Search and Rescue Training

How do you ensure that your personnel has the training they need to successfully complete search and rescue missions? The training process is essential, both for informational purposes as well as for legal reasons.

Our search and rescue team trains once a month with at least two mock searches per year. We recieve some training from our local sheriff's department or the state police.

Some of our members are skilled in map reading and others in GPS units. They help train the team in their specific specialties.

Once a year, we hold a two day certification basic SAR course. We pay for a search and rescue instructor to come to our county and train our members and other interested people. By charging $20/per person, we make enough to pay for the instructor.

If you do not have someone within driving distance to bring a course to your group, you might consider going to a course offered by The National Association for Search and Rescue, Inc., (NASAR) http://www.nasar.org/nasar/

Here is a list of courses offered by NASAR:
Introduction to Search and Rescue (ISAR)/SARTECH III
Fundamentals of Search and Rescue (FUNSAR)
Managing the Lost Person Incident (MLPI)
Advanced Search and Rescue (ADSAR)

Specialty Courses
Planning Section Chief: Emergency Response
Incident Commander for Search & Rescue (ICSAR)
Incident Commander: Emergency Response (ICER)
Planning Section Chief for Search & Rescue (PSCSAR)


Incident Command System
ICS is a standardized on-scene incident management concept designed specifically to allow responders to adopt an integrated organizational structure equal to the complexity and demands of any single incident or multiple incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries.

In the early 1970s, ICS was developed to manage rapidly moving wildfires and to address the following problems:
• Too many people reporting to one supervisor;
• Different emergency response organizational structures;
• Lack of reliable incident information;
• Inadequate and incompatible communications;
• Lack of structure for coordinated planning among agencies;
• Unclear lines of authority;
• Terminology differences among agencies; and Unclear or unspecified incident objectives.

In 1980, federal officials transitioned ICS into a national program called the National Interagency Incident Management System (NIIMS), which became the basis of a response management system for all federal agencies with wildfire management responsibilities. Since then, many federal agencies have endorsed the use of ICS, and several have mandated its use.

An ICS enables integrated communication and planning by establishing a manageable span of control. Enter NIMS.

The National Incident Management System has been adopted by Homeland Security as the standard for emergency responders.

If you are lucky, you will find NIMS training in your area (ask your local sheriff). But, even if you can't find it locally, you team can take individual classes online for free.

For a list of classes recommended for first responders (and to start taking the classes yourself), go here: http://www.nimsonline.com/nims_training/index.htm