Mounted search and rescue

["T'mi Fi" <tfinkle@erols.com>]

Hi Becky,

I am guessing that SAR certification or regulation is somewhere on the 
radar in Iowa and if not it seems as that STAR1 <http://www.star1.org> 
is leading the way for SAR standardization within your State.  Several 
States already have SAR regulations in place at the State level and 
numerous counties throughout the County already have them in place. 
There is a SAR unification research project taking place within FEMA 
Region III   Below are some comments to help explain what's happening on 
our response area.

The State of Virginia is one of the few States that have a formal Search 
& Rescue review, testing and approval process in place.  The review and 
testing is under the strict supervision of the Virginia Search & Rescue 
Council (VASARCO) <http://www.vasarco.org>   Although Virginia has their 
own SAR standards, they will accept the (organization) NASAR SAR 
standards as an equivalent.  The fact remains that regardless of which 
SAR training a State accepts, it must be some type of formal training 
(as both Una and Jorene stated earlier).

Since our team has a SAR MOU Virginia and is a registered MSAR resource 
with Maryland, our team members have the choice to use either NASAR or 
Virginia SAR standards, although we do require all teams to pass the 
NASAR SAR Tech-III written exam as the minimum knowledge base (the 
official ST-III test can be taken online).  All search teams within this 
MD and VA must also hold NIMS/ICS IS-100 and IS-700 certification (our 
team requires all members to also hold CERT certification).    
For Virginia, once a SAR Team passes the VASARCO standards and testing, 
the Council then forwards the entire application process and testing 
results to the Virginias Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) with 
a recommendation for approval.   The application is reviewed by VDEM 
(State) Officials and then a formal memorandum of understand (MOU) is 
written by the Virginia Attorney's General Office for a legal MOU 
agreement.  SAR teams that have a MOU with VDEM are then placed EMAC 
<http://www.emacweb.org> roster.  " Through EMAC, a disaster impacted 
state can request and receive assistance from other member states 
quickly and efficiently, resolving two key issues upfront: liability and 
reimbursement."  Note: EMAC is now used by all of 48 continental States.

The below are the SAR standards that the State of Virginia recognizes 
(available online at the VASARCO website):

   * General Team Accreditation Standards - April 1996
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/ACCRED.pdf>
   * Standards for Incident Commander for Ground Search and Rescue
     (ICG) - October 2000
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/ICGstandards.pdf>
   * Standards for Field Team Leader (FTL) - April 2001
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/FTLStandard.doc>
   * Standards for Field Team Signcutter (FTS) - April 1997
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/FTSStandard.doc>
   * Standards for Field Team Member (FTM) - April 2001
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/ftmstandards.doc>
   * Standards for Equine Search Teams - February 2003
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/horse_standard.pdf>
   * Standards for Off-Road Motorcycle & All Terrain Vehicle - April
     2002 <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/ATV-state-standards.doc>
   * K9 Air Scent Team Standards - October 1997
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/ACCRED-dog.doc>
   * K9 Air Scent Testing Standards - May 1997
     <http://vasarco.fovfr.org/files/AirScentDogsStandard.doc>


Effective January 1, 2008 the State of Maryland with fully implement a 
similar SAR Team process as what is used in Virginia that will be 
administratively operated and maintained by the Maryland Nature 
Resources Police (MD-NRP) and co-sponsored by the Maryland State Police. 
 The MD SAR review/application process is similar in nature as what the 
State of Maine currently has in place, except MD-NRP will be the sole 
certifying entity.  The MD SAR registry will then be dispersed to all 
Counties within the State and to the  Maryland Emergency Management 
Agency (MEMA) who will list them their EMAC roster.   I would be happy 
to share the MD-NRP SAR Team application form with anyone who requests a 
copy off-list <tomi.finkle@trotsar.org>.

In conjunction with the NASAR Fundamentals of Search and Rescue study 
guide, the two books written by Kathy Roberts on Mounted Search & Rescue 
are highly recommended as a resource guide.  Please keep in mind, unless 
basic MSAR typing is placed with the National Response Plan as a search 
& rescue essential support function, there will be no need to mandate 
any type of national MSAR standards, thus meaning MSAR will be 
controlled/regulated at no higher than a State level.  In essence MSAR 
teams that are listed on the EMAC registry that hold some type of 
minimum standard are the nearest thing our community (MSAR) has to a 
national level standard. I would find it hard to image that an MSAR team 
would be called to respond more than 500 miles outside of their FEMA 
regional response area.

Tomi`

TROTSAR Mounted Team
Serving the Mid-Atlantic Region   
www.trotsar.org
888-MSAR911 (24/7 emergency dispatch)