Search and Rescue

[triumphrider-1]

This may be a dumb question, but how do you get the person missing back out when you find them? If your using small vehicles (with 4 guys and gear in them) and their injured (assuming non-life threatening), do you call for a helicopter?

 

[SierraCanine]

This may be a dumb question, but how do you get the person missing back out when you find them? If your using small vehicles (with 4 guys and gear in them) and their injured (assuming non-life threatening), do you call for a helicopter?

The only dumb question is the one you never ask.

On that note, if the weather is fair and their is enough room, a helicopter can be requested, otherwise someone may just have to walk. The county doesn't have their own heli' but they can "borrow" the Highway Patrol, Coast Guard and sometimes even a CalStar med flight 'bird'. Also vehicles always travel in pairs. Two trucks, two quads, two bikes... you get the idea. the only time your would theoretically be full (four people) is if your deploying a foot team further into the woods and then returning to base camp. Otherwise it would be two drivers and maybe one or two spotters per OHV Team when searching. The purpose of the OHV team is to perform rapid searches of likely areas, deploy teams and evacuate the subject(s).

 

[SierraCanine]

Any more thoughts on this.

Also I don't know if y'all heard but they just blasted apart a lot of the obstacles in little sluice on the Rubi to make it more accessible to "stock" 4x4's. That might allow me to run 33's just fine.

Does anyone else on the station do SAR or am I all by my lonesome? You don't have to drive a ranger as you rescue rig. If you could just elaborate on why you use a certain vehicle and what you did to make it work ( in regards to aftermarket equipment) it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
SierraCanine

 

[hoosier1104]

I am with SVT on the Sport Trac option. Beef up the suspension, drive train (cough)5.0(cough) and you should be good to go.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Any more thoughts on this.

Also I don't know if y'all heard but they just blasted apart a lot of the obstacles in little sluice on the Rubi to make it more accessible to "stock" 4x4's. That might allow me to run 33's just fine.

Does anyone else on the station do SAR or am I all by my lonesome? You don't have to drive a ranger as you rescue rig. If you could just elaborate on why you use a certain vehicle and what you did to make it work ( in regards to aftermarket equipment) it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
SierraCanine

What do the other SAR people run?

 

[SierraCanine]

What do the other SAR people run?

Look at post #14 in this thread.

 

[SierraCanine]

Over the past few months I have been working on getting all my search gear organized and putting some "identifiers" on my truck.

This one is on the rear camper shell glass and is reflective...

This one hangs from the rear-view mirror and is also reflective...

It says " K-9 Saving Lives" at the top since I am working with my dog to get her certified as hopefully an area search dog.

 

[SierraCanine]

Here is my gear loaded in the back of my truck...

Also an antenna that will be hooked up to a scanner once I find a good deal on craigslist.

 

[SierraCanine]

Okay now to outline what the gear consists of since I know somebody will eventually ask.

The blue roll is just that. A foam sleeping pad.

In the orange sack is a change of clothes, a rain slicker and my sleeping bag.

The red bag contains all my dog gear. Leashes (standard6ft, slip, long line), harnesses (Search, car, hiking, cooling, ect.), collars (regular, training and light-up), food, water, treats, bowls, styptic powder, maps of training areas, and also my SAR uniform shirt and hat.

On top of the red bag are my three season gaiters. I have used them in the snow though and they did a wonderful job of keeping the snow out.

In the back of the bed is my spare tire and the dog crate that is used for emergencies only since my dog is scared out of her wits of the metal crates. Mind you, I have a plastic kennels fabric collapsible kennel, and a collapsible fabric exercise pen/crate and she does great in any of those. I just let her stay in the cab since she is smaller and wears a seatbelt harness and it also has climate control.

The five gallon bucket has pencils, extra slip leads, batteries, eating utensils, my cooking stove and some tossed in. Also next to it is a gallon jug of water for refills or cooking.

Hanging next to the crate are two sets of jumper cables since I often need extra length when helping others. Below those I have a fifty foot length of 1/2" rope and an unknown length of 3/8".

Okay now for the black backpack. This is my 24hr search pack. It has the following as outlined in the requirements for the group I search with:

Compass
Signal mirror
Whistle
Waterproof matches
Fire starter
Flashlight with extra bulb and batteries
50 feet of 1/4 inch rope
Survival blanket
Ground cloth
Two 12-hour light sticks
One quart of drinking water
Water purifier (combination of tables and filter recommended per CDC guidelines)
Food for twelve hours
Range flagging tape
Note book and pen
Knife (Pocket or straight)
Insect repellent
Sunscreen
Toilet Paper
Paper bag for scent items
Warm cap, gloves, and jacket
Measuring tape
Personal first aid kit
Pocket mask and latex gloves

Two large plastic trash bags
Tracking stick
Watch
County road map
Lightweight, water resistant headlamp
Earplugs
Goggles or safety glasses
Bandanna
Personal medication

The red pouch on the side is my field trauma kit. I hope to never have to use it but it's there just in case. Also I carry two radios. A small FRS/GMRS radio and my ham handheld which also covers the FRS/GMRS frequencies.

If you feel I missed something or would like some more information just post away since somebody somewhere will most likely have the same question you have and that way I only have to answer it once.

