Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Callout in Madision County VA

msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Mounted search and rescue

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "T'mi Fi" <tfinkle@erols.com>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Callout in Madision County VA
  • Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 17:39:05 -0400

Una- What great resource for researching search missions! Thanks for sharing!

Sadly it is true that some state do a much better of SAR response than other States can provide. One thing that helps our team's mission response are the MOU's we have in place with different States, as well as with several county governments. We are an NGO Mounted SAR resource and because we have numerous AHJ's, we have created our own ESF 9 resource typing sheet that is on file with all States within FEMA Region III. These types of working (response) relationships have required our team members to obtain an array of public safety certificates and a higher degree of minimum training requirements, which has gained us national recognition as a MSAR team that actually deploys to search missions. There are some mighty fine MSAR teams that have a great deployment track records too and I commend them for their service. It is great to see teams post mission reviews here on MSAR-Riders. Over the years I have witness riding clubs that once offer to respond to look for lost persons that later became a first class MSAR Team.
Our membership base spans multiple states and several different counties. Having our mounted responders live in such a broad area increase our coverage area and reduces our response time that allows us to serve many AHJ's (not just one AHJ as some teams choose to do). The down side to a broad regional based membership are the locations we use for training. Clearly we can not train at someone farm or boarding barn month after month, so we must alternate States (and regions within the state) for training sessions, which adds to our team's exposure and enhances our PR.

Our Callout Process: Since two of the four States we serve require a return call (response of status) within 10 minutes after being requested for service, we did away with the old fashion Phone Tree System and implemented text paging and emails as our primary method of communication. It is not a perfect communications system, but it does work. We can reach 80% of our mounted responders and have returned response from them and back to the AHJ within this time period. Regardless of the AHJ, they know from past deployment/missions; the only resource they need to provide for our team is a parking space/area about the size equal for 2 buses, for each MSAR Team they request (we deploy as a self supporting resource for a minimum of 72 hours). AHJ's know we will respond once we commit to responding and they also know we will not self-deploy or over deploy.
The biggest failure point that I have seen with some MSAR teams is they remain too focused on what is happening within their own county or local area and pay little attention to state protocols and mission critical updates that are occurring around them, thus making them a non-suitable resource outside their localized area. Although it is their legal right, some local governments do not want outside help and only want things done their way, which is a mindset that often times can trickle down to their SAR responders. I am sure everyone has seen someone make the comment "WELL.... we do not do that way HERE in (enter your hometown name) and it has been working just fine for over 20 years" (Beware of this type of smoke and mirrors and of those who self deploy).
Incident response undergone some major changes since 2001. Most of your progressive MSAR teams have after action reports or mission overviews that they are happy to share as proof of their deployment missions over the past 8 years. I suggest that new MSAR teams learn from the teams that are actually out there, on deployment, responding to missions, putting in realistic training time, putting SAR time in the saddle, getting dirty and saving lives. Because media coverage comes from so many sources nowadays, even small SAR mission can nowadays be verified by a simple Goggle Search.

MSAR teams across the USA can increase their response time, by working with their local and state ESF-9 coordinators. I would be happy to assist any team that would like to enhance their response time and deployment performance (contact me off list). Our team standards and operational procedures are posted on the MSAR site and all available for all to use. We have been an MSAR resource since 1992, maybe not a very long track record in the eyes of some. Over the past 17 years we have learned from the best, as well as totally discarded many useless suggestions and opinions.

T'mi
www.trotsar.org

.
.





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page