Benton County, Oregon

http://www.co.benton.or.us/sheriff/ems/sar/index.php?
Printed on May 18, 2013 @ 1:19 AM

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Benton County Emergency Services – Search & Rescue

2012 Benton County Search & Rescue Unit

Volunteer of the Year

Congratulations John Larson!

AirWing Unit

(on the left)

What is Search and Rescue?

Search and Rescue involves not only searching for missing people and rescuing injured hikers, climbers, skiers, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts, but body recoveries, evidence searches and disaster response as well.

Search and Rescue has a number of definitions and categories depending on the agencies involved. Those categories and definitions include:

Mountain Rescue (aka Wilderness) SAR: Missions in this category may take place not only on mountainous terrain but also in forests and deserts, caves and canyons, on rivers and lakes, and so on.
K-9 SAR: involves the use of tracking, cadaver, avalanche and wilderness area search dogs. Dogs and their handlers undergo extensive and ongoing training. Many county SAR teams have K-9 units in addition to their "ground-pounders"
Mounted SAR: involves searching on horseback; Some horses are also known to have great tracking abilities, similar to air-scenting dogs.
Urban SAR: Missions take place in cities or other "front country" areas, often involving structural collapse and stranded citizens following earthquakes, storms, flooding and other natural and human-caused disasters
Marine Search & Rescue: In the U.S., these types of missions are often carried out by the Coast Guard.
Ski Patrol: If you downhill ski or snowboard, you know who these men and women are
Swiftwater and Dive SAR

Benton County Search and Rescue involves not only searching for missing people and rescuing injured hikers, climbers, skiers, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts, but body recoveries, evidence searches and disaster response as well.