Anyone here involved with the SAR

moparmatt

moparmatt

NAXJA Forum User
Location
South Bend, Indiana
Last week Wednesday at work (by the way I am a finish carpenter and a part time farmer for my boss)I arrived a 8:00am and first off saw my bosses friend go out in the field to hunt in a tree stand so i wished him luck and went off to my business, I was painting some wood inside the shop well about 2:30 I steped outside for some fresh air and I was walking around and I heard help comming from the field and I could baredly hear it but I did and I recondized the voice it was my bosses friend. So I ran back to his barn an hopped on an ATV and raced out to where I heard the voice and found him laying on the ground he had slipped out the very last step of the tree stand he said he was just about to clip his harness on. Anyway he had broken his pelvis and wrist. So I called 911 and they arrived and they took care of him. My boss said he would have not started to look for him until after dark. It was kind of ironic that the firefighter that drove his XJ out to the scene was talking to me about XJ's and he also told me about the SEARCH AND RESCUE (SAR) voulenteer program, I was hooked on it, he did not know too much about it but told me to look into it.

I have been searching for info about it but nothing about joining the program. Is anyone here part of the SAR program any info would be great to lead me into the right direction. FYI I live in Northern Indiana, South Bend, IN to be exact, or the name of my county I live in is St. Joseph County.
TIA
 
its probably not going to be easy finding info on this. I dont think its an organized deal. I think its regional probably by county. There is supposedly a vol. SAR group in my area but I have yet to find any hard evidence such as members, websites or contacts. When I ask people, all I get is "yea, I think theres one but I dont know who runs it". This leads me to believe its an urban myth around here. Im pretty sure they exist in places out in the western states that have limited personel to cover huge areas.

Local off road groups are probably a good place to start asking around.
 
moparmatt said:
I have been searching for info about it but nothing about joining the program. Is anyone here part of the SAR program any info would be great to lead me into the right direction. FYI I live in Northern Indiana, South Bend, IN to be exact, or the name of my county I live in is St. Joseph County.
TIA
Click to expand...

Your best bet is probably to call your local PD or Sheriff's Department since they usually coordinate volunteer SAR - or at least will know who does. I've done a couple of SAR ridealongs with a view towards possibly signing up, and in both cases (different counties) they were run by the Sheriffs. FWIW, neither one had anything in the way of a meaningful web presence for their SAR programmes and it took a few calls to get to the right people.
 
I was active in SAR through Rocky Mountain Rescue Group for many years. My brother and I had a specialty of winter rescue and high angle and high altitude ice work. It was rewarding but hard.

Most often by the time we got called, it was a recovery effort. Got married and the wife didn't like the risk envolved while we had little kids, so I stopped. Now, the abuse I put my body through has earned me a license plate with a little wheelchair on it.
 
check with your local sheriff's offfice. most places the sheriff is responsable for sar. some places have independent agencies that provide sar. nasar is another place to start.
 
Thanks to everyone that responed.

I have been doing my research and it is something that is really cool. I been going to countless websites and one had info where I could email a sar insturctor and I email him and told him about my interests. He suggested I wait a few years because I am in college. But also told me about I could help out the commuinty in another way. I could volunteer as a storm spotter.

I am sorry I should have titled the thread as "Anyone here a storm spotter"

Is anyone here a storm spotter? What is it like? Any addtional info you could give me?

I have been doing research about being a storm spotter and I know it involves being a amature radio operator and something about taking a class throught skywarn or NOAA. I have been looking to join my local amature radio club. I am a computer geek and love that kinda of stuff so I fit right in.

TIA
 
There is an active thread on www.bmja.org, active sar in the PA area. Organized courses of which there are about 30 or so depending on vehicles, horses, foot, winter, summer, you name it. I had just started to get involved when my employment status started it's ups and downs.

Second comment, nope, looks like it expired, posted a question so maybe george or one of the other sar guys will respond...
 
