Rescue Ops

Cajun Search and Rescue Team was in front of the cameras this week.
The team will be featured in a documentary production instigated by a London production company, according to Commander Toney Wade of Baldwin.
“They sent us a message on Facebook,” Wade said of the company. “They were working for The Discovery Channel putting together a documentary on search and rescue…him and I talked a little bit, and he felt we had what they wanted.”
The crew filmed a search last Friday and again Tuesday, Wade said. “We went out in the boat, did some aquatic cadaver (location) work, then they wanted to see (K9) Guus do some bite work so one of the guys put the bite sleeve on and they filmed that.”
The company intends to make a two-hour documentary, and are hoping to make a theatrical release. “It’s funny,” Wade said, “because we were contacted by National Geographic about a month ago for a documentary, and then yesterday, the producer from the show ‘Swamp People’ called me. So they’re interested in doing something. It’s blowing up in front of our faces, but we’re happy about it.”
Cajun Search and Rescue Group is an all-volunteer group that relies on donations and fundraisers to continue their work. All publicity helps the cause, Wade said.
“What they want to do is put this together then come back during storm season and during the summer and imbed with us for a couple of weeks,” Wade said.
Just in the last few weeks, the team has searched for a 17-year-old who was pulled away in a rip tide in coastal Alabama. “Two of us went up and spent a few days, we searched 100 miles of gulf by boat, walked a lot of beaches, but couldn’t find him. The Coast Guard thought that with the drift he might be as far as Grand Isle, so we searched those areas and never did receive anything.”
The team is working a homicide case in Mamou, La.; and a Clairborne Parish case of a missing four-year-old.
There are five core members on the team, and some 100 or so additional volunteers. The core members are Wade, Lt. Commander Claire Weiss, Tina Frey, Sydney Broussard and Kip Coltrin.
“When we roll, it never slows down,” Wade said, the group often spread out in multiple areas.
The team also visits schools with its “Hug A Tree and Survive” presentation. “It was established back in the 90s when a child went missing and he kept walking and walking, and by the time they found him he was deceased,” Wade said. “So they created that program.”
The impetus is that a lost child or person should stay in one place and await rescue rather than move about. “It makes it easier to find them,” Wade said. “The kids just love it, it’s a really great program. Just find a tree and sit there, don’t move.”