Search and Rescue - Night Search

Night searches rely on proper equipment and training.

Every night searcher must wear a reflective vest and hat, have multiple lighting sources, be equipped to spend the night, have accurate local maps, and absolutely understand the search area.

The greatest difficulty in a night search is navigation. Allow 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. Avoid shining lights at other searchers. Headlamps and chemical lightsticks are useful.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Our search and rescue team schedules several night training missions a year.

Our search and rescue team has a policy to not search between 10 PM and dawn, unless an immediate search is necessary. Subjects often bed down for the night and it can be easy to pass them by.

If a definite trail is found, do not delay until morning to follow the trail. This is one time when we would continue the search since subjects usually do not move at night.

Make sure your search and rescue team contains the area to be searched. Containment is very important. When the search resumes in the morning, your search and rescue team can be sure that the subject did not move to a different area over night.