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Even if you weren’t aware of NASAR until now, you’ve certainly seen daily evidence of the altruistic efforts of its members.
It has been estimated that in excess of 50,000 SAR missions are conducted each year in the United States. That’s nearly 137 each day or just about 6 missions per hour. Remarkably, over 90% of these missions are executed by volunteers.
Historically, the nation’s so-called “ground pounders” have not been publicly recognized for their daily heroism. They don’t want or need it. They are simply “regular people” with families and full-time jobs totally unrelated to search and rescue. They are salespeople, office workers, teachers, plumbers, truck drivers and business owners. They are among the 14,000+ members of NASAR.
IN THE WAKE OF 9/11
The threat of nuclear and biological terrorism has increased the personal safety concerns of people around the globe. Indeed, the 9/11 tragedy left an indelible mark on the collective soul of our nation. And the American public is demanding that their emergency services rise to a whole new level of preparedness in anticipation of future disasters.
Congress has appropriated billions of dollars to train and equip fire service and law enforcement personnel. NASAR applauds this action. However, these federal dollars are not intended to train the search and rescue volunteers. Instead, the funds are concentrated on the career emergency responders whose primary duties do not involve search and rescue at all.
Police officers are, first and foremost, keepers of the peace. We count on law enforcement to pursue and capture the “bad guys.” Firefighters are hazardous materials technicians, emergency medical technicians, and primarily, they train to “put the wet stuff on the red stuff.” Paramedics help heal the sick. These are full time jobs -- important ones. The brave men and women who comprise America’s public safety profession provide us with much needed services, but they cannot be all things to all people. For this reason, we’ve come to depend on volunteers to conduct search and rescue missions across the country.
Clearly, federal dollars alone will not keep America safe. It is NASAR’s job to train the volunteers that the federal programs can’t reach. (Remember, over 90% of the nation’s search and rescue missions are conducted by unpaid professionals!)
NASAR has trained over 35,000 responders since 1989 utilizing its internationally-respected SARTECH © Certification Program. Still, this is not enough. We must ensure that the volunteers of today (and tomorrow) in search and rescue are every bit as prepared as the career firefighters and police officers with whom they work on a daily basis.
PUBLIC IMPACT
Consider these headlines:
Response to emergencies and disasters is the responsibility of the local jurisdiction. Always. And, realistically, we all know that there aren’t enough police officers. There aren’t enough firefighters and paramedics. So, who do we send into a collapsing building to rescue our friends, our families? Who’s got the skill and equipment needed to traverse a narrow mountain cliff to reach that stranded climber? Who’s been trained to recognize clues left by a frightened toddler lost in a state park?
The members of the National Association for Search and Rescue train for these situations every day.
Regardless of the high level of skill and training achieved by federal entities such as the National Guard, Homeland Security’s Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces, the Coast Guard, and the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, the local search and rescue teams are first to arrive on-scene. Always. And they are the only teams trained to respond as the experts in these specific SAR missions.