Search and Rescue

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ecc

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I was wondering if those of you who are members of Search and Rescue teams could share some of the particulars of volunteering for such a group. What does such a commitment entail and what kind of skills are necessary to participate?
ecc
 
Anyone can volunteer. I have a wilderness first responder. It's a great way to meet outdoorsy types of folks. Some of them are not so outdoorsy. Some of them get lost during training, and then others have to go and find them. That happened this past summer, and just about everyone got a kick out of it.
 
The commitment has to start with a sincere desire to go help someone else, while sacrificing a big chunk of your own time to do so. There are three parts of the commitment:

1. Training. I will assume that you're already prepared and skilled at being outdoors in all kinds of weather and terrain. If not, add "lots more" to what follows.

The initial training routine is driven by the requirements of the team that you want to join. For SAR dog handlers like me, it's usually 18 months to two years to get accepted for callouts (we call it getting "certified" among dog handlers.) In that time, we spend well over a thousand hours training the dog, plus learning SAR techniques, plus learning wilderness first aid, plus helping others train their dogs, etc. Most dog handlers don't have time for too many other activities.

After you have been accepted for callouts, you will be expected to continue your training. Again, this depends on the type of SAR team that accepts you. Most teams I'm familiar with train at least monthly, and many train weekly on something. Dog handlers don't take time off from training after getting certified-- both dog and handler need constant training to perform at an acceptable level. If you're going to advance in your SAR skills, figure on lots more time to acquire the requisite proficiency.

2. Equipment and clothing. You will be required to provide virtually everything that you will use in the field. This includes clothing, pack(s), skis, snowshoes, first aid kit, climbing gear (if part of your team's requirements), camping gear, etc. For dog handlers, it includes dog, dog food, and vet bills. There is virtually no money available for individual purchases. Sometimes there are discounts available to team members. Team funds are generally used only for team equipment (e.g., litters, boats, radios, specialized medical equipment)

3. Callout availability People have a way of getting lost and needing help at the most inconvenient times. SAR responders are generally on call twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. You have to be able to leave your job when needed. You also have to be able to arrive on scene in time to do some good.

How often you do that depends on the tolerance of your family and your employer, and on the team's requirements. When you go, you won't know when you'll be back. You'll have some rough idea, but your situation has to be somewhat flexible. Most of the time, you'll be out for 12-48 hours. Sometimes you'll get on the road at 2:00 a.m. and then be told thirty minutes later that the mission is over. Remember also to consider your driving time to a remote location and back again. And you might need to catch a few zzz's first, to be safe driving home. In the Northeast, there are relatively few multiday SAR missions, but they do happen.

If you're still interested, send me a private message via VFTT and I'll give you some help getting connected.
 
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SARDOG1 had a pretty good summary of what is entailed in being a dog handler, but this is one of the most demanding of services entailed in SAR. You do not have to make the immense commitment of being a dog handler. Even specialty dog teams need non-dog handlers to work in tandem with the handlers for tasks such as navigation, flagging out the search pattern and communication. This frees up the handler to concentrate on reading what the dog is keying on.

The real problem can be finding a locally based team. I notice that you are from the Catskills. There are no SAR specific groups in the Catskills, much of the local searching is carried out by DEC and local fire-rescue groups. You can of course join a local fire fighting group, but most of your training will be oriented towards fire fighting, not SAR and those guys get called out a lot more than SAR volunteers. You can look at the website www.nyfedsar.org to find the nearest SAR group. I, live in Westchester County for example, but train with NJSAR because they are the nearest group that offers training for volunteers. Not only will you need to set aside time for training, but you would probably need to drive to Albany of the Finger Lakes region to find the nearest SAR group.

As far as the specific skills, first and foremost you should be in good physical shape, be experienced in back country travel and be capable of navigating and plotting your position with a map and compass. Of course SAR training will attempt to build on these skills, but most SAR groups do not have the time to train raw beginners, so you must come in with these basic skills in order to be useful as a ground searcher. You can expect to train for about a year before you are accepted as a full member in most groups, unless you are transferring from another SAR group. Usually you will need wilderness first aid and CPR training, which you often have to get on your own. New York State DEC requires that you take the State Wilderness Searcher course, but this is sometimes waived if you are coming in from out of state and have the equivlaent from somewhere else. That is another point, it is not unusual for searchers to drive hundreds of miles when a large search is needed. Dog handlers will often travel even further, almost always paying their own way.

