Jeff Ross lost his brother. Now he helps others find missing family members

Chelsea Kemp · CBC News

· Posted: May 19, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Three years aft his member went missing and was aboriginal recovered dead, Jeff Ross has been volunteering with the hunt and rescue squad that helped bring his household closure.

Now a seasoned volunteer, Ross precocious bought a high-end thermal drone that he's sharing with Brandon Regional Search and Rescue.

He hopes it volition velocity up aboriginal searches and spare families the symptom of not knowing what's happened to a missing loved one.

"Having gone done what I did with my brother, it is simply a mode to springiness backmost to our community," Ross said.

"We cognize that radical erstwhile they person idiosyncratic that they emotion spell missing oregon are lost, that we conscionable request each the enactment we tin get."

Ross met the hunt and rescue squad successful June 2022 erstwhile his member Jordan Ross disappeared. He was amazed astatine the bosom and enactment the unit enactment into uncovering his missing brother.

"They conscionable gave their hearts and souls into it," Ross said. "I conscionable benignant of fell successful emotion with them."

The hunt and rescue volunteers helped his household find the solution they needed, helium said.

The acquisition showed him that joining Brandon Regional Search and Rescue was the close acceptable for him, Ross said.

Eyes successful the sky

The hunt squad has ne'er had a instrumentality similar the DJI Matrice 350 RTK drone, Ross said.

It has a thermal camera that lets the squad look for vigor signatures. It besides has a 30x zoom lens and tin hover 120 metres supra the ground.

He says there's thing comparable to having eyes successful the sky, and its thermal capabilities volition beryllium critical.

"If we could find that idiosyncratic by vigor signature quicker than we would conscionable a regular enactment search, past it conscionable brings america to that idiosyncratic successful request that overmuch quicker," Ross said.

Ross has a peculiar drone operator's licence and is required to make a formation program each clip helium operates it.

He precocious tested its capabilities astatine Falcon Lake, wherever the squad was providing archetypal assistance for an event, and was blown distant by its technological capabilities.

It tin beryllium manually flown oregon afloat automated and sent connected formation paths.

Brandon Regional Search and Rescue subordinate Robin Ponto praised Ross's generosity successful sharing the drone with the team. 

It volition assistance chopped hunt times, particularly successful rougher terrain, helium said.

Search and rescue a calling

In the 3 years since helium joined the hunt and rescue crew, Ross has go an integral portion of the team, Ponto said.

"He's caring," Ponto said. "His acquisition 3 years ago, I think, benignant of melds that each unneurotic with that passionateness and the commitment."

Right now, the squad has 35 volunteers. They are similar a household and bound by a passionateness for stepping up to assistance successful harrowing and tragic situations, Ponto said.

In a emblematic year, the squad is deployed astir six oregon 7 times. Each deployment tin beryllium some breathtaking and scary arsenic they contention to assistance families find loved ones who person gone missing, helium said.

Their extremity is to enactment families connected what's often the worst time of their lives, helium said.

"It's difficult, but it's rewarding successful the end... We privation to springiness anticipation to those radical who are looking for their household and marque definite that we get those radical home," Ponto said. "It's heart-wrenching."

Ross present has astir fractional a twelve searches nether his belt. He appreciates being capable to bring solution to different families with a unit helium loves.

"It's a mode to springiness backmost to our community," Ross said. "It's fulfilling."