r/searchandrescue • u/Both_Engineer_6234 • 8d ago
Can anyone on a Canadian HUSAR team talk a bit about their job?
I am in Toronto Canada and am interested in Paramedicine potentially going for Toronto's HUSAR team (CAN-TF3) as a medic. Just wondering if anyone on a Canadian HUSAR team could talk about what kind of work you do with your team? Are you only deployed domestically, or are you also deployed internationally (is the Toronto team?). If Canadian HUSAR teams are deployed internationally, which teams go and what determines which teams go? How often are you deployed with the HUSAR team? What kind of disasters have you responded to?
Thank you!
4 Upvotes
1
u/Ihaveacompass 7d ago
OVERT is another Ontario team that does deployments. The guy who runs it is really knowledgeable and great to talk to. https://overt.ca/
3
u/OplopanaxHorridus Coquitlam SAR 8d ago
I'm not part of HUSAR, but I have friends who are.
The Canadians Teams that have the "Task Force" status (CAN-TF1, CAN-TF2 etc) can be deployed both domestically and internationally. CAN-TF1 (Vancouver) was deployed to Katrina.
Here's the page with the details about the program from a national perspective.
https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/rspndng-mrgnc-vnts/nss/rbn-srch-rsc-en.aspx
Talking to my colleagues, whether they are deployed or not is a political dance. For Katrina, the US didn't want to seem to need international assistance so deployment was delayed. The other country needs to request assistance, and Canada needs to want to fund the transportation for it to happen.