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Children ages 11 to 14 out of the bush by evening
Times Colonist25 February 2020p. A1JDF SAR era
“Children ages 11 to 14 out of the bush by evening”, Times Colonist, p. A1, 25 February 2020 ref-only
Summary
Two scout leaders missing in the Sooke hills near Jordan River were found on the Monday, safe and uninjured. Peter Kenmare and Lisa Nilsson spent Sunday night weathering out a storm after they decided it was too dangerous to continue in strong wind, heavy rain and dense fog. Powell and the children, who are between 11 and 14 years old, were out of the bush by Monday evening after search and rescue [reached them]. "They should be at home and be telling tall stories to their families," Vickie Weber of Juan de Fuca search and rescue said on the Monday night. Nilsson said the group woke on the Sunday morning to four inches of snow and decided it was not safe to bring the children out the way they had hiked in. When they were not back by early afternoon, Powell was able to make a radio call to Shirley Volunteer Fire Department, where he is a firefighter. A creek between their camp and the trail had risen enough, however, that even search-and-rescue crews [had difficulty].
Details
| Headline | “Children ages 11 to 14 out of the bush by evening” |
|---|---|
| Publication | Times Colonist |
| Date | 25 February 2020 |
| Page | A1 |
| Era | JDF SAR era |
| Document type | news report |
| Original article | ProQuest — the scanned page in the Times Colonist digital archive ↗ |
| Source | ProQuest Digital Times Colonist via GVPL (bulk export 2026-07-16) |
| Accessed | 2026-07-16 |
| Licensing | ref-only |
| Record confidence | probable |
Archivist's note
Published nine days after the Sooke River drownings, and a marked change of register — Weber's line about the children telling tall stories to their families is the archive's clearest instance of the team speaking about a good outcome. Note the role of the Shirley Volunteer Fire Department radio call: with no cellphone coverage, the alarm was raised because one of the adults was himself a firefighter. This page was recovered from inside the ProQuest bulk export already held in the archive, where it had been listed as referenced but not held.
The clipping
