Search and rescue


 * For the TV series of this title, see Search and Rescue (TV series).



Search and rescue (acronym SAR) is an operation mounted by emergency services, often well-trained volunteers, to find someone believed to be in distress, lost, sick or injured either in a remote or difficult to access area, such as mountains, desert or forest ("Wilderness search and rescue"), or at sea, whether close to shore or not. The term can also be applied in urban situations when young children or senile people wander away from their homes and cannot be found.

Urban search and rescue (also known as Suburban Search and Rescue as USAR Teams often relates to structural collapses and other technical rescue) operations are Search and Rescue operations conducted in a city. One of the most common is searching for people buried as a result of a building collapse, as might happen after an earthquake. Sometimes, urban searches are performed for missing persons with certain criteria (example, a missing Alzheimer's patient with a history of wandering away from their home). Also, a wilderness search may transition into an urban search. This is common when lost children are involved.

Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) is a function of special military units during wartime. CSAR consists of operations carried out to retrieve, rescue and provide assistance to downed aircrews or allies behind enemy lines. CSAR missions generally have the mission's aircrews well armed as they cross into enemy territory. One famous CSAR mission was the rescue of US Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady after he was shot down over Bosnia in 1995. Other examples include the more recent Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, and the famous Battle of Mogadishu in which the "Black Hawk Down" incident occurred.

Air Sea Rescue (ASR) specifically can refer to both the use of aircraft to search for and locate or recover personnel lost at sea and the recovery of downed airmen at sea. The RAF "Air Sea Rescue Service" used dedicated and/or amphibian aircraft together with Armed high speed launches to recover aircrew from the English Channel and other coastal areas during the Second World War while long range flying boats and other aircraft would pick up aircrew (or drop equipment to them) further from shore.

Operational phases
Search and Rescue operations have several distinct phases or parts.

Alerting
The alerting phase consists of two key elements:
 * Detecting possible alerts (i.e. radio signals on 121.5 MHz, phone calls)
 * Determining the probability that the alert signals actual distress

SAR authorities are alerted of a distress situation via distress radiobeacons such as emergency locator transmitters, emergency position-indicating radio beacons, or personal locator beacons. They may also be notified by telephone, fax, or other means. In the case of distress radiobeacons, the alert may also provide a lat-lon position of the distress to SAR authorities.

Search
In the initial phase of the operation, steps are taken to ascertain a likely location of the person being searched for, so that a search area can be established if they are in fact in need of rescue. Essential information is gathered so that leaders can determine not only who is missing, but how they are equipped, how experienced, how familiar with the area, etc.. This information is then factored with other considerations to determine the initial urgency and scale of the mission.

In the Search phase, a search is performed by personnel on foot, horse, or using vehicles, often aided by K-9 (dog) teams and, when available, air support. Specific procedures are followed during a Search, including an initial hasty team sent to the most likely locations, containment teams which are posted or patrol likely routes of a lost subject who may be moving, and the assignment of search personnel to specific areas which are mapped out using a combination of theory, prior experience and local knowledge of the terrain. A substantial body of mathematical theory called search theory, some initially developed for anti-submarine warfare, has been developed and can be used to help choose the search area priorities for maritime and inland search operations. Search is usually an iterative process over many hours or even days, with returning field teams interviewed or debriefed to glean information to be incorporated into plans for additional deployments of field teams.

Advances in distress radiobeacon technology are aiming to significantly reduce the amount of time spent searching for persons in distress. See MEOSAR.

Rescue
In the Rescue phase, aid is rendered to the person where they are found, sufficient to allow them to be safely transported to a place where more intensive aid can be provided. This extrication of the patient often includes some aspects of technical rescue. In certain situations, the subject(s) are in a known position and the operation goes directly to the Rescue phase. The wide availability of cellular phones and increasing coverage areas has increased the number of such calls for rescue without requiring a lengthy Search phase.

Recovery
The recovery of the body of a deceased person in similar situations is also considered an aspect of Search and Rescue, though the actual Rescue phase of the operation is often known as recovery rather than rescue.

Recall and demobilization
Once the subject has been found, rescued or recovered, then the operation is recalled and with large operations, this phase is sometimes called demobilization.

Afterwards, there is often a critique phase where each phase of the operation is analysed to determine what did or did not work well, and any lessons learned, this is called a debrief. During debriefs searchers and search administrators discuss what took place during the search, the condition of the subject, and what changes could be made next time for the better.

Standards
SAR standards are developed primarily by ASTM International and the US NFPA.

Within ASTM International, most standards of relevance to SAR are developed by Committee F32 on Search and Rescue. Formed in 1988, as of November 2006 the committee had 85 current members and jurisdiction of 38 approved standards.

With or without formal underlying foundations, numerous SAR organisations develop their own proprietary training curricula and operational protocols, which are available and applicable only to their own members. These include the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA), the US National Association of Search and Rescue (NASAR), and the US NFPA.

Antigua & Barbuda
Antigua Barbuda Search And Rescue (ABSAR) has been providing emergency medical and rescue services to the Antiguan Yachting community for a number of years.

