It's hard to imagine one person doing the job of former North Shore Rescue team leader Tim Jones. So newly appointed leader Mike Danks doesn't expect to do it on his own.
The team's members quickly planned Jones' public memorial and have carried out almost a dozen rescues since Jones' sudden death on Jan. 19. None of it would have been possible without the mentoring and succession planning Jones had left the team with before his death, Danks said.
"I don't want to take away from Tim in any way because Tim really set North Shore Rescue up for success with him out of the equation," he said. "I've stepped into this role and I'm going to do my best to continue Tim's legacy but I can't do it on my own. It's going to take our entire team collectively to fill Tim's shoes and I think it's a good thing. We need to engage our members and we need to empower them - let them lead their way. As long as we're all moving in the same direction, that's key."
Tim's mission in recent years became less about charging into the North Shore backcountry, and more about ensuring team members could do the job themselves.
"He really started to step back from operational calls and he really invested the time in the senior members of the team for them to gain experience whether it be in the front seat of a helicopter or running site command on calls," Danks said.
And there are also the important matters off the mountainside: fundraising for a $6-million legacy fund that would generate enough interest to cover the team's operational and maintenance costs, and lobbying the province for an updated search and rescue funding model.
Jones had been in talks with the North Shore's MLAs to get a new communications network, standby helicopter availability and on-call pay for the busiest volunteers who routinely drop what they're doing to head into the mountains.
When it comes to schmoozing with politicians and potential donors, the soft-spoken and deferential new leader will have more of a soft-hands approach, but Danks expects he can achieve the same result.
"I don't know how Tim did it. He was such a caveman. He really was but he had this incredible charisma about him that people were drawn to and they just wanted to engage with him. I'm going to have a very different style, but the important thing is the end goal is going to be the same. It's just how we're going to get there that's a little different," Danks said.
While he is plainly modest, Danks brings impressive credentials to the job. The 37-year-old father of three is a firefighter with the North Vancouver City Fire Department and secondgeneration NSR member. "I joined as soon as I could get on the team, when I was 19 years old. My father was a member of the team for as long as I can remember. As a child, I would always go with my dad to training nights. I would be the patient in the stretcher or just be around all these guys who were doing training and it really interested me," he said. "It's such a part of my life. It's a passion. Making a positive difference for people is the key for me. It's incredibly rewarding."
Doug Pope, search manager and team spokesman, said Danks was an excellent choice for the job given how he stepped up as both a team member and support for the Jones family.
"From the team's perspective, we're all very happy that Mike's stepped forward. He's shown a lot of leadership throughout his career on the team but especially through the last month or so when we were going though such turmoil," he said.
The team his hosting a Tim Jones Legacy fundraiser at Seymour's Pub on Saturday March 8 from 6 to 9 p.m.
