Search & Rescue

A massive search and rescue training session was held Saturday involving many emergency-related agencies.
Organized by Cajun Coast Search & Rescue Commander Toney Wade and his members, the groups converged on the far end of the Myette Point Boat Landing early in the morning.
Entities as varied as the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s office and other sheriff’s departments, the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Cajun Navy and many, many more agencies and organizations were involved.
“One of our dispatch programs kinda broke down on us out there,” Wade said. “We had to shut that one down and put in a new system. Which was really good, I’m glad it took place like it did, because if communications go down we have to find another way to do it. And they did. They put their heads together and figured out how to do it and it worked flawlessly the rest of the day.”
There were participants who learned sonar work and dive operations. “We sank a dummy out there,” Wade said. “Nobody could see it. They were looking for a body lying out there, so we told them, look for the angles of the body, look for something that just doesn’t fit the rest of the terrain. We had a couple boats get caught in the river that broke down, they called in, we sent people out and got them in safe.”
Wade also noted that the Discovery Channel documentary that was filmed earlier this year will have a second part featuring nearly exclusively his team.
“The first segment was Hurricane Florence,” he said. “We weren’t with that group, we were on the other side doing K9. The second was Hurricane Michael and we were all over that one. They were doing collapsed structure searches.”
The date of airing has not yet been determined.