ABSAR is a non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to saving lives. Based from the Antigua Yacht Club Marina, we are ready to respond to your call. We specialize in medical emergencies, but can offer assistance for search and rescue, helicopter aerial searches and medivac operations in conjunction with Caribbean Helicopters.

Australia
AusSAR, which is part of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), provides a national search and rescue service.

AusSAR operates a 24 hour Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) in Canberra and is responsible for the national coordination of both maritime and aviation search and rescue. AusSAR is also responsible for the management and operation of the Australian ground segment of the Cospas-Sarsat distress beacon detection system. The service that spans the nation and covers 52.8 million square kilometres of the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans.

AusSAR's RCC is staffed by SAR specialists who have a naval, merchant marine, air force, civil aviation or police service background. The RCC also coordinates medical evacuations, broadcasts maritime safety information and operates the Australian Ship Reporting System (AUSREP) .

State search and rescue
State Police in many states operate state-based search and rescue squads, such as the Victoria Police Search and Rescue Squad, which provides specialist expertise, advice and practical assistance in land search and rescue on most terrain including snow and vertical cliff search and rescue . There are also state-based volunteer search and rescue groups such as the Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue Squad in New South Wales and Bushwalkers Search and Rescue in Victoria. BSAR also includes Alpine Search and Rescue Victoria.

Belgium
Search and rescue duties along the Belgian part of the North Sea are executed by the Belgian Air Force. From its Koksijde Air Base it operates 5 Westland Sea King Mk.48 helicopters.

British Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Search and Rescue (VISAR) is the officially recognised search and rescue organisation in the British Virgin Islands. VISAR is a voluntary organisation dedicated to saving life at sea, and provides 24-hour cover every day of the year in close co-operation with the Royal British Virgin Islands police, fire and ambulance services.

Unlike many other search & rescue organisation, such as the United States Coast Guard, VISAR is a charity and is funded almost entirely by charitable donation. With running costs in the region of US$150,000 per year, and a population of just 20,000 in the British Virgin Islands, VISAR relies very heavily on donations made by tourists, who visit the British Virgin Islands to come sailing.

Canada
Search and Rescue in Canada is overseen by a federal agency called the National Search and Rescue Program, and is coordinated by the National Search and Rescue Secretariat, which liaises with the provincial and territorial governments of Canada and other emergency services. Each province and territory also maintains its own emergency management organizations. Generally, air rescue is handled by the Canadian Forces, maritime rescue by the Canadian Coast Guard, and ground and inland water rescue is under the legal authority of the individual provinces and territories (most are handled by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)). Extensive use of volunteer SAR groups is made by all provinces and territories.

See also Heavy Urban Search and Rescue and Toronto Police's Toronto Police Marine Unit.

Hong Kong
Search and rescue in and around the waters off Hong Kong are directed by the Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre with assistance from:


 * Government Flying Service
 * Fire Services Department
 * Hong Kong Airport Authority / Hong Kong Police Force

Iceland
Search and Rescue operations in Iceland are mainly handled by the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue (Slysavarnafélagið Landsbjörg) which operates numerous vehicles and boats across the country, along with the Icelandic Coast Guard which operates SAR helicopters and patrol vessels.

Ireland
SAR services are provided by a civilian body, the Irish Coast Guard. It has responsibility for the Irish Search and Rescue Region. This service was formerly provided by the Irish Air Corps, from 1963 to the early 21st century. The need for longer range helicopters encouraged the Irish Government to create a civilian organisation which hires private companies to provide the service.

This procedure has worked successfully, providing a greatly increased SAR range and forward basing of the SAR service on coastal bases, greatly improving their speed to incident and time on site compared to previous centralised military operations near Dublin.

The introduction of the privatised service also allowed Ireland to field the first female SAR helicopter pilot in Europe, at the time.

New Zealand
New Zealand's Search and Rescue Region extends from the South Pole to the southern border of the Honolulu region, including Norfolk, Tonga, Samoa, and Cook Islands. See the AIP New Zealand website for map and text (GEN 3.6 of the manual).

Land-based search and rescue operations (called LSAR, for Land Search and Rescue), such as for lost hikers, are controlled by the local police. Maritime search and rescue, as well as reports of overdue aircraft, fall under the control of the National Rescue Coordination Centre, based in Wellington, which coordinates response from local coastguard, helicopter operators, merchant marine, air force and naval resources.

Poland
The SAR Service was established on January 1, 2002 by virtue of the Safety at Sea Act (November 9, 2000)

SAR Service takes part in search and rescue of human life at the sea and the tasks related to combating sea pollution. Because Poland is a part of International Conventions like The International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue and The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, Maritime Search and Rescue Service (called SAR Service) was established.

The SAR Service is a state owned budget unit subordinated to the competent Minister for Maritime Economy.

See Maritime Search and Rescue Servicefor more information.

United Kingdom
In the UK, maritime search and rescue is coordinated by HM Coastguard, while land-based operations are usually coordinated by the local Police force. The operation itself is carried out with aircraft from the Royal Navy, RAF or Coastguard, RNLI lifeboats and police, military or volunteer mountain rescue or ALSAR teams. In 2006, the government announced controversial plans to effectively privatise provision of search and rescue helicopters in order to replace the aging Sea Kings currently in use, although they have suggested that crews may (at least partially) still be made up of military personnel. 

