[MSAR] Night MSAR

Una Smith una at lanl.gov
Thu Feb 19 10:22:14 EST 2004


Jorene Downs wrote:
>I seem to recall a recent reference to a local MSAR unit not
>responding to many call-outs because many were night responses.

Hm.  Could have been something I said.  But what I said was 
that many of our local SAR missions are at night...and we do
not get called.  As it happens, last night we had a training
(ELT beacon tracking) and during it I talked to one of our
local Field Coordinators (FCs are the people who operate as
incident commanders during SAR missions).  He said it was 
the FCs' understanding that we did not want to be called out
at night, period.  This is good to know, because it is easily
fixed!  He also mentioned that in some parts of New Mexico
(warmer parts than here) SAR misssions usually do not operate
at all at night;  they wait until daylight.  Which boggles
my mind:  when someone needs help, those hours are precious.
Another bit of intelligence from this FC:  New Mexico has 
very few trackers, compared to other states.  This too is an
opportunity for us.  Our unit has more than its fair share
of cattle ranchers and elk hunters;  both activities promote
at least track awareness.  

	Una Smith
	Santa Fe County Sheriff's Posse, in New Mexico



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