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Search and rescue presentation for community groups
- 1. Search and Rescue Unpaid Professionals Saving Lives
- 2. Rob Brewer County Volunteer ESAR Advisor County SAR Council WA SARVAC NASAR
- 3. Who We Are Community Members Incredible Time Managers Big Spenders Dedicated Servants “These things we do, so that others may live.”
- 4. Mission LAST – Locate, Access, Stabilize, and Transport To Save Lives, and Assist Those in Need Evidence searches Community disaster response Other emergent needs
- 5. Legal Authority for SAR • WA RCW 38.52 – Emergency management program under State military department. – SAR the responsibility of the “chief law enforcement officer of each political subdivision.” • WA WAC 118-04 – Classifications and qualifications of emergency workers. – Compensation for claims.
- 6. Core Competency Goals Help all involved understand requirements Update Out of County Responder Guidelines Develop a formal, standardized training program Build review and change processes
- 7. Core Competency Topics • Physical and Mental Fitness • Legal Issues • Survival • Navigation • Communications • Crime Scene Identification and Management • Clue Awareness and Identification • Search Techniques • Helicopter Safety • Subject/Searcher First Aid • Searcher Safety • Rescue Techniques
- 8. Core Competency Current and Future Pilot Program in 2012 Train the Trainer Review pilot programs Implement statewide Monitor and improve
- 9. Washington State Missions by Year 680 799 823 0 200 400 600 800 1000 2010 2011 2012
- 10. Washington State Missions through June 64 86 71 88 0 200 2010 2011 2012 2013
- 11. Spokane County Reported Hours 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 2011 2012 Mission Training
- 12. Spokane County Dollars Saved $0 $50,000 $100,000 $150,000 $200,000 $250,000 2011 2012 Mission Training
- 13. SAR Mission Cycle 911 Call Investigation SAR Call Out SAR Response Debrief and Preplan
- 14. Challenges Outdoor technology and equipment No Charge for Search and Rescue Recruitment Mission Load Training costs
- 15. Thank You Rob Brewer Email: sarguy@gmail.com Twitter: @brewer_rob
Editor's Notes
- County SAR volunteer since 1998.Working with youth in SAR since 2010.Served in a number of positions on the county council. Currently the vice-chair.Serving on statewide SAR Council as secretary.Serving my 5th year on the NASAR BoD.
- The only paid position in Spokane is a SCSO Deputy, so rest of us have jobs to support our SAR habit.We spend a lot of time training. Ground search and rescue team members volunteer X hours training, dog teams volunteer X hours training per year.Much of the equipment we use is personal equipment. Packs, survival equipment, and clothing. ATVs, snowmobiles, and maintenance. Dogs and horses, food, veterinary. Only some is tax deductible.We are servants. We seek out to provide aid to those in need.The Air Force Pararescue motto is “It is my duty as a Pararescueman to save lives and to aid the injured. I will be prepared at all times to perform my assigned duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These things I do, that others may live.” The last sentence of this motto has been broadly adopted by volunteer, civilian search and rescue throughout the US and Canada.
- Our primary mission can be best summarized by the Acronym LAST.We also assist on evidence searches, looking for ammunition cartridges, weapons, buried remains.As registered emergency workers, we can be called upon by the Sheriff’s Office and Spokane Department of Emergency Management to assist during local disasters, or any other emergency need.Examples: heavy snowfall in 2008, used snowmobiles to rescue drivers stuck in drifts in the West Plains. Called out to fill sandbags at 3 alarm fire at Ugly Duck in August 2008.
- Two sections of laws govern search and rescue in our state.Revised Code of Washington 38.52There is a state search and rescue coordinator who, through the state EOC, helps with coordination of resources when requested.Most of our state maintains search and rescue resources at the county Sheriff level, although the statute does state that municipal police chiefs have responsibility in their jurisdictions.Washington Administrative Code 118-04Washington state does have training requirements for search and rescue emergency works, although the statute is fairly broadly written.It also allows for compensation for injuries and personal property when on missions. Our local DEM pays workers compensation premiums based on hours reported for missions and trainings.
- A few years ago, I joined a statewide effort to bring standardized training to search and rescue in our state. This effort has resulted in our Core Competency Training Program.Prior to this, we had a dozen search and rescue units in Spokane who all had different training requirements based on WAC 118-04. This resulted in problems when folks from several different units were assigned to the same field unit. This was further compounded when either we responded out of Spokane County, or brought folks in from neighboring counties. We didn’t know what kind of training they had, therefore we didn’t know how to best use them without exceeding their capabilities.The idea for standardized training requirements is not new. Out of County response guidelines had existed for many years. However, it was time to take up this task and update it.
- WAC 118-04-120 lists out most of these training topics. The Core Competency training program added a few additional topics like searcher safety and rescue techniques.
- Spokane County participated as a pilot county in 2012, as did 8 other counties. By and large the program has been as successful in small rural counties as it has in our largely metropolitan county.This year, other counties are rolling this program out. We are working on Train the Trainer programs, reviewing the pilot programs, taking what worked well and improving the materials. We are hoping for statewide adoption by 2015/2016.
- 2011:1700 mission hours9878 training hours2012:485 mission hours7991 training hours
- 2011:$38533 mission$224033 training2012:$11000 mission$181236 training
- There are a number of challenges facing search and rescue now and into the future.Increased access to better outdoor technology, like PLBs, SEND devices, and cell phone coverage means that people are getting stuck further away from civilization than before. The backcountry was typically accessed by hard core outdoors enthusiasts who are not the type of people we typically respond to, because they plan well for contingencies. Now the backcountry is very accessible.Better and growing mass transit systems means that the very young and vulnerable and the very old and vulnerable are able to travel great distances before being reported missing.No Charge for Search and Rescue is a campaign by NASAR, MRA, and local groups throughout the US. The basic idea is to encourage Sheriffs, police chiefs, and fire chiefs to not seek to bring about laws to recover costs of search and rescue. Once people think they might incur charges, and the ones we see in the news are very expensive searches, then they delay asking for help until it is really bad. This means our volunteers are going out in the worst conditions. Worst conditions often means decreasing chances for success.Recruiting new volunteers is a constant challenge, more so for some groups than others. It takes a special person to be a dedicated SAR professional and not get paid. Keeping those folks around after life changing events, getting married, having kids, new job, is hard.Mission numbers varies a lot from county to county. Kootenai County has more missions than they can usually handle alone. Spokane, by contrast, has so few missions that it is hard to keep current members excited about what we do, when most of it is training.The cost of training materials, developing new training materials, and bringing instructors in to teach new classes is also an ongoing challenge. Sheriff Ozzie surprised us a few years ago by allocating some DHS grant funding to SAR equipment and training, but this is not the norm. We share costs by advertising training to neighboring counties. We ask instructors to stay in homes of volunteers, to keep costs down.