Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

msar-riders - Re: [MSAR] Search VS Rescue

msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Mounted search and rescue

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Search VS Rescue
  • Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:03:49 -0600

Absolutely things have changed, and for the better. We have moved
from an emphasis on rescue, to search and rescue, and now we are
moving back to rescue. I see this in books on SAR techniques and
in my own experience. Hopefully, the SAR community will retain the
advanced search skills it has developed. I think searches now are
far more extensive and effective now than they were decades ago.

In the past, if someone broke a leg, to get help someone else would
have to walk out to a trailhead, then drive or hitchhike to a phone.
Going for help could take hours or days. Usually the reporting party
could then be debriefed in the presence of a map, or even lead the
SAR responders back to the subject, so SAR responders had a very good
idea where to find the subject. Searches for overdue parties and
lost children happened too, but I think then as now minor injuries
were more common.

Cell phones enable people to call for help much, much faster, but too
often the reporting party does not have a very good handle on where
they are, or there is some difficulty in communicating where they are.

E-911 and GPS-equipped cell phones now are helping to pinpoint the
location of the reporting party, which often is the location of the
subject.

A lot of SAR oldtimers say, and I tend to agree with them, that on
average people go into the wilderness now with less preparation than
in the past. Popularity of wilderness travel has risen and fallen
over the decades, which is an important factor. When an activity is
rising in popularity, it attracts newcomers who by definition lack
experience.

Una Smith
New Mexico




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page