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msar-riders - [MSAR] SAR standards / State Laws

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Subject: Mounted search and rescue

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Jorene Downs" <Jorene@CEOates.com>
  • To: "MSAR-List" <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] SAR standards / State Laws
  • Date: Fri Feb 7 07:21:00 2003

 
----- Original Message -----
[...] Our state has administrative regulations that put requirements on search and rescue teams that basically say you must have this training and this equipment to participate in SAR work.  We hope to combine our efforts with the state emergency management agency in developing these standards. 
Good objective! And nice that the state already has SAR standards. That way your MSAR standards need only refer to the rider meeting existing state standards for SAR personnel, then also meet X and Y for Mounted.
We are the first SAR team to use mounted searchers other than riding clubs who have no formal search training or life saving training.  Our plan is to start our program and by trial and error over the next year to see what works, what doesn't, and what needs improving. 
You might get some training ideas from Kathy Roberts' manual "Mounted Training" - her other (first) MSAR manual is more focused on developing an MSAR team, complete with some forms that could be useful to you. Both are available by phone order on www.nasar.org  I'm not aware of any other published MSAR manuals. But check into mounted police training if you have any references locally - much of the horse-related training is similar.
Anyone who is interested in seeing our policies (in the draft mode) and would like to give advice or in put let me know.  I welcome any and all suggestions.
We're currently wading through new SAR standards for the county, designed to fit the guidelines recently put together statewide for SAR. I wrote the rough draft SAR proposal for the county, and I'll be curious to see what response it gets from reps from other groups in a couple of weeks at a countywide meeting. Then I'll be drafting a proposal for new MSAR standards based on the county SAR standards.  From there I'll be sending my MSAR proposal to the state level for consideration. I'd be interested in an information exchange! (I use Word for documents, compatible with most common document software.)
 
My thought is we need more than just a single MSAR standard - it would be advantageous to have different categories, much like NASAR has SARTECH 1-3. I'm thinking a basic MSAR level should be able to handle rural searches on a day search, prepared for an emergency overnight. Wilderness MSAR should be prepared to stay overnight in the backcountry.  (SARTECH II with wilderness survival training and more medical than Basic First Aid and CPR ... on a SAR-trained horse.)  In some situations you'd be able to use MSAR in snow conditions, which would require winter survival training. And I can see 2 levels of MSAR Packers - one the generic  "I do packing" who can help haul gear and such, the other a Wilderness SAR-trained packer. And there are situations where well trained riders can be very useful for Hasty Search and Evidence Search.
 
Kern Co, CA, has their SAR requirements online in PDF format. I seem to recall about page 20 they start covering MSAR standards for training and equipment. A decent basic MSAR standard.
http://www.kcmsar.org/Policies%20and%20Procedures.pdf 
 
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jorene Downs
Tulare Co, CA
SAR, MSAR, Swiftwater Rescue, US&R
 
 



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