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  • From: "T'mi Fi" <tfinkle@erols.com>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Starting a MSAR team
  • Date: Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:20:19 -0500

Welcome Derek,

In both Canada and the United States (USA) nearly all search and rescue missions will begin as a (local government) missing person report. Law enforcement is frequently presented with the difficult task of investigating and searching for missing persons. While many of these cases are quickly resolved through basic investigation, some cases may require a substantial effort to physically search large areas of land. The important thing to identify is what does your response region authority require as a minimum standard.

Here is the USA there are several local (County level) governments that have implemented Mounted Search and Rescue (MSAR) standards into their SAR plan. However, currently there is only one State level government that approves search & rescue standards and provides (no cost) state level SAR training and testing. The Virginia SAR and MSAR standards are approved by the State Attorney General at the request of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. In the Commonwealth of Virginia there are numerous county/local SAR teams that do not meet the State standards and who only operate within their local area, thus never getting deployed by the State to incidents outside of their (local) jurisdiction. In Virginia, the state picks up the tab for Worker's Comp (providing coverage for state credentialed volunteer SAR teams), which is the primary reason why counties call for state assistance early into a search mission. The State of of Virginia uses a SAR council (VASARCO) to validate both operational standards and recommend SAR teams for a state MOU (it should be noted that the VA SAR standards pre-dates NASAR). More information about VA SAR standards and protocol can be found online at: <http://www.vdem.state.va.us/programs/sar/index.cfm> and at <www.vasarco.org> You may want to check out the 2009 VA SAR Conference page on the VASARCO site as there will be MSAR courses provided this year.
In the State of Maryland the Department of Natural Resources Police has a process to validate volunteer SAR teams. Similar to the State of Maine (and some of your law enforcement regional police departments), the Maryland SAR standards are approved by a State law enforcement agency, thus making them a state approved set of standards. An overview of MD-NRP SAR requirements can be found on the bottom of the page at: <http://www.dnr.maryland.gov/nrp/volunteer.html> Currently the TROTSAR Mounted Team is the only MSAR team that has been validated by the MD-NRP. The MD State Police also use the MD-NRP SAR roster when volunteer resources are needed. Since our team's MSAR standards meet the VA standards, MD-NRP has accepted our MSAR standards & testing procedures as their minimum criteria. I can sent you a PDF copy of our standards off-line if you wish (email officers@trotsar.org to request a copy). .

Best of luck! Including MSAR responders that are tested to specific standards to your team's mission is a very wise move.

Regards,

T'mi
www.trotsar.org
Derek (alternate) wrote:

Hello fellow SAR searchers!


I am wondering if anyone in this group has had a similar development, and if
there are any suggestions. MSAR is a relatively unused thing here in
Saskatchewan, so what ever I come up with is already being eyed as a way for
our neighbouring chapters to model after.


Derek Schmidt
Director of Training
Search and Rescue Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

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