(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] Known as the land of fire and ice,
Iceland is an island of extremes, where people wage
a relentless war against the elements.
- It's seriously unpredictable weather.
It's basically like a battle storm of different
high pressure, low pressure areas.
Anything can happen.
- [Narrator] Dangerous conditions mean people can find
themselves in serious trouble, and in need of rescue.
But there's a problem.
The small country has no army or government program to help,
so citizens formed the Icelandic Search and Rescue Team,
known as ICE-SAR, a national emergency force.
They're everyday people, willing to risk their lives
to save others in the worst conditions imaginable.
- You're going out in the conditions when everyone else
is supposed to be inside.
So we have to be a little bit crazy, but in a good way.
- ICE-SAR is a community of volunteers that responds
to calls for help all year round in Iceland.
I think to take part in ICE-SAR, you just have to be willing
to put forward the skills that you have.
I sometimes consider a rescue team like a village.
You need every kind of person to make everything work.
- I think it's kind of amazing, because it's all volunteers.
We have professors, taxi drivers, carpenters, plumbers,
office workers, just name it, men and women, all kind of people.
It's very hard to imagine Iceland without our association
of go teams.
(people chattering)
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Iceland's breathtaking landscape attracts
tourists and adventure seekers from all over the world, but
that beauty can lure people to a false sense of security.
- The weather conditions can change
faster than anything else.
You can have a sunny day, and in two minutes, it's a storm.
Wind, rain, even snow in the summertime.
- People are just going for a hike, and they're pretty
confident that the mountain they're going on
is not dangerous.
We have the lower glaciers, which have become
quite a popular tourist attraction, and people are going
for walks on these, and they are full of crevasses,
extremely dangerous, super slippery, and then they fall over
and hurt themselves, then they have to rely on
Search and Rescue to come and find them.
- [Narrator] For average citizens to gain the skills
needed to be part of ICE-SAR, they go through a rigorous
18-month training program.
They learn mountaineering, climbing and orienteering.
It takes a huge skill set, but when you can deal with
any weather, then you can go out and help people.
- Across the whole country, I think, our teams get to 4.5
callers per day.
And our people, they're running from their own work
or their family to join the team.
- When I get called out, we have three codes.
F1, high priority, life at stake.
F2, not as high priority.
And F3, easygoing.
When you get called out high priority, and you get your text
and it says a child, and your heart goes pounding almost
out of your chest, and you run out, I don't even say goodbye
to my children or my wife.
I can remember one call, a boy, lost in (unclear).
All I could think about was my son.
If he got lost, I would like to have everyone helping.
So a lot of emotions comes up when you get called up.
(muffled voice on radio)
(melodic piano playing)
- I'm proud of the unity and the fight that people
are willing to sacrifice in their spare time to help others.
- The feeling that I get when we rescue someone.
It doesn't have to be me that finds the person.
It can be another group searching somewhere else,
but we're searching for the same person.
When someone gets found, we get this wellness feeling.
We did something right.
- They're our heroes in so many ways, but in Icelandic
culture, we don't do a lot of hero talk.
- No, I'm not a hero.
I'm just a part of a team.
- I'm not a hero, no.
I'm just a normal person.
- I'm very proud of the Association
and what they have accomplished.
They've saved a lot of lives.