BCSARA Board of Director Changes

The only constant is change, and that is true about the BCSARA board members.

The Board would like to congratulate Deputy Chief Constable Dave Schmirler on his upcoming retirement from the Abbotsford Police Department and subsequently as the BC Association of Municipal Police Chiefs representative to our Board. Deputy Chief Schmirler has served on our board since 2015 and we wish him all the best in his retirement. As well, we commend Dave for becoming a Member in Training with Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue, welcome to the club!

Our current Vice-President, Colin Wiebe, a Sergeant with the Abbotsford Police Department, has been appointed as Deputy Schmirler’s replacement, representing the BC Association of Municipal Police Chiefs. Colin has been a SAR Volunteer since 1993 and has served BCSARA since 2006 as a Regional Representative with the former BC Provincial SAR Advisory Committee, the Fraser Valley Regional Director and as Vice-President.

Mr. Bob Semple served BCSARA since 2011 as the RCMP Representative and also recently retired. Congratulations Bob, we wish you many happy and healthy years of retirement! We now welcome our new RCMP Representative, Staff Sergeant Lavinder Mangat; Welcome aboard!

Mr. Trent Blair was appointed to the position of Interim Vice-President. Trent has been a SAR Volunteer for 24 years as a member of Prince George Search and Rescue and the Alberta/British Columbia Cave Rescue Association, he has been with our Board since 2013. Trent is currently the Cariboo Chilcotin Regional Director and Co-Chair of the Provincial Training Committee. Additionally, Trent is a Justice Institute of BC SAR Rope Rescue Instructor, Swiftwater Rescue Instructor with Rescue Canada, and a SAR Manager. When he isn’t doing great work for BCSARA Trent is a firefighter with the Prince George Fire Rescue Service.

We look forward to many productive years together!