Fundamentals of Search and Rescue

[Rob]

Jim B, my copy of "Fundamentals of Search and Rescue" (published for National Association for Search and Rescue, edited by Donald C Cooper, copyright 2005) arrived, and I started reading.

Which rescue team is shown on the front cover of the book? The trail looks western U.S., but I can't match insignia visible on the leader's shirt to any logos at http://www.crmra.org/teams.html.

When RMRU responds to a report of an overdue hiker on Mt San Jacinto, does RMRU have a pre-planned containment area that RMRU sets up initially then refines later as information flows in? For example, do you send a vehicle to each of the official trailheads? Who's on the containment team -- RMRU members on the Injured Reserve list?

. . . Rob

[Rick M]

Hi Rob,

I have the 2nd and 3rd editions (1990) so I don't know what picture you are looking at on the new cover. Keep in mind that the MRA site you are looking at patches is the California Region of the Mountain Rescue Association and that there are more SAR teams in California that are not MRA. Example, of the 10 or so SAR teams in San Bernardino County, I believe only 3 are MRA while all are members of NASAR. In fact you have to be a NASAR SAR Tech II to respond in the field in San Bernardino County. Except for myself, I don't know if our team (RMRU) has any other SAR Tech IIs on it. We train to MRA standards. I have the SAR Tech II because I used to be with San Bernardino County SAR. I was training officer on my team at the time San Bernardino County was adopting NASAR and our team was the first in the county to have all the team members certified as SAR Techs (that took alot of effort).  They used to have a website with all the county team patches on it but I'm not sure what it is.

Because we might get anywhere from two to fifteen members respond for a mission (we're always looking for new members) that is what determines what we initially do...hard to send a vehicle to each trail head if we only have 2 or 3 members available. And since we live in an area where if you hike very far you end up coming down to a road unlike other areas in the country where the mountains or forest go on forever, we don't have the containment problems some areas in the country have.

Generally we have experienced members with technical and winter skills and other members without those skills. That pretty much determines who will search the trails and who goes into the more difficult areas cross-country. I remember once buying 10,000 yards of thread for containment purposes and having the NASAR guys tell me that is not really practical for the conditions we have out west (most of them were easterners at the time) whereas they might string a long line through trees back east to monitor if someone came through later. As for the jargon PLS, POD, etc, there are alot of that stuff that we don't use very often or at all on our team.

Hope this helps, Rick M