to relinquish budgets, he said.
“I think overall there’s general agreement across the SAR sector that they need to be more collaborative and it’s just making sure that … at the leader level about how they can make that happen.”
How to get there
So how long till the new system delivers faster, smarter rescues that overall cost the taxpayer less?
Two or three years it seemed. It was no easy fix, said all sources RNZ spoke to. The air ambulance chopper agreement had to be rewritten and fragmented IT systems aligned.
It would depend a lot on people’s goodwill.
Dickson said RCC had the right person on the job – Michael Clulow – adding, “It’ll be a frustrating job for him, but he will chip away at it.”
Police said in a statement their collaboration with the RCC had led to work on the new system which would be looking at who would cover the aviation bills.
As things stood, it was all about the right asset, which was not always a chopper, police had repeatedly told RNZ. Logistical requests were handled on merit, they added, while “it is our expectation that where life is at risk and time is of the essence then any available suitable asset will be deployed”.
A lot may yet turn on the completeness of a key database run by the RCC. The database showed, for instance, all the choppers with night-vision goggles and winches available in a particular area. It covered scores of other rescue resources. Operators key in what might be wanted to match with what was available – but any information gaps could leave a hole in a response under pressure.
Funding it
Associate Transport Minister James Meager. RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
How the new system would be paid for remained unclear.
Associate Transport Minister James Meager said NZ Search and Rescue Council (NZSAR) “has allocated funding to allow the solution to be implemented quickly once it is identified”.
Yet the RCC said it was redirecting existing funding to pay for the “scoping” work to figure out what it needed, such as new IT, in order to build the new aviation coordination system.
Meager said no one had raised problems with the existing system with him. He got updated last Thursday about work beginning on the new system.
In addition, work on updating the agreement on how air ambulance choppers were used would start immediately, Meager said.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
