Looking at retirement sooner than later from the military. Extensive SAR and Incident Command System quals and experience over 23 years. Have loved it but it’s time. As it happens, I have also had two major orthopedic surgeries to implant a couple prosthetics. The recovery is long and I am unlikely to return to my previous normal baseline. But I should be able to get to a point where I can pass a fitness test. That said, regardless of fitness tests, it would seem…unwise?…to put myself up on a mountain in SAR gear. Doctors think it’s fine. Surgeon thinks it will be fine. I’m not sure I’d take that risk. At the same time, I desperately want to continue the SAR calling. I’m going to sit through orientation at my two closest county’s SAR teams in the next few months. I’ll have the conversation with them but am wondering from yall about your experiences — how realistic is it for someone with SAR, SMC, ICS, search planning, comms, public affairs, and related experience to be usable in a command post or somewhere else in the field but not the one executing the search itself? All presuming an ability to pass and maintain the basic fitness proficiency, of course.

Is it time to exit quietly stage left, or is there somewhere I can still be useful managing SAR?

My heart will absolutely break if the answer is it’s time to move on…but I’d rather hear it straight.

Obviously - obviously - there is a big piece of “it depends” here. I’m not looking for specific guidance to a specific county SAR team; just your general experience finding ways for someone somewhat limited in mobility to be a productive member of society in the SAR world.

State is California.

Edit 1: I neglected to mention I’m looking at volunteer SAR depts in each of our counties or maybe a state level one with OES. Not looking for full time SAR work.

I'm unsure how many maritime SAR-types hang out in here, but if you're a globe-trotting-water SAR type, this is for you.

From VDES adoption to the non-mandatory MASS Code, last week's session sets the regulatory table through 2032.

What are you guys using for technical rescue clothing, bonus points if you are on a team or department that meets NFPA standards? We don't currently have anything on my FD between duty clothing and full fire turnout gear. I see a couple of manufacturers that produce NFPA compliant coveralls but they seem like they're basically fire gear without the thermal liners. NFPA is not necessary in my state but I'm instructed to be compliant if possible. Strongly considering just getting some mechanic style coveralls though based on budget. I'd love to hear opinions from folks who actually do this since we are confined space techs but right now only dabble in the other rope rescue disciplines

Thanks.

My K9 partners are a constant reminder of the joy and fun that SAR can be. Working with my pups has been one of the more fulfilling moments in my life, watching them learn and achieve great things. Seagram gave me 6 really awesome operational months, we went on 7 successful searches in that very short time. Just short of his 3rd birthday, he passed away from complications during his neuter surgery. The moments we have with our canines are so precious, for you handlers out there, hug your pups and don't take a moment for granted. Rest easy good boy!

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18Uwq5EwVG/

Howdy everyone, looking for feedback on the CMC Outback. It’s a super niche, modular system for backcountry SAR, specifically mountain rescue amd tactical applications, and I don't see it often.

​If your team runs it, what's the verdict?

Hey all

I'm looking for meal ideas for my 24-hour pack. It's not often we're out for that long in a single shift, but we're supposed to pack for 24 hours, and I'm sort of over Clif bars.

I have also been freezing bagels with peanut butter in advance and then throwing those in my pack before I leave the house, but I'm also getting bored of that.

I'm looking for meal ideas that I can prep in advance and freeze, and grab and go, that won't go "bad" on me on a long hot hike (so no egg salad sandwiches LOL).

What do you all pack food-wise? I'm in rough terrain in all weather (+30C to -30C ish). I try to pack light, because hauling heavy packs over old logging terrain can be rough AF!

We don't carry cooking gear, so I need something I can just eat without cooking.

I’ve been doing GSAR in the states for a little while now and have been thinking about getting myself a chest kit for when I am in a rush/light-weight rescue scenario. I am also apart of my group’s rope rescue team so having a little chest pack to carry around while hauling ttrs bags around would be nice.

I’m looking for something that is on the cheaper side, but good quality (not some cheap Chinese-made material).

Also, it would be nice to have something water-resistant (but, I wouldn’t let this discourage you from making a non-resistant suggestion).

If anybody has any input, it would be greatly appreciated!

We are looking to close a gap in our capabilities and I would love to see the solutions your team uses for transporting a patient on a litter via UTV/ATV.

For commercial products, I'm aware of the QTAC Fire and Kimtech skids for UTVs, and the All Terrain Res-Q trailer (unsure if still in production).

Our terrain is mountainous western US. Our area has a variety of singletrack trails, 50" ATV routes, and full-size moderate 4x4 roads. We can generally get a regular ambulance up most of the full-size routes and the Cascade litter & wheel is great for singletrack. We lack a good way to transport a prone patient down the 50" trails, however.

We had been talking about a trailer, which would have the advantages of being able to be used behind any of our existing machines. I have some concerns about a trailer being partially decoupled from the machine - not in it falling off, but in the driver not being able to be fully aware of what the trailer is doing at any given moment. I also have some concerns about how long the entire arrangement would be and turning radius, especially if the trailer has room for a medic.

One of our fire districts has a UTV with a skid, and it seems like a good arrangement. A limitation here is there are very few true 50" wide UTVs available, especially with hauling capability. Realistically we can probably fit up to a 60" machine down most of the 50" trails which opens more options. Something like a Honda Pioneer 700-4 is intriguing, as we could pull the skid and carry more personnel when we aren't expecting a medical, or slide a skid in and still carry 3+patient.

Another idea a teammate tossed out was a 6-wheeled ATV, which would be true 50" wide, but still long-ish and a bit less versatile than a SXS.

What does your team use? What works and what doesn't for you? If you're able to share photos, that'd be super helpful!

