How to Start a Search and Rescue Team

Search and rescue is a voluntary organization that usually falls under the responsibility of the county sheriff's department. Start by going to your local sheriff and ask if there is a current search and rescue team.

If not, most county sheriff's are beginning to realize the need to plan ahead for disasters. While they don't have the time to form a volunteer team themselves, they will welcome a well thought out plan and can provide assistance.

Before you discuss starting a local volunteer search and rescue team, you need to go home and do some preparation.

When you approach your local sheriff for the possibility of starting a new search and rescue team, you will want to be able to show him/her why a SAR team is needed and how you can get a team up and operating.

Community Needs Assessment
How much of a need exists in your area for a search and rescue team? Creating a realistic needs assessment can really help to focus your efforts, as well as answering a number of questions from the number of personnel, to the level of training and type of equipment that will be needed.

You will want to research past occurrences and anticipate future needs. Start out by looking for information on past incidents. Your local newspaper and other media archives will give you a good starting point.

In addition to official records, there may be one or more organizations that have institutionalized knowledge relevant to your research. What you are attempting to do is establish a realistic picture of the frequency of missing persons and other uses of a sar team.

* a man with Alzheimer's wanders away from home,
* a hunter or hiker is missing,
* a tornado hits and the sheriff's department is wasting valuable time on patrols. A SAR team can help with searches as well as traffic control, patrols and crowd management.

Program Design
Armed with the information in your needs assessment, it is time to determine where your planned team fits into the whole scenario and how prepared you are at present to fill any identified needs.

Public education is a very effective place to invest your time and money.

Remember, whatever your goal, you need to identify the problems through your needs assessment and create a plan that maximizes program effectiveness to create the best results.

Training
Once you have designed your program, it’s time to start thinking about training. The first step is to decide what level training is suitable for your team.

Operations level. This level is designed for those organizations that want to allow their members to perform low-risk rescues – a compromise between the extremes of no rescue and a high-risk capable team. Ground Search and Rescue teams, Mounted Search and Rescue Teams, and Canine Search and Rescue Teams are all examples of Operational level team. These capabilities are comparatively inexpensive to train for and offer a good level of success for the investment.

The more technical level organization offers the most capability. Not surprisingly, the Technician level involves far more training and specialized equipment then the Operations level. Be realistic in your expectations. The Technician level can be a goal for the future of the Operational Team.

Management Systems
You should consider adopting an Incident Command System (ICS) if you haven’t already done so.

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Washington, D.C. , September 18, 2007 - The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today announced the adoption of 11 NFPA standards for emergency responders by DHS. The newly adopted standards will set requirements to assist federal agencies and state and local officials responsible for procuring equipment and services used by emergency responders.
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Sufficient Personnel
No matter how you go about it, insuring the response of an adequate number of rescuers is a major commitment. As we all know rescue incidents don’t wait for 9 to 5 Monday through Saturday. The rescuers also need to be willing to take the time and effort to remain current and practiced on the demanding skills and techniques that will be required of them.

Later, I will share some flyers with you to generate interest in joining a search and rescue team. For now, ask your friends if they would be interested. How many people do you need to start a team? I would be happy if 25 people showed up for the first meeting to express interest. You will, of course lose some of those who did not realize what sort of committment they would be maiking, but you will gain more and more every month.

Equipment
Hold off on purchasing equipment (other than the personal protective equipment needed for training) until after your team has completed their initial training. Time and again well meaning purchasing agents have ordered equipment only to receive a brand new wish list of equipment from freshly trained personnel. During training, personnel will get a chance to use many types and brands of equipment and will acquire the knowledge to make educated decisions about the equipment that will best meet their specific needs.

While an initial investment in equipment will be necessary, do not go overboard. Allow the team to gain some experience and plan to reinvest on a regular basis.

Once you have all the information gathered, and can show the sheriff that you have identified the need, designed a program and have interested volunteers, you will probably find that he/she can provide your startup team with some specialized training (crime scene protection, meth lab dangers...).

With the support of the local sheriff, it is now time to start looking for training. (see the categories at right to find out how to start your training.)