The last issue I would mention is that is one that most SAR groups are aware of but seldom talk about. That is one of turf protection and jurisdictional struggles. Most searches are under the control of government officials of some sort and there is often a reluctance to call for outside volunteers. Law enforcement or Rangers often are looking to justify their budgets and do not want to admit that they cannot take care of this task on their own. NY State Police will sometimes be wrangeling with the DEC over jurisdiction while searchers stand on the sidelines waiting for the turf battle to be settled. A consequence of this is that SAR groups are often not called in early enough, meaning that they are probably going to be involved in a victim recovery far more often than a live rescue.
 
Like it or not, someone has to be in charge of a search, and in NY State the legislature has vested the authority for wilderness searches to the DEC. To my mind they are the elite, they are required to have a lot of education and training, they work long hours, for low pay in very demanding circumstances. I may grumble about bureaucratic log jams, but if I am lost in NY, I want the DEC running the search to look for me, because no one has as much experience as them. There are complicated issues in a search, any search may turn into a criminal investigation if the subject is found diseased and there are real legal liability issues that cannot be disregarded.

It will not increase a search subject's chance of survival to have a lot of free wheeling individuals running around in an uncoordinated manner. Air scenting dogs or tracking teams will only be hindered if persons unknown are out ahead of them obscuring tracks, destroying clues and messing up the scent trail. Also, it is a sad fact that searchers can often become injured themselves and these types of injuries can sidetrack and delay a search.

Search management is quite a science, statistics on lost person behavior are studied and applied to the case in hand by people with years of training. If one truly wants to help, one needs to work within the system.
 
Yeah, what he said. (Well put, John -- sure glad that I held my fire .......)

Ditto for NH and VT, and for the other states that I have worked in before -- AK, MN, and WA (as well as on some trips to ME and OR when requested.)
 
Maybe a little explication will help here.

Air scenting dogs are ordinarily trained to find any source of human scent in the area that they're searching. They're trained to follow that scent into the wind until they locate the source. Depending on wind and terrain, the dog is capable of making that find over a distance of several hundred yards from the source. (I saw my first dog do it once well over a quarter mile.) If the handler is not with the dog when it gets to the source, the dog runs back to the handler and leads him/her to it. This might involve the dog running back and forth several times if the distance is long.

One of the things in the back of my mind while searching is the probability that someone other than the missing subject is in my assigned area. If I know that is likely, I don't encourage or allow the dog to follow scent trails on the ground. Otherwise he could be following any hunter, hiker, biker, mushroom picker, etc., who happens to be in the area (or has passed through recently.) ("Recently" could be sometime in the last 24 hours or longer.) As that probability decreases (e.g., because I'm farther into the woods and away from the places people normally go), I allow the dog to follow up on a scent trail that he finds on the ground. That's because now there's a greater chance it's the missing subject that he wants to follow. Because I have a radio with me, I can check with other searchers, and the command post, to find out whether a scent trail on the ground is likely to be another searcher.

Now, if there is an individual (or group) that is moving ad hoc in my area or adjacent to it, without coordinating their movements with the search manager, my dog and I might spend a lot of time and energy finding them instead of the person that needs our help.

A similar situation arises for human searchers who are part of the organized search teams. We blow our whistles, and sometimes shout, to get a response from the subject. We once found a guy in the Cascades from two miles away doing that (my dog heard his response first.) We coordinate with other search teams by radio when we do that. If you're out there on your own, and you hear a whistle or an indistinct shout, what are the chances that you'll shout back, and thereby confuse things? We also look for clues, e.g., boot tracks, broken branches, etc.

I appreciate the urge to help; I share it. If you really want to make a contribution, use your outdoor skills and your fitness as part of the team.
 
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That is called a hasty (or Type I) search, and it is done on every search. Fast three or four man teams are sent ahead to sweep the trails, woodroads, campgrounds or other areas of high probability, before slower and more methodical area searches are initiated.

My point is SAR groups all over the world are constantly experimenting, sharing experiences and studying past incidents in an never ending effort to improve. There is little that is going to be learned from off the cuff suggestions from those who just woke up to the problem.
 
AlpineSummit said:

How do you feel about the validity of a hiker or hunter simply stating that they feel that they are capable of getting themselves out of the woods w/out any help and making that known to you thru a spouse or whatever? Sort of a D.N.R. (do not rescue)
Have you ever rescued anyone who didn't need it and what was their reaction?
And lastly: Do you agree with me when I say that an individual may have the right to hike to any God-forsaken place he/she can get to but does NOT have the right to expect to be rescued from there?

