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  • From: "T'mi Fi" <tfinkle@erols.com>
  • To: msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [MSAR] Re (MSAR) New Group
  • Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 11:05:32 -0500

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)




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