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As I have seen a few others say above, the best places to start are with the local fire departments and or ambulances. They should be able to tell you who controls the search and rescue teams in the area. In some places there are seperate teams that do search and rescue, in some it is controlled by the sheriffs office, and last but not least there are areas that the fire depts, run sar teams (or any combination of these).
As rich said we just started one in the eastern Pennsylvania area that is all four wheel drive vehicles, we support all the teams in the area and are shortly going to be joining with one. These four wheel teams are neat, however there realy arent to many that are just four wheel drive, most sar teams do have a 4x4 component though.
Lastly, if you do not find a team talk to the local emergency managment agency and see if there is one that covers your area but is not local, or if you could start one. Also you can check for a civil air patrol squadron that is local to the area. The do mostly aircraft searches but also do missing persons.
If you need any other info or more help ill leave my email at the bottom so feel free to contact me .

Good luck in your search
Doc
[email protected]
 
Thats the mission that my job in the Air Force Supports CSAR


stt9.jpg

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I live in the same area as Matt and been thinking about the same thing. I have found nothing about a unit in St Joe county or in Marshall county where I live. The closest unit I found is in Allen County(Fort Wayne).
 
I am involved with SAR here in PA, all volunteer and our own equipment with no county/state funding. I know a lot of places it is covered by CAP, or Sheirffs Dpt. Check with any local DCNR office as well. Here in PA, SAR is controlled by DCNR for training and management. Most missing people stumble onto DCNR controlled land so they got the power. If you want to start a group it is very hard, ask Docthrush. My team that I started with, www.MIDSAR.org, has been around for more then 10 years and somedays it feels as if we are just getting started. I've been with them for 9 or so and have seen more members come and go then stay. Good luck and feel free to ask anything

Steve
 
My mother was involved over the past couple years for one here in Kansas. It supported the Government agencies in SAR with K9's. She was certified as a spotter/flanker and was working to certify her Aussie as a search dog. He seemed more interested in socializing with the other dogs or finding the dead skunks. She had a great time and just recently left it to spend more time at the Red Cross.

Some of my Fraternity brothers were big into the Storm Spotting scene. They had a blast and always seemed to disappear when the big storms were coming.

I have heard of NASAR and my mother still gets all the "trade" magazines. If you want help getting into storm spotting check with the National Weather Service. In my area there is a local TV station that is THE place for community involvement like weather spotters. You might try some of the TV Stations. If you are at a university definately check if there is any type of Meterological programs, sometimes it is just a club.

Have fun and stay safe.
 
AGAIN Thanks, I have done more research and concluded that the http://www.arrl.org/ amature radio club in my area would get me off to a slow start, that is what I want to do. I found out throught the National Weather Service and NOAA that a organization called "Skywarn" a group of storm spotters. Well most or all of those people have a Ham Radio license with the FCC. And as far as I understand from the recent research I have done that even the SAR programs need to communicate through Ham Radio.

I am not really in a big hurry to storm spot but if I were I (or if you) were in a hurry to get involved I (you) need to contact the Warning Coordination Meteorologist the area. http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/contact.htm

If any one else has more info or experences please share.
 
I was involved for a while. I was Wa State Helicopter SAR certified, as well as IC (incident command), which fit in with my being fire battalion chief and a WA State commissioned Forest Warden. IMHO, whatever you can do that is of some value to your local area is outstanding. I suggest you take whatever classes are offered, even if they do not interest you at the moment. The more well rounded you are, the more of an asset you become. Just avoid trying to become a "know it all".... that happens all too often in volunteer orgs.

moparmatt said:
AGAIN Thanks, I have done more research and concluded that the http://www.arrl.org/ amature radio club in my area would get me off to a slow start, that is what I want to do. I found out throught the National Weather Service and NOAA that a organization called "Skywarn" a group of storm spotters. Well most or all of those people have a Ham Radio license with the FCC. And as far as I understand from the recent research I have done that even the SAR programs need to communicate through Ham Radio.

I am not really in a big hurry to storm spot but if I were I (or if you) were in a hurry to get involved I (you) need to contact the Warning Coordination Meteorologist the area. http://www.stormready.noaa.gov/contact.htm

If any one else has more info or experences please share.
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