For a lot of us in ski towns beacons are a part of our essential gear, myself as a worker in a rescue organization (ski patroller), I wear one everyday. Every couple years our department updates our beacons to ensure that we as rescuers have the latest avalanche rescue technology, after all that is our job. Not all rescue organizations who use beacons are solely skiing related organizations.
The Fire department in Ketchum Idaho is a great example of this case. As it came time to replace their old fleet with newer technology the department was left with 25 Ortovox M2s. Enter Miles Canfield, a firefighter who saw a second, very important life for the beacons.
“I like knowing that a tool that was once valuable to me can be passed on to some one to appreciate it…when you have nothing, you are happy to have anything,” says Miles about donating to South American Workers effected by the project.
But donating the department’s old fleet was not end; Miles held a town wide beacon drive published in the Idaho Mountain Express. In late march we received a box containing not just the:
- 25 original departments beacon, but
- 17 beacons donated by people in the town of Ketchum,
- 1 copy of the newspaper article from the Idaho Mountain Express and
- 1 peeps (the kind made out of marshmallows that your mom probably wanted to kill you for plastering her microwave with…as an experiment of course).
Nice touch Miles
This donation is the South American Beacon Projects biggest donation yet.
So a huge thanks to Miles Canfield and his fellow members of the Ketchum Fire Department, as well as all the people in and around the area surrounding Ketchum who donated. Please stay tuned to our website to see the awesome effects of your life changing donations!