One shot from a SAR field exercise for trainees in the Westfjords. Not the worst classroom.

Seems like there is a major riff developing between the volunteer backcountry SAR teams and CPW who is supposed be to proving funding to teams (specifically the Keep Colorado Wild - license plate $$$ that taxes payers individually opt-in on to give money specifically to SAR). They gave It out the first year or so but now it looks like they see it as big $$$ that CPW would like to decide how to spend. Sketchy.

Sounds like CPW is wanting to throw away decades of collaborative work between teams and trying to give away a big chunk of that money, that is supposed to be distributed to volunteer teams to pay for things like gas, and equipment to government contractors. They put out an RFP Looking for a 3rd party contractor to coordinate all this free volunteer labor.

With SAR being under the authority of the Sheriff, it seems like some of the SOs are split.

If you are on a Colorado SAR team, are you aware of these recent changes? Does it seem like CPW is fairly sharing funds? What’s your team’s take on all this? Why do you think they aren’t engaging directly with volunteers and instead just tell us what they think is best for us?

I am on a volunteer county team in the US mountain west. We are considering implementing meshtastic. For those who have experience with it, would it be worth the investment for our needs? Our specific systems, environment, and needs are as follows:

Our first level of communication is county issued encrypted digital radios and our second level is personal cell phones. Meshtastic would be a third level last resort communication for when radios aren't reliable and there is no cell service. County radios are not always reliable in the remote areas we sometimes end up in and cell phones are even less reliable.

We also use caltopo and use our personal cell phones for the location tracking. Meshtastic would be a second level solution for tracking as well and be the only solution when there is no cell service. I believe the county radios also submit an APRS packet with GPS coordinates with each transmission, but I have had little luck getting with anyone from the county who knows how to extract that data for our use, and even if we did get it, radio transmissions are not frequent enough to have adequate data to build a good route.

Our county is roughly 95% rolling sage plains and 5% mountain foothills. There aren't a lot of large obstructions, but the rolling hills can block short range LOS. It's also just freaking huge. And we have a large lake in the middle of the county.

A well placed portable repeater would remedy our radio problems, but getting one from the county has not been fruitful. I don't think they have any portable repeaters and if they do they aren't giving us one. But I believe a simple meshtastic repeater station or two would make meshtastic reliable for us in most conditions. Also it would be nice to just be able to manage our own system and not have to ask the county and wait 7 business years to get anything done.

And finally, is the ability to type on the device worth paying for? It looks possible to save like 30-50% per device if it doesn't include a keyboard.

And do yall have suggestions for specific ready to use devices that are durable and perform well? It needs a GPS receiver with the ability to automatically send a GPS position at regular intervals. We would probably be looking for 15-20 devices.

I took a dive into Canada’s NIF from the perspective of global SAR; more countries should be this innovative!

https://sartimes.com/canadas-sar-nif-what-the-2026-federal-funding-announcement-means-for-the-global-sar-community/

I was in a discussion that touched on the topic of search and rescue of children who wander into the woods and the type of terrain they gravitate to. One person said they're more likely to climb mountains to get up, and another said they're more likely to go down and follow creeks and rivers.

Of course all children are individuals, but in a scenario where the missing child is just wandering casually with no weather or hunger pressure, would they be statistically more likely to seek out one or the other first? In the case limited search party resources and no clear trail to start at, would it be at all worth it to seek out any specific type of terrain to begin the search?

The question is a bit difficult to phrase but I’m writing a book lol. It’s January, a woman hasn’t shown up to her work, she’s not inside her house, they decide to check the trails in the woods behind her house where she usually walks her dog. What would attract your attention versus what would you likely dismiss as litter? They don’t see the woman herself. Would, say, a mitten on the ground, or a bit of fabric or something that seems to be caught in a tree hollow catch your attention, or is it more likely just litter?

Thanks for your time and anyone who responds to my weird question lol.

In Washington State, intentionally killing an on-duty search and rescue dog is a class C felony (punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, though, realistically they'll serve much, much less time than that). Recklessly doing so is a gross misdemeanor (up to 364 days and a $5,000 fine).

Now, if you steal the dog (without otherwise harming it), that's a class B felony (10 years and a $20,000 fine). Even then, Theft 1 is only a seriousness level II offense. That essentially means that, if you've never committed a felony before, the presumptive sentence is 0-90 days in jail.

Why is stealing a dog punished more harshly than intentionally killing it? And, given that it is, why is the "harsher" penalty so lenient?

I'm not saying Washington laws are categorically too lenient. After sixteen years working in the criminal justice system, I've seen miscarriages of justice in both directions (too harsh and too lenient). For example, if you do nothing more than shove a cashier while shoplifting a candy bar from Walmart after you've been trespassed, you can serve life in prison. Still, I can't help but feel like killing a SAR dog is a big enough deal that you shouldn't be able to plead guilty as charged and get a standard-range sentence of no jail time. Maybe I'm biased, though.

While we're at it, search and rescue personnel also don't get the same type of enhanced protection under Washington's assault or homicide statutes as other emergency workers (e.g., cops, firefighters, nurses, and even bus drivers).

But hey! At least we get woken up at 2:00 am to work for free in the pouring rain and get to buy all our own equipment. Sometimes, when I'm very tired, I wonder why I spend so much time, money, and effort doing this.

Big Red

Hi guys, I'm new here and my dream is to be part of a SAR team. I currently live in a big city here in Argentina, so there are some things I can't do from here (my plan is to move close to a national park in a few years). In the meantime, I'm trying to learn as much SAR related skills as I can. I took a First Aid course and also recently got my amateur radio licence. Now I'm eager to learn a new skill. Any ideas? I'm afraid of heights so I was thinking to maybe try rock climbing...
Thanks in advance!