United States
The National Search and Rescue plan designates the United States Coast Guard as the federal agency responsible for maritime SAR and the United States Air Force as the federal agency responsible for inland SAR. Both agencies maintain Rescue Coordination Centers to coordinate this effort. The jurisdiction for local lost person SAR operations varies from state to state in the United States, and depends upon the nature of the operation.

Urban SAR

Urban SAR operations involve searching through debris and are often but not always under the jurisdiction of the fire department especially when a rescue is involved. If there is a criminal element, such as abduction, then a law enforcement agency will usually have jurisdictional authority.

Wilderness SAR

Authority for Wilderness SAR and Mountain Rescue varies, with some states (e.g., New Mexico) supervising operations from a state-wide office such as state police or office of emergency management. Many states place authority for SAR with the local sheriff of the county in which the incident took place (e.g., Colorado). The United States Forest Service may also be involved. State fish and game wardens may also be responsible (e.g., New Hampshire). Within U.S. national parks and monuments, the National Park Service maintains authority, "exclusive jurisdiction," regardless of state law. Most wilderness SAR operations involve volunteer groups such as members of the Mountain Rescue Association, US-HERO and US Search And Rescue Task Force, who work for the jurisdictional authority.

In addition to their responsibilities in the area of missing aircraft SAR, the Civil Air Patrol (USAF Aux) often assists in wilderness SAR when activated by local agencies.

Water SAR

SAR on federal waters is usually the responsibility of the United States Coast Guard, but in inland and joint jurisdiction waters state and local government agencies assume some or all responsibility for SAR. A sample water rescue team is Dive Team 8 of US-HERO.

In some situations, body recovery may fall under a separate command, such as the state medical investigator or county medical examiner, depending upon the local laws.

Missing Aircraft and ELT beacon searches

Where downed aircraft are involved, the state aeronautics commission (or their delegate) is responsible for the recovery and subsequent investigation. Most states use the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in conjunction with their local SAR team. CAP is the Air Force Auxiliary. CAP SAR teams are activated through the United States Air Force Rescue Coordination Center to conduct searches for possible or actual missing aircraft. CAP conducts over 95% of all federal search and rescue missions directed by the Center for possible or actual missing aircraft. CAP also helps with missing person searches as requested by county, state and other agencies.

Personnel

Urban operations are generally staffed with paid personnel from fire, EMS, law enforcement agencies and volunteer teams with mutual aid agreements.

Wilderness operations are usually staffed with a combination of paid and volunteer personnel. Volunteers may be members of a public safety agency such as a fire department or county sheriff but are also likely to be members of an independent non-profit group with specialized skills such as ground search and rescue, airborne search, wilderness navigation, cave rescue, mountain rescue, ski patrol and wilderness first aid. Large operations can bring a dozen or more separate groups and government agencies to a single operation, which is usually managed using the Incident Command System (ICS) originally developed for management of diverse resources to combat large wildfires. The managing agency tends to be state law enforcement, or the county that the search is being staged in.

Marine operations in the U.S. are generally staffed by the United States Coast Guard including its Auxiliary, and on inland waters county and state public safety agencies will also participate.

Aviation search operations in the U.S. are staffed by Civil Air Patrol volunteers, which include both aircrews and ground teams trained for wilderness search in coordination with aircraft. CAP members also perform SAR and disaster relief activities of other natures, in the effort to assist local, state, and national authorities as directed by CAP Incident Commanders and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.

SAR Units

Most SAR units in the United States are all-volunteer groups that work under the jurisdictional authorities. These may be sponsored by a jurisdictional authority (Sheriff's Office or Police Department) or be an independent group with a Mutual Aid Agreement with the jurisdictional authorities. Examples of all volunteer groups are US-HERO, ASRC, Explorer Search and Rescue, and US Search And Rescue Task Force.

SAR by resource kind
International Society of Professional Trackers
 * Avalanche
 * Cave rescue
 * Mountain rescue
 * Mounted search and rescue
 * Search and rescue dog
 * Volunteer Search & Rescue
 * Satellite distress detection - Cospas-Sarsat (C-S)

Others

 * United States Homeland Emergency Response Organization (US-HERO)
 * Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter
 * Civil Air Patrol(CAP)
 * Coast Guard
 * Emergency Locator Transmitter for missing aircraft
 * Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB)
 * Explorer Search and Rescue
 * Lifeboat
 * MEDEVAC
 * United States Coast Guard
 * United States Coast Guard Auxiliary
 * USAR Teams
 * Ski patrol
 * Wilderness first aid
 * 103 Search and Rescue Squadron CFAC
 * US Search And Rescue Task force
 * Air Force Rescue Coordination Center
 * Maryland State Police
 * Cardiff and Vale Rescue Association
 * Long Beach Search & Rescue
 * Snohomish County Volunteer Search and Rescue
 * Multnomah County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue
 * Mercia Inshore Search and Rescue