Red Deer Search and Rescue

Red Deer Search and Rescue Association
"This we do...That others may live"
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Mission Statement
RDSAR is striving to:

Be prepared to respond wherever necessary to incidents requiring personnel with search and rescue skills.
Continue development of skills resources and training programs to increase operational effectiveness and readiness.
Deliver our services with professionalism and compassion while preserving the safety of our members.

Our Values:

We are a team that is here to provide an essential and necessary service to our community.
We conduct ourselves as search and rescue professionals.
We place the safety of team members as our primary priority during all search and rescue activities.
We show respect for others in our words and actions.
We acknowledge the value of the time and resources contributed by individual team members.
We view the personal growth and continued learning as essential to the efficient and effective operation of the team.
We, both individually and collectively, strive to maintain a maximum state of readiness to respond to search and rescue incidents.
We strive for excellence while contributing to the team according to our abilities.
We, both individually and collectively, maintain a ready inventory of search and rescue resources to assist us in performing our tasks.

Our Beginning:

Red Deer Search and Rescue is a non-profit organization founded in June of 1996 by a group of outdoor enthusiasts with a desire to contribute their skills for the benefit of those who have become lost or missing. Working in partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other volunteer search and rescue organizations in Alberta, the Team is ready to provide their volunteer services anywhere and at anytime.

Our Area:

As a member organization of Search and Rescue Alberta ("SAR Alberta"), Red Deer Search and Rescue is principally responsible to provide search and rescue assistance in an area bounded by the Saskatchewan Border to the east, the town of Eckville to the west, Wetaskiwin to the north and Didsbury to the south.

Introduction:

The RCMP is the federal agency tasked with the primary responsibility for ground search and rescue in Canada. As a result, Red Deer Search and Rescue works with the RCMP to provide services in the event of emergencies. As well as operating within our own area, Red Deer Search and Rescue is ready and able to provide search and rescue services in other areas. Red Deer Search and Rescue works and trains with other volunteer SAR associations such as those in Rocky Mountain House, Didsbury and with the local County Fire Departments.

Funding:

As an independent volunteer association, Red Deer Search and Rescue receives all its funding through donations and fundraising events. As a charitable organization registered with Revenue Canada, donations to the Association are tax deductible.

Red Deer Search and Rescue annually holds a number of events including the RIDE FOR RESCUE, (a motorcycle tour through the Rockies) and a pancake breakfast during Westerner Days.

Training:

All members of the Team take the Emergency Response Institute SAR Basic Skills Course as provided for by SAR Alberta. This 60-hour course is a standardised course covering search theory, the incident command system and basic survival. The Fundamentals course culminates in a multi-hour night search. Members also take an eight-hour navigation course together with Standard First Aid and Level B CPR.

Members of the Team can take training throughout the year with the Team. Participation in training exercises is essential to maintaining skill levels.

After the basics, all members are encouraged to take such additional training as they see necessary. Some of the courses that can be arranged include mantracking, high-angle rescue and GPS proficiency. The Team encourages any member to learn those skills that are of interest to the member and may be of assistance in an emergency.

Meetings and Training:

The Team meets every month on the second Thursday except July and August. Training is scheduled throughout the year. In addition to our formal meetings and training, the Team schedules social events on "member pay" basis through out the year.

Search and Rescue - The Process:
Search and Rescue comprises the search for, and provision of aid to,
persons who are or are feared to be, in distress.
Every search is an emergency and members of Red Deer Search and Rescue can expect to be called upon at anytime of the day or night. Members participate in searches as they are able.

The first aspect of any search and rescue incident is the assembly of our resources and obtaining the necessary information from the RCMP. Depending on circumstances, Red Deer Search and Rescue may be called upon to assist in searches for lost or missing people, downed aircraft, evidence or injured or trapped people following a major disaster.

After being briefed by the police, our search managers prepare a search strategy to focus our resources in the areas where it is believed the greatest success can be achieved.

Working from our command post, the search managers and assistants will then dispatch search teams in the urgent search for clues. The initial stages of a search may include the dispatch of highly mobile "hasty teams". These teams will move quickly to look for clues in areas of high probability. Following the hasty teams, search teams will be sent in. A trained member of Red Deer Search and Rescue will be assigned to lead one of these teams. Their search will be more thorough and will work through sectors of reasonable probabilities. These trained teams are also looking for clues and are able to cover significant areas with surprising success rates. Teams will continue to look for clues and will report their findings to the command post by radio.

As clues are found, the search manager may dispatch specialist searchers to follow up on them. Such specialists may include mantrackers who are carefully trained in the art of following tracks through all kinds of terrain. In other cases, it may be possible to employ the services of a police service dog. A member of Red Deer Search and Rescue may be assigned to accompany the service dog and his handler.

Once a lost or missing person is located, the first half of our task may be over. The next task is to rescue that lost or missing person. Fortunately this task is often easy. The person may be able to walk out or a vehicle may have easy access to the site. In other cases, however, this may not be as easy. For those not so easy circumstances, our technical rescue team may need to become involved. Within Red Deer Search and Rescue, our Technical Rescue Team is also part of the search team. The Red Deer Search & Rescue Technical Rescue Team has received training in high-angle rescue, confined space rescue and collapsed structure rescue. Using this specialized training, the rescue team can safely extract the lost person from their predicament while maintaining the safety of the rescuer.

Following every search and rescue operation and training exercise, the Team undergoes a critical debriefing to discover what we did well, what could be improved and how we can be better prepared for the next incident. Following a real operation, the Team works together with trained critical stress debriefing professionals.

If you would like to donate funds to Red Deer Search and Rescue,
please contact us for more information at: info@reddeersar.com