Any Search and Rescue volunteers?

[SageFlat]

Anyone here have SAR experience? Qualifications to join, training, etc? Maybe it's just the slow season talking, but beating around the hills looking for lost folks seems to be a worthwhile endeavor.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I volunteered for several years. No experience is generally required. I used that experience as a springboard into emergency services jobs. Decent physical fitness and the ability to hike and navigate rugged terrain is highly recommended.

 

[ArrowForester]

SAR can certainly be a worthwhile endeavor. I would suggest figuring out what organized SAR groups may be close to you and inquiring about attending a meeting. You will get a lot of questions answered by some good people and you will get the flavor of local SAR opportunities.

I am currently a member of a loosely organized county group but we don’t see a lot of action. If I had more time I would join a group in the next county/town that is state certified and nationally recognized and gets called out all over the region.

Training and certifications are available if you want to get involved formally. You could be a basic search team member or work your way up through team leader or specialize in tracking or K9 work.

I have the basic certification and just spent this weekend getting recertified in Wilderness First Aid. I have been involved in a few activities with lost and injured folks. Sometimes it’s beating around the hills and sometimes it’s dark, cold and the rain is beating on you while climbing the hills. I say go for it.

 

[justinspicher]

I tried to get onto the local volunteer SAR program and I was told I didn’t have enough experience. The SAR program here is pretty busy, has a recruitment a couple times a year. They do have some requirements like a monthly fee and meetings, besides just training.

 

[Hondo0925]

I volunteered for 6 years. Wilderness first aid and cpr is all the official training I had. We would do ropes training and class room training weekly. I then had kids and a full time job. Seemed like all the calls were while I was at work on week days. But when my kids get older I would love to start up again.

 

[RuggedYogi]

Qualifications are going to be regionally dependent. Some locations have professional SAR teams that are affiliated with the the sheriff’s office or local EMS. Some more rural departments are completely comprised of volunteers.

The latter is typically going to have less required qualifications.

It would be a good idea to take a wilderness first responder course if you’re interested in volunteering with a SAR team. Specific SAR knowledge will usually be gained by in-house training.

I would hop on Google and see what SAR organizations there are in your area and what their requirements are.

 

[SageFlat]

I appreciate all the feedback. Work may be taking me to Central Idaho where I suspect SAR incidents will be frequent. My qualifictions are limited to hiking, navigation and a bit of field first aid knowledge from fighting fire through college. I'll get in contact with local resources as soon as I hear back on the job.

 

[moxford]

Many volunteer SAR orgs will run an academy or training program, so don't worry too much about quals/certs going in as you can get those afterwards.

Make sure your criminal history is clear, as you will get background checked and fingerprinted through the Sheriff's office (they are mandated to oversee SAR ops.)

It is worth it, though sometimes challenging if you have an inflexible job or family, but even then there are workarounds and options.

Cheers,
-mox

 

[ZRob97]

My schedule freed up and made it able for me to join this year. My county has an academy running on the weekend of this month and part of next to get everyone on board. They don’t require too much to get started and are teaching land nav, tracking, etc. and once you’re on for a year or two you can join helitack, mountain rescue, rope rescue teams, etc.. great group of people so far.

 

[.204smokechaser]

Some counties I’ve been in expect a huge time commitment on your end for training etc., and other counties are glad when someone’s able to volunteer on their own time. Differences of how big the counties are and how the sheriff operates for the most part. It’s a worthwhile endeavor for sure. Had one search cut into my hunting season and we’ve never found a sign of the hiker and not trace of the hiker since. Most have been successful.

Depending on what county you’re looking at and the time commitments, consider joining the volunteer fire department as well. Almost every volunteer fire department is screaming for help.