Coming soon… Real Soon. Really. I mean it’s coming out next week. SARNS Season 2, or in its longer title Search and Rescue North Shore Season 2. Only on Knowledge Network. This series is all about a rescue squad of 50-55 volunteers who go to look for missing people in some areas of Vancouver. They could be local Vancouverites or even tourists who explore the wilderness for erm, uh… fun. The families of these volunteers must be pretty proud of what they accomplished, and they sure know to keep messaging consistently t between each other. I was invited to check out the premiere of the 2nd season at a special event over at Blueshore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts around the Capilano area. It was an interesting event, that gave out free pins, pamphlets, guides, and some other cool stuff. For example, I got the opportunity to talk to director Grant Baldwin and producer Jenny Rustemeyer. They told me interesting things as we sat at a table together. Like at the beginning, Jenny explained they hired cinematographers who were locals in the areas they shot in, such as North Van and Squamish. They had to be on scene in 15 minutes so it was efficient choices for those days. We then attended the screening opening up with a heartwarming speech by CEO Michelle Van Beusekom, then Jenny and Grant themselves, followed by a raffle and a panel discussion hosted by a journalist named Meghan and featuring several team members, Grant, Kayla (Team’s Nurse), Mike (The Team Lead), and Behzad Saffari. But I don’t want to go into too much of what they discussed, because I already had a good long discussion with Grant and Jenny. Pack up your kit and prepare to go searching for lost answers with me as we take on this fun mission of finding out more on the show, together.
HNMAG: Tell me more about the show, please. How did you get involved with this rescue team?
Grant Baldwin: Sure. Originally, we had finished a film called This Mountain Life. It was a love letter to BC mountains and then from that moment forward we just sort of became a production team that I guess could completely prove we could shoot in these conditions. Knowledge Network asked us, “Could you check out North Shore Rescue and see if there’s potential for a kind of documentary there?” so we did a kind of development and it was immediately that we knew there was so much history, action, and an opportunity to do something much bigger than just a documentary. We ended up developing a series for it.
Jenny Rustemeyer: Originally we looked at having someone from North Shore Rescue in This Mountain Life because it was about people who climbed mountains. But ultimately, it didn’t fit into that film and we knew there was more of a story there.
HNMAG: Will there be anything different in Season 2 compared to Season 1?
Jenny Rustemeyer: The team is always evolving, so there’s new people coming on board all the time and we’re viewing the people we’ve seen in training during first season move into leadership roles in second season.
Grant Baldwin: Also right when we started development for Season 2, we’re really pushing and training hard to become night-vision certified. Eventually we’ll move towards hosting at night. It’s a total game changer in terms of saving lives in those critical moments when certain people couldn’t access a helicopter before. Being at the starting point of that was basically documentary gold.
HNMAG: Is it difficult to arrange crewmembers to go on these dangerous rescue missions?
Jenny Rustemeyer: Yeah, we had 3 cameras at all times on a rotating schedule. We had to make sure that people who were going in the field were competent in the wilderness. In the winter they needed to have their avalanche certification, then we had to do helicopter hover exit training with them. We had to vet with people very well and we had amazing crew members and amazing people that could keep up with the team.
Grant Baldwin: Living in BC, it’s pretty easy to find outdoorsy people who are capable. But are they a cinematographer? So, getting both in the same package is hard and then asking them “Are you aware of what we need to cover in terms of story?” and that trifecta was very hard to find people. We were very fortunate to find our crew, but it wasn’t easy.
HNMAG: Besides going on expeditions, does the crew also get interviews with the rescue team?
Grant Baldwin: Yeah, there’s lots of interviews with the team members, there’s historical rescues that we found in this series. Like the Ark of the Covenant, it’s a VHS and photographs I found in the bases in a bin. That opened up tons of historical storytelling, for a documentary filmmaker that was incredible.
HNMAG: I understand not everyone can be found. What happens when the team can’t find anyone no matter what?
Jenny Rustemeyer: It’s very rare that they don’t find someone. When we talk about someone that’s in a cold case in the program, we’re usually talking about past rescues in a historical perspective, most of the rescues have happy endings.
There’s a lot going on in this series, you could even ask the volunteer team members themselves. During the Q&A later on, it was explained how they worked, how shots were done, and the filming budgets.
HNMAG: Do cold case episodes like that seem harder to complete? Do you make those kinds often or rarely?
Jenny Rustemeyer: We try to have a balance. Every program has a little bit of history in it, a little bit of getting to know the team members.
Grant Baldwin: And 4 or 5 realtime rescues each episode.
HNMAG: How long does an average rescue mission usually take when a person goes missing?
Grant Baldwin: Missing individuals can take longer, injured individuals generally go quicker so I’d say our average callout was 3 hours, but it really depends on if they know where the missing person is or not.
Jenny Rustemeyer: Agreed (chuckles)
HNMAG: What else do you look for in crew members to make sure they can join the team without getting lost or running into trouble?
Grant Baldwin: I think the most important thing when we were trying to find people for the team was “Are the Rescue Team members going to notice you and are you going to be a liability?” so it was very important that we got feedback with who we let on. That way, we’re getting coverage without getting in the way and one of the most interesting things is that when you’re filming someone who is hurt, lost, or injured, having the worst day of their life when here comes a camera person, we have to be very subtle with our coverage but at the same time capture the moment. What was really interesting was when people asked what we were filming, we would just easily say “We’re filming for the Knowledge Network, everything that this team of volunteers does for the year. That sells them right away, first is that Knowledge Network is trusted with their productions so that’s pretty common, and the second one is that they didn’t know these people rescuing them are volunteers. They people are too humble to say they’re volunteers, they’re just going to get to work, if they’re a paramedic or on fire.
HNMAG: Why do you feel this is a good series to be on TV?
Grant Baldwin: We didn’t know what the feedback would be for the first season, but after the first season aired it was phenomenal and some of the most important stuff is that people became advocates for safety. They watched the show, and not realized they’re learning a bunch of information about how to approach the wilderness and have fun in it safely. They were actually preaching, getting other people to watch the show so they learned things and that was really nice feedback to hear. I now carry my emergency blanket, I have a satellite communication device in my bag now. I never leave without that or without telling people where I’m going. Maybe the show has prevented some really big calls from happening.
HNMAG: Do you see more seasons coming and will they be more exciting even?
Grant Baldwin: Who knows?
Well, I’m sure we all know there ought to be more episodes because the season premiere was fascinating, and you’ll think so too when it comes out next week on May 28 at 8PM PST. The hour long special told interesting stories about rescuing people in an Abbotsford flood, discussing a late mountain man named Carl, scoping out a lost biker, a neurodivergent senior, a man who feel into a creek, and their supplies including the helicopter they use, their trainmen methods, and more.
It’s a mix of funny, disturbing, sad, and exciting. The screening itself had a great turnout of senior citizens and some kids too. Even some some of the staff of KN themselves, and we all had a good time conversing in the foyer about it all afterwards. Get ready to watch, and make sure your emergency kit is well stocked with supplies. Expect 5 episodes, this series will go until June 25th.