What follows is strictly my own response and not to be attributed to someone else. First, the only time that members of our unit go searching for someone is after an official request from the agency responsible for SAR (NH = Fish & Game; VT = Vermont State Police; ME = Maine Warden Service.) That's the way it has been in every state that I've worked in. I have personally advised an aunt of a missing teenage girl to hang up the phone and call the sheriff (this was another state) if she wanted our dog team. And then I packed my gear and waited for the sheriff's call that came thirty minutes later.

This means that if a search has started someone in your own circle of acquaintances has first cared enough about you to call the agency in charge (or some police department, etc.) when you were overdue. It's very rare in my experience for a SAR mission to start simply because someone didn't sign back in on a register. If you don't want to be rescued, either cut all ties with your family (ala Ted Kasczynski) or make them dislike you a lot before you leave. :) I think many family members would have trouble honoring a "DNR" request.

I have been present when a missing person did not think that he (and it was always a "he") needed any help. (One time was when a guy was visiting a girlfriend out of town instead of meeting his wife at a trailhead as planned. :rolleyes: ) I have also had the experience of chasing someone (again, a "him") through the woods most of a night, as he calls to us, we call to him, we move up, but now he has moved a little farther away. Repeat ad nauseam until daylight comes and he manages to stumble across a road, flag a ride, and then disclaim any need to be rescued. (Funny, but he never quite got out of voice range .....)

We don't inquire into the rescue preferences of missing people when we go out. I've looked on too many times as family members watched a body being carried out, to feel personally inclined to honor a "DNR" request. (Yeah, I know that this is a subject of particular interest in these parts, but I'm not gonna go any nearer that particular situation.) And yeah, I do personally favor the right to execute living wills and have them honored in case of illness. In my experience, a missing and never-to-be found person is a whole different situation for a family than the person whose autonomy is to be honored at life's end in a hospital or hospice. I've gone on lots of searches for suspected suicides, and I will continue to do so, both to save a life and to help a family at a very difficult time.

As for the existence of any "right" to be rescued, well, I leave that up to the Legislature and its authorization of SAR operations (and its fine-levying authority for the egregious cases of "reckless" conduct.) I just go when called. My wife has a much more laissez faire attitude toward backcountry adventurers.
 
John Graham,
Thanks for the link. It's not working for me though. Is the problem on my end?
ecc
 
I was reflecting on my posts and I apologize for reacting like a snide know it all. It seems to me that SARDOG 1 has far more experience than me, I have only been doing SAR for a couple of years, and we don't get nearly as many callouts down here in our neck of the woods. We do more searches for distubed persons and alzheimer walkaways than wilderness searches for lost hikers and hunters.

I would like to make the point that it is possible to be a SAR volunteer without dedicating oneself to SAR to the exclusion of all else. Elite dog handlers do become consumed by their calling. When they get a reputation for results, they will get calls from all over the country. However there is still plenty of need for ordinary ground searchers, especially in more rural areas. Our group has about 50 members, but we can seldom get more than 20 searchers responding, unless the search is on a weekend. (3:00 am on monday morning is more typical). The minimum commitment for us is monthly meetings and training. I would urge those who are interested to check out their local SAR group and give what you can to the effort. I'm sorry I messed up the nysfedsar link, let me offer a nationwide link for the National Association of Search and Rescue: www.nasar.org .
 
I was wondering that if I was in the area of a current search and rescue if I would be able to volunteer if it was not in areas/conditions that are worthy of training.
Last year I was hiking/hunting on Plateau Mtn in the Catskills (Dec 8) when I heard lots of sirens down below, and then a helicopter was flying over the mountain as if it was looking for someone. Later on after I got back to my car I saw the helicopter land in a field with a lot of people there. An ice climber had fallen in Stoney Clove Notch. I think most of the people involved in the search from the ground were local fireman or just locals.
 
Mink:

Do I know you? I was there that day just after they flew the fellow away and his friends were packing up and heading to the hospital.

I heard the copter from Plateau, but I think the fall happen just off the road north of the trail up Plateau. I don't think there was any search, just a rescue. One of the fellows (part time local) and the woman in the "SAR vehicle" knew each other, I think they were all pretty much local
 
I was in the field right when the helicopter had gotten back after spotting him. I dont think that they had taken him out yet, but I did ask one of the guys who appeared to be a local in charge of the operation about what happened. After that I left because the helicopter had landed and I didnt want to be in the way. So I guess I just missed you by a little while.
-Mike
 
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