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It's
midnight when you get the call to assemble your team and get to
work. Someone's life is on the line, and, unlike an emergency room
doctor or EMT, you don't even know where your person is. Someone -
the reporting party, or RP - has reported a friend or family member
missing, and all you have to go on is the place last seen (or PLS),
a map, and the talent and experience of your team.
Time
is of the essence
Every minute counts, and often the clock
has started ticking well before the rescuers ever know there's
trouble. According to Robert, a veteran of over 400 searches, a
benign situation, such as a well-traveled hiking trail on a warm
afternoon, can become life-threatening very quickly, given an
injury, disorientation, dehydration, darkness, or an unexpected
storm.
Playing detective
Rescue teams generally start with
a profile of the person or people they're looking for, and follow
established patterns of behavior to find them. Critical points are,
What were they wearing? Are they familiar with the area? Do they
have wilderness or survival training of any kind? "The answers point
us in the right direction," said Paul, a team captain in the Sierra
Wilderness. "Someone who is trained might build a shelter, forage
for food, or try to build a fire. Someone who's not will seek
natural shelter in caves, and more often than not end up in a
mountain lion's den or an old mine shaft."
In
addition, SAR captains use nationally published guidelines on
specific behaviors they can expect. "Sixty percent of hunters follow
water. Berry pickers go uphill, and children under three don't
understand the concept of being lost: believing Mama is the one
who's lost, they start looking for her," Paul explained.
Davis,
SAR captain for the U.S. Coast Guard, is primarily responsible for
water search and rescue operations, which are completely different
from mountain and wilderness efforts. "The main problem we have,
aside from weather, is the area we have to cover, and mapping a grid
of open water so we can make sure we've covered it all. You'd be
amazed how easy it is to miss a small boat or a person in the water
behind a large swell. High winds can make helicopter rescues very
difficult, but sometimes there's just no time to get a boat out to
them."
Huge
responsibility
A search and rescue captain not only feels
responsible for finding the lost party, but also for keeping his or
her own team safe. "You're dealing with conditions that have already
gotten someone lost, hurt, or worse. So your job is to send your
teams out equipped with gear, provisions, and training not to get
themselves into the same situation," said Robert.
Unsung heroes
Many SAR "professionals" are actually
volunteers who devote perhaps 15 hours a week to the search and
rescue "job." High levels of burnout are often attributed to
something called "critical incident stress," a syndrome somewhat
akin to post-traumatic stress disorder, known primarily among
emergency workers.
The
good news
Believe it or not, statistically 98 percent of lost
people are found alive and uninjured, although they're usually
"cold, hungry, and really glad to see us," said Paul. That's good
news for all amateur hikers. And the satisfaction of returning a
lost person to his or her loved ones is unparalleled, paid or
not.
So if
you want to get called out in the middle of the night, with the
possible reward of saving someone's life, buy yourself some hiking
boots and a powerful headlamp…and dream on!
For
more information
To learn more about search and rescue professionals, consult the
National Association for Search and Rescue at http://www.nasar.org
- Lauren Sheppard, Salary.com
Contributor
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