The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre Trenton (JRCC Trenton) is a rescue coordination centre operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG).
Contents
JRCC Trenton is responsible for coordinating the Search and Rescue (SAR) response to air and marine incidents within the Trenton Search and Rescue Region (SRR). This region covers the majority of the onshore, offshore and territorial waters in the Canadian Arctic including the entirety of the Northwest Territories and most of Nunavut except for the southern half of Baffin Island (70° north latitude) which is part of Halifax SRR. It also includes the western half of Quebec and the entirety of the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. This area measures 11 million km2 of which approximately 30% is water (including Hudson Bay and the Great Lakes).
As a secondary role, JRCC Trenton coordinates requests by other levels of government for federal SAR resources. These secondary request are commonly made for humanitarian reasons that fall within provincial or municipal jurisdiction (e.g. searching for missing hunters, hoisting injured hikers and medical evacuation when civilian agencies are unable due to weather or location).
Mission
"The national search and rescue (SAR) objective is to prevent loss of life and injury through search and rescue alerting, responding and aiding activities using public and private resources."
JRCC Trenton coordinates and controls Search and Rescue Units (SRUs) within its area of responsibility. The centre serves as a communications hub and primary point of contact for the coordination and direction of rescue units and on-scene commanders in order to meet the national objective in the safest and most effective manner possible.
AIRCOM also operates the Canadian Mission Control Centre (CMCC) from JRCC Trenton. CMCC is tasked with monitoring the Cospas-Sarsat system that detects transmissions from emergency locating beacons on aircraft or marine vessels in distress through Canada's search and rescue area of responsibility.
Command and control
The Minister of National Defence has overall responsibility for the operation of the coordinated federal SAR system with primary (full-time) SAR resources provided by the Canadian Forces and Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Within the Canadian Forces, SAR policy and procedures are the responsibility of Canadian Joint Operations Command with each JRCC being operationally responsible to the senior military officer in their region. JRCC Trenton is responsible to the Commander of Joint Task Force (Central) but also straddles the jurisdiction of JTF (East), JTF (West), and JTF (North).
Personnel
JRCC Trenton is staffed by personnel from the RCAF and CCG 24 hours a day, year-round. Duty staff are
Air and Marine controllers are collectively called "mission coordinators". All JRCC personnel function together as a team to ensure that response to distress incidents is co-ordinated effectively.
Location
JRCC Trenton is located on CFB Trenton in Trenton, Ontario. JRCC Trenton is connected with the Canadian Mission Control Centre (CMCC), Nav Canada, and the Canadian Coast Guard Marine Communications and Traffic Services radio systems.