The number of volunteers at Vapepa Voluntary Rescue Service has increased, although many other hobbies have a long-term lack of dedicated members.
Interest in Vapepa’s activities has been increased by people’s willingness to participate in the search for the lost and to help in the event of an emergency.
Vapepa does not have direct members, but it has some 22,500 volunteers under 52 member organizations, of which about 1,500 alert groups have already been formed in Finland.
Volunteers at Vapepa are trained to assist the authorities, in practice the police, in their search so that they do not obstruct the search but are systematic.
Last year, Vapepa received 153 alerts for exploration missions. That was about 43 percent of all Vapepa’s alarm tasks of the year. Other tasks included emergency care, emergency response, evacuation assistance, or other assistance to authorities.
There were a total of 359 alerting tasks, an average of one per day.
Still, not all volunteers get involved in the acute search for the missing, but hobbies can take up a lot of their free time due to education and training. Some volunteers also continue to be trained to train others.
Mari Keinänen from Kuopio, a member of the North Savo Rescue Dog Group, says that rescue dog activities have become her way of life.
When I got a service dog, I wanted to start practicing with the dog. Coincidentally, I ended up in rescue dog activities and it took me away, Keinänen says.
7-year-old Giant Schnauzer Rontti recognizes that he is leaving for an alert when Keinänen wears a reflective vest and wears a dog vest with reflective tape.
You have to work in front of a rescue dog. The credit must be high to be able to go out with the dog in real life. At best, cooperation is seamless.
Keinänen has attended first aid and search courses and taught orienteering because of her hobby.
Even though we have GPS devices, we never know how they work.
Some experience 20–30 years
When Keinänen has been trained in exploration for about six years, Kuopio Pilots Pilot Kari Pasanen has been involved for 20 years.
Training in exploration flights makes the hobby much more instructive and instructive than just flying for fun, Pasanen says.
The police lead and coordinate the searches and we always get feedback after the mission report.
I especially remembered the situation a couple of years ago when we got an alarm at three in the morning and by half-past five, we were flying exploration over Kallavesi. Then it felt like this was working well.
In Northern Savo, Vapepa’s alert preparedness already has 134 groups and a total of 1316 volunteers.
Police say volunteers’ assistance has proven important, especially in the search for the missing. The police are still a bit worried about whether there will be enough enthusiasm for future generations.
Retired people have time to go on alerting tasks, but it is sometimes more difficult for people of working age, Chief Constable Juha Taskinen of the Eastern Finland Police thinks.
Including village associations, for example, would further increase readiness.