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Ultimate Response
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Episode One
Each year 1,200 polar bears pass through Churchill on thir way to Hudson's Bay. Encounters with the townsfolk are inevitable. For Pat Cronin, Churchill’s Polar Bear Cop, the autumn means striking a difficult three way balance; the need for public safety, the pressure of local tourism operators who want the bears close by and the welfare of the bears.
Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park can be deadly. It has 134 avalanche paths in just 40 kilometers aimed right at the Trans Canada Highway and the railway. A team of experts called the Avalanche Control Program has the job of keeping the route open & safe.
K -Country is favorite destination for weekend warriors tearing through the back-country on mountain bikes as well as world class climbers testing their skills on Mount Kidd. K-country’s terrain requires a varied skill set on the part of rescue specialists. Team work and solid leadership are essential components on one of the country’s most respected alpine SAR units during the most demanding weekend of their long summer season.
Episode Two
There is an out of control forest fire raging in Banff National Park of Canada and it is up to the wardens to coordinate a special team to make sure the fire doesn’t blow through the containment lines and blaze toward the town of Banff. It is a highly scientific battle fought with giant aircraft, might and more fire!
Meanwhile, the smoke from the fire is playing havoc on the visitors. Search and Rescue specialists are slinging in on helicopters and plucking confused hikers off smoke covered mountains.
Across the country in British Columbia, Safety Specialists patrolling the West Coast Trail in Pacific Rim National Park of Canada are answering emergency calls from hurt and lost hikers on the rugged 77km trail. The West Coast Trail is so muddy and difficult that it has the same injury rate as a downhill ski facility.
Episode Three
Rounding up 500 enormous bison in a few weeks is no easy task. Just ask the wardens in Elk Island National Park of Canada who must wrestle with each one of these stubborn animals. Bison are ornery creatures that can plow through a wooden fence like it is balsam wood.
Up in Nahanni National Park of Canada, Senior Park Warden Barry Troke is leading an expedition of archaeologists looking for historical remnants along a park that straddles the tree line. In one of the remotest places in the Northwest Territories, they make a startling discovery. A primitive cabin cut into the side of a hill. Long deserted it harks back to a time when this park was as far away from civilization as the dark side of the moon.