 

[SierraCanine]

Almost forgot I did a custom install of a gps in my cab...

You can see the pictures of the finished product by clicking the Pics of my Rig link in my signature. It replaced a fake air vent and powers on through one of the auxillary switches I installed earlier.

 

[SierraCanine]

Not sure if anyone can see the picture below?

 

[bobbywalter]

I built my truck for first response but have used it a few times for SAR. In my area, big tires are a must for the terrain. I'd do either a 2nd gen explorer, or a 1st gen sport Trac, the Trac having slightly more equipment room. And the Trac is close to the 20 mpg mark in stock form. My modded Trac gets about 18, and when I sas with a pair of 60's and 35's, I'm pretty sure I can get real close to 20 mpg...

SVT

give me that formula!!

Any more thoughts on this.

Also I don't know if y'all heard but they just blasted apart a lot of the obstacles in little sluice on the Rubi to make it more accessible to "stock" 4x4's. That might allow me to run 33's just fine.

Does anyone else on the station do SAR or am I all by my lonesome? You don't have to drive a ranger as you rescue rig. If you could just elaborate on why you use a certain vehicle and what you did to make it work ( in regards to aftermarket equipment) it would be much appreciated.

Thanks
SierraCanine

blasting little sluice was an asshole thing to do....its an option line as a worst case, easy to drive around.

Okay now to outline what the gear consists of since I know somebody will eventually ask.

The blue roll is just that. A foam sleeping pad.

In the orange sack is a change of clothes, a rain slicker and my sleeping bag.

The red bag contains all my dog gear. Leashes (standard6ft, slip, long line), harnesses (Search, car, hiking, cooling, ect.), collars (regular, training and light-up), food, water, treats, bowls, styptic powder, maps of training areas, and also my SAR uniform shirt and hat.

On top of the red bag are my three season gaiters. I have used them in the snow though and they did a wonderful job of keeping the snow out.

In the back of the bed is my spare tire and the dog crate that is used for emergencies only since my dog is scared out of her wits of the metal crates. Mind you, I have a plastic kennels fabric collapsible kennel, and a collapsible fabric exercise pen/crate and she does great in any of those. I just let her stay in the cab since she is smaller and wears a seatbelt harness and it also has climate control.

The five gallon bucket has pencils, extra slip leads, batteries, eating utensils, my cooking stove and some tossed in. Also next to it is a gallon jug of water for refills or cooking.

Hanging next to the crate are two sets of jumper cables since I often need extra length when helping others. Below those I have a fifty foot length of 1/2" rope and an unknown length of 3/8".

Okay now for the black backpack. This is my 24hr search pack. It has the following as outlined in the requirements for the group I search with:

Compass
Signal mirror
Whistle
Waterproof matches
Fire starter
Flashlight with extra bulb and batteries
50 feet of 1/4 inch rope
Survival blanket
Ground cloth
Two 12-hour light sticks
One quart of drinking water
Water purifier (combination of tables and filter recommended per CDC guidelines)
Food for twelve hours
Range flagging tape
Note book and pen
Knife (Pocket or straight)
Insect repellent
Sunscreen
Toilet Paper
Paper bag for scent items
Warm cap, gloves, and jacket
Measuring tape
Personal first aid kit
Pocket mask and latex gloves

Two large plastic trash bags
Tracking stick
Watch
County road map
Lightweight, water resistant headlamp
Earplugs
Goggles or safety glasses
Bandanna
Personal medication

The red pouch on the side is my field trauma kit. I hope to never have to use it but it's there just in case. Also I carry two radios. A small FRS/GMRS radio and my ham handheld which also covers the FRS/GMRS frequencies.

If you feel I missed something or would like some more information just post away since somebody somewhere will most likely have the same question you have and that way I only have to answer it once.

awesome list


really, a fullsize bronco, blazer, or trailduster with a huge tank and 6.2 diesel would be my first choice. whatever was cheaper to build at the time i wanted to build one.

for recovery it would be a d-max suburban.

 

[Tominator]

If you need your Jeep rescued, just give me a shout.....'96 F150 Eddie Bauer lifted w/33 BFGs....5.7...headers, duals, shift kit, etc......'course 20MPG is out of the question, but hey, it's your dime.

Major snowfall here back in the '80s....the authorities commandeered 4WD vehicles for transportation.....I had a '69 Jeep Commando back then....ran it non-stop for 2 days getting folks to hospitals and cops to different locations. Got an award and even got paid....

Use what you have at hand.

 

[RangerSVT]

give me that formula!!

Sure, 5.0 and trans from a 99 ex, dual oil filter kit, extra trans cooler, external trans filter using FL1A, SCT X2 tuner with rear O2 sensor delete, EGR delete, pats delete, and mpg tune, 275/55/20 Goodyear eagle tires spinning 410 gears, about 250 lbs worth of chase truck equipment (tools, recovery equipment, jumper cables, tire repair/inflation equipment) and a couple receivers set up with different ball sizes

SVT

 

[bobbywalter]

i say. 16 plus at 70 mph

18 ish at 55mph tops. thats because of the tune. 20.... i would have to drive it to work once to believe it.

i figure bout 5200-5400 pounds with you in it light cruise.

city driving...9-14.