Words by

John Pearson

@johnpearson@grapevine.is

Photo by

John Pearson

Iceland’s civil defence relies heavily on local search and rescue (SAR) teams, highly-trained volunteers who undertake a huge range of tasks from searching for missing people to mountain rescue and disaster response.

They’ve been particularly busy these past few months, helping visitors at the ever-shifting and potentially dangerous Geldingadalsgos volcano site. The Grapevine joined a search and rescue team from the nearby town of Kópavogur for an evening patrol.

Kópavogur crew

Arnar – photo by John Pearson

Metta – photo by John Pearson

Davið – photo by John Pearson

María – photo by John Pearson

The hike to site

The car only gets you so far – photo by John Pearson

Time to get out and walk – photo by John Pearson

The rescue posse – photo by John Pearson

Volunteers and volcano visitors

Visitors are always happy to see SAR on site – photo by John Pearson

Assume the worst weather – photo by John Pearson

SAR are here to help, not to enforce – photo by John Pearson

Squad safety stuff

Squad members chat to visitors and offer advice – photo by John Pearson

If this thing beeps… – photo by John Pearson

… put on one of these – photo by John Pearson

One last look before we go

The shift is nearly finished, but the lava isn’t – photo by John Pearson

A pretty cool place to work – photo by John Pearson

Burgers from the tailgate BBQ

An end-of-shift tailgate BBQ has become a team a tradition – photo by John Pearson

Volunteers are rewarded in burgers and public gratitude – photo by John Pearson

The sun sets on another successful shift

Like the sun, the SAR teams will be back on site tomorrow – photo by John Pearson

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