Knowledge Network new series highlights work of North Shore Rescue

Knowledge Network will be premiering a new series featuring highly skilled North Shore Rescue members rescuing distressed people in canyons, forests, and rugged mountains of North Vancouver.

This five-episode documentary, Search and Rescue: North Shore, debuted on November 10.

Each episode offers a never-before-seen view into how the North Shore Rescue (NSR) teams overcome dangers and realities in their headline rescues.

“Until I moved to Vancouver years ago, I never fully understood how close the city was to the wilderness and its perils,” said Rudy Buttignol, president & CEO of Knowledge Network. “What I found truly surprising was that NSR was made up of all volunteers – highly skilled individuals putting their own lives at risk to help others. Heroes. That’s when we decided their stories needed to be told.”

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The documentary, captured by a Vancouver-based production company Peg Leg Films and directed by Grant Baldwin, is a compilation of these heroes in action from the course of an entire year. From administrating first-aid to performing high-risk mountain rescue missions for retrieving lost hikers, the series opens the public eye to an unprecedented viewing experience to these human stories in keeping Vancouver safe. The production team was embedded with the NSR volunteers throughout the entire creative process.

“I remember straddling the peak of Crown mountain at 3 AM,” Baldwin recalled.

“The NSR team and my filming partner Ian were rappelling down below me to secure a fallen climber. I was just clinging to the rock trying to get a stable shot with the massive rotors of a military helicopter washing down around me. I kept thinking, what the hell am I doing up here? Then I remembered that the team doesn’t need to be here either; they volunteered for this. It makes capturing this story more meaningful.”

Founded in 1965, North Shore Rescue is one of the oldest ground search and rescue organizations in BC. With over 40 active volunteers, the organization performs around 130 search and rescue operations on an annual basis.

Search and Rescue: North Shore is commissioned by Knowledge Network and created by director Grant Baldwin and producer Jenny Rustemeyer. The series will air on Knowledge Network on Tuesdays from November 10 to December 8, 2020. It will also be available for free streaming online and the Knowledge Network app in Canada.