The Beginning
I am a member of San Diego Mountain Rescue, a 501c, non-profit, MRA-accredited Type 1 Rescue team. This year, I decided to take a more active role in the organization and now serve as its Secretary and a member of the Board of Directors.
I started volunteering for Search and Rescue in early 2023. The process from the first prospective member meeting, waiting for selection, interviews, waiting for an invite to the team, background checks, the first training, to the “real” invite to the team, and field qualifications took nearly a year. Of the over 50+ candidates who attended the first meeting, 10 made it through the selection process, and 9 remain from my year.
I’ve done 13 call-outs from urban SAR to wilderness SAR in the past year. I’ve also been lucky to get a taxi ride from a helo to insertion!
Where Did It Start?
I’ve always had a passion for the outdoors, and I wanted to give back to the community. That naturally led me to look up local SAR organizations, which are 100% volunteer organizations. We receive no compensation.
Two organizations operate in San Diego. Sheriff’s SAR team and SDMRT. We always operated under the San Diego Sheriff but during mutual aid, our command can shift to local law enforcement. SAR is NOT law enforcement and this is critical to the nature of our work.
I attended a local Wilderness First Responder through the Wilderness Medical Association (WMA) before my application. This is a requirement for all field active members and the first big financial lift as the course is 5 days and requires a few hundred to attend, depending on whether it’s local or not.
SDMRT requires active wilderness experience, demonstrating the ability to be self-sustaining and comfortable in adverse conditions. I have no idea how I got selected, and the process was a bit nerve-racking. The team chooses a lot based on character, more so than experience, as we are a small team of ~60 field active members. During call-outs and training, we spend a lot of time together, so we must have a good interpersonal relationship as we rely on each other to keep each other safe and operate efficiently in our assignments.
What Is It Like?
It’s a time commitment, as we have monthly field training, meetings to attend, and call-outs. Because nearly all of our members work full-time jobs, we need a reasonable membership size to ensure people can attend. Luckily for me, work is accommodating.
We all recognize that we need to balance work, life, and volunteering. The idea that everyone attends our call-outs is false. In 2024, we were activated 28 times, with an average attendance of 4 call-outs per member. Attendance is greatly affected by when the call-outs occur.
We can be activated at any time, in any weather. Usually, I have my field and technical kits and my uniform ready to go. With call-outs, the response time is often variable as we encourage our members to finish what they are doing and then decide to respond (or not).
What Are the Demographics?
It's varied! We have a very diverse group of individuals from all ages and genders; some are avid climbers, mountaineers, hikers, and general backpackers. I’m more a generalist.
Do You Get to Rescue People?
Most people requiring rescue fall into two categories:
Stable and alive
Unstable and dead
We always enter a mission hoping to find the former but are prepared for the latter. On one of our finest missions this year (2024), we human-tracked a subject over 10+ miles along the PCT, following her tracks. We successfully located her after 6+ hours of tracking. In the morning, the team and the Subject were successfully heli-extracted with the team after spending a night with her after locating and stabilizing her.
Recoveries, evidence searches, and urban searches for at-risk people are also part of our work.
After One Year, What Is Your Main Takeaway?
Satellite communication is a must nowadays, and there is no excuse not to have it if you enjoy the wilderness or any outdoor adventure. Either carry a cellphone with one (iPhones 14 and newer) or always carry a battery pack if that is your only communication device. When I go out, I always have an Inreach, my Fenix, and my cellphone for multiple redundancies. This is even for short hikes, off-road trips, etc. Being prepared keeps you alive. Being ill-prepared means we may need to find you.
The odds of a SAR team locating you through satellite communications with SOS dramatically increase your chances of survival. Our time to deploy can range in multiple hours, so if you’re in trouble, you must sit tight and stabilize yourself.
I also carry way more water than I need; if I know there may be water, I will bring a filter. Water is life; it is food you can live without.
