Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

msar-riders - [MSAR] Response time of MSAR teams

msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Mounted search and rescue

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Una Smith <una@lanl.gov>
  • To: msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [MSAR] Response time of MSAR teams
  • Date: Mon Dec 9 11:20:01 2002

Jay Hall <HALLJK@aol.com> wrote:
>Part of the problem faced is that by the time I can respond with
>horses, on most of our missions, foot soldiers can be to the
>victim. Our best use has been in out of county mission support.

Response time is a significant issue for us too. As a rule,
we get called circa 5am, so we are all still at home near our
horses. If we get called out during the day, those of us who
work away home have to first drive home to collect the horse,
hitch the trailer, etc. The local climate is dry, so some of
us pasture horses up in the mountains, where there is grass.
Collecting the horse from pasture can add several hours to the
response time.

Currently, I board my horse 45 minutes' drive from my home and
work. To cut my response time I keep all my SAR gear in my car,
ready to go. Others in my unit have been to the place where
my horse lives, and have trailered her in the past, so they are
able to collect her and meet me en route. It helps that she is
an easy loader and comfortable with other horses. Direct her
at any trailer, from a few feet away, and she climbs in all by
herself.

Our response time needs to be fast (and faster than it is now)
because our local area is huge. We are frequently called out
of Santa Fe County (which is itself large), anywhere in a 100
mile radius. A 100 mile radius equals 31,416 square miles, or
50,671 square kilometers.

New Mexico uses the Incident Command System (ICS) for SAR. We
have asked some local Area Commanders to give us a heads-up
call the night before, if possible, so we have time to prepare
for a possible call-out first thing in the morning.

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





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page