If I didn’t know better, I might think all volunteer SAR teams were like this.

However, there are a number of excellent non-governmental SAR teams in my state as well. I myself and a member of a volunteer K9 team.

Our ground searchers train to nationally recognized standards, (NASAR SARTECH, ASTM F.32, NFPA 1670, etc). Our dogs certify to national standards, and if state standards are ever implemented we will certify to them as well.

We have state-certified medical personnel (EMTs, first-responders, nurse). We have people trained in search management. We bring our own logistics (comm, food, shelter for extended ops, etc) and are designed to be self-sufficient.

We are NIMS and ICS trained and will integrate into the existing command structure.

Some may wonder why there is need for a volunteer K9 SAR team in the first place. It’s actually quite simple: the AHJ (law enforcement, in our case) has asked for it, because there are no governmental wilderness
SAR response agencies in our area.

I am 100% for credentialing for both governmental and non-governmental SAR teams, but then the question becomes who is going to credential them?

My state will not recognize half of the certifications we currently hold, such as the SARTECH certs by the National Association for Search and Rescue, because they are not issued by the state emergency management office. Yet the state emergency management office does not issue *any* search and rescue certifications. Anyone see a problem here?

I suspect many of your readers have had bad experiences with some SAR teams, and this could be partially resolved by credentialing, but there will always be “rogue” (my terminology) SAR teams out there. Credentialing is a start to fixing this, but I believe that joint training with your local SAR team to know their capabilities and limitations *before* there is a need to utilize them in a search and rescue incident is the only way to really address this problem.

Those are excellent thoughts and a HUGE part of the discussion. I personally Do have some reservations about who is doing the credentialing and what they are considering “experience” and “certification”, and so on.

There is absolutely no reason why volunteer service should be held in a lower regard than career service, especially if there is substantiated documentation on training hours, participation, etc. But I will certainly add your thoughts to the discussion, because that’s some of the problems at the heart of this. Thanks for your feedback!