If you don’t turn up where and when you’re expected, the people expecting you — once they’ve made sure you didn’t just sleep in or change your mind — will call the police, and Search and Rescue will go into action.
Search and Rescue consists of locating and aiding persons in distress and relieving their pain and suffering in all its many forms, and the SAR worker has only one aim — to help. Ego building has no place in Search and Rescue. The SAR worker does not expect a bouquet of roses or even feedback from the individuals who benefit from the search efforts.
It’s easy to think of search and rescue as a single action, when in reality there are two distinct functions. The search manager is an expert in a sophisticated science involving many modern techniques, including — but not limited to — statistical analysis, probability factors, the psychology of lost people, investigating and interviewing strategies, tracking, and terrain evaluation.
In the rescue component, the search manager focuses on helping a known subject at a known location. Rescuers use a different set of sophisticated technical skills and procedures to remove the lost, stranded, or injured person to safety and, if needed, medical aid.
Search and Rescue workers are trained in the four steps of a Search and Rescue effort: locate the person who needs help; access that person; stabilize his or her condition; and transport him or her to safety. The time involved in any one of the four steps varies with the circumstances.
None of the other SAR steps can be taken until the missing person is found. Physically looking for the person may be as simple as checking a local address or as complicated as your imagination can dream up. Frequently this function will occupy the greatest percentage of time on any SAR mission.
Once the SAR workers know where the missing person is, they must gain access to him or her. Usually access is simultaneous with finding — the team finds the person when they meet. But this is not always the case. Occasionally the subject is spotted in an almost inaccessible area. He or she may have fallen off a steep cliff along the coastline or became stranded on an island near the coast in heavy seas. Now the major problem, and probably the most time consuming, will be trying to solve the dilemma and actually getting to the subject.
In most cases, stabilization requires only reassurance. This may be easy to administer, but it is very important, particularly if the person requires transportation by litter. Only properly trained personnel should administer or supervise medical treatment, unless the life of the rescued one depends on it. Stabilization usually takes little time, but, if it involves medical treatment, it may also be very complicated.
The final step in a SAR effort is getting the subject home, This may be as simple as having him or her follow the searchers back to civilization, or as complicated as evacuating someone off the face of a sheer rock face.
A SAR mission is not complete until all four of these steps have been completed and the missing person has been delivered to safety and is in good care.
Every SAR mission will progress through six stages: preplanning, notification, planning/strategy, tactics/operations, demobilization/suspension, and critique.
Good planning means being ready with equipment, an organization framework, and trained workers. All SAR members have an obligation to their organizations to be properly trained, whether they’re part of a paid emergency response team such as a police or fire department, or whether they’re volunteers. Formal education teaches them what to do under unusual circumstances, but nothing can teach them how to handle the rapid-fire decisions they must make during a quickly escalating mission except the actual experience of being there. Thus preplanning includes pairing inexperienced (though trained) workers with those seasoned in the field.
Everybody involved in SAR work, no matter how much or how little experience that person has, must know how to handle the first report of a situation. The initial actions will certainly affect, and may very well determine, the outcome of that mission.
This component involves the rapid gathering of accurate information so that an assessment can be made of the situation. It applies the basic principles of emergency response and planning to set the tone for the entire search effort.
The tactical component of any SAR mission is the practical application, in the field, of the plans and strategies devised before the search begins.
At some point during each mission, a decision must be made to suspend or terminate the mission. Almost every time, this occurs rapidly with the locating and safe return of the missing person. Once in a while, it comes about as a planned activity after days of unsuccessful effort. If the demobilization is planned in advance, the exodus can be organized with little confusion, particularly on larger missions. Most missions that don’t meet with quick success are not suspended or terminated, but are scaled down or continued on a limited basis, sometimes for weeks or even months.
The information gathered by this means serves as a basis for revising the preplan and laying a foundation for improvement of future searches.
Finding the lost person in the best possible condition is the prime motivating factor for all SAR operations. This common purpose serves to draw together a number of organizations dedicated to serving others as best they can.
In Canada, whatever police force has local jurisdiction has the responsibility for conducting any search for people lost in the wilderness. If a person gets lost in a national park, the park warden has that responsibility. Ultimately these people, and these people only, must answer for the success (or lack thereof) of any search within their jurisdiction. They don’t work alone, however. They have a variety of resources that they can call upon in time of need, depending on what’s available in their area: organizations such as volunteer groups; people who are expert in tracking other humans; governmental departments such as the Department of Natural Resources and Energy; search dogs and their handlers; medical responders; people trained in either water or snow rescue; people with electronic equipment to help locate missing persons; the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association; and pilots who volunteer their aircraft and their time to help in the search.
In New Brunswick, a support plan has been prepared and agreed to by representatives of various organizations which defines what may be expected of each agency. Included in this support plan is the chain of command, should several agencies be called upon at any one time.
Although response may differ around the country, or even within each individual province or state, one factor remains constant: the dedication of the volunteers. In every country, volunteer effort is the backbone to aiding people in distress, and it has proven crucial in wilderness situations. These people, with their skills and their equipment, cannot be replaced by any police agency, or, indeed, any other resource. There are twelve volunteer groups in the province of New Brunswick and anyone interested in joining such a group should call the local RCMP unit for directions to the appropriate person.
Volunteer groups organize their own training workshops. Otherwise very little specific SAR or survival training is available. From time to time individuals offer their services to put on a specific course; however, outside of formal education facilities, such as universities or community colleges, my own company, Search and Rescue Services, is the only source for this type of training in Eastern Canada. In the US there is the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR), headquartered in Virginia, and the Emergency Response Institute (ERI) in Olympia, Washington. Instructors from these institutes do travel, and, in fact, Search and Rescue Services has put on several of their courses, upon request, in centres all over Eastern North America. First Aid courses, CPR, and other training necessary for the SAR worker — indeed, beneficial to everybody — can be obtained through the local St John Ambulance Society, Red Cross, or YMCA.
If you love the woods and feel that you’d like to help others who might get into trouble there, call your local RCMP unit to find out how to link up with the Search and Rescue team in your area. If you don’t want to be a volunteer — and this kind of work certainly isn’t for everyone — please support the team’s efforts whenever and wherever you can.
I hope you will never participate in a Search and Rescue mission in the role of the lost person. Prepare yourself properly for the woods so that, if you do get confused, you’ll be able to reorient yourself. But never forget — if you do get lost, stay put and follow the guidelines in Safe and Sound. The Search and Rescue team will soon be on its way to find you.
Aw, we’ve seen it all. We’ve felt the pain along with the family when the husband and father didn’t come home,
And we’ve shared the grief of that young couple when their child was lost and all alone.
Our words of comfort are not what you want to hear us say,
What you really want to hear is that your loved ones have been found, we’re bringing them home, and that they’re okay.
Y’know, organizing a search takes a lot of time, it just doesn’t happen along,
But each little piece of that puzzle has to fit just right to make sure that nothing goes wrong.
We don’t ask for money or anything else for what we do,
All we ever ask for or expect is your smile, or maybe a whispered thank you.
There’s not much for you to do when we’re at a search,
So why don’t you find a seat and give your feet a rest?
You just leave everything to us, and you remember,