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I think we may have an east coast/west coast language problem
here. We peaked at 44 people when I was chief--7 dog handlers at various stages, 12 horse people, the rest ground troops with other skills. Turnout to training was about 30%, missions 80%. We had two people who were medically limited to
base. Twelve runs a year, 10 trainings, including up to four field deployments for safety at special events. Not too busy.
These people were all A-types. There is no career path in the east, except for career fire people trying to get a ticket punched.
The first year new members had to attend 3 drills in a row then go active with completition of requirements within one year to stay active. The dog people trained and were evaluated by third parties and had to travel to do so. You could not move up the ladder without completing schools (Red Cross, county fire academy [ICS, rescue, evidence, officership], regional EMS [EMT])according to a written policy. If they made it through the first year they usually
stuck for 5 years or more, except some military and NPS people who were transferred sooner.
County pagers were limited, we only had 10 or so scrounged, radios were liberated as well with about 15 portables in cache
and another 6 or so issued. Some were bought by members.
We had a group page on a commercial service, members had to pay for their own commercial pager and personal equipment.
Our budget was about $1500. in cash and another $1500. in donated services. Our biggest recurring bills were insurance
($25/yr/member) and the phone line to the county dispatch center ($20/mo). Eventually the county bought the phone line.
We had a trailer for the equipment (grant money) but no vehicle (the insurance would have been over $800/yr for liability alone back then).
Our biggest problem was not our own people, being mostly A-types they kept current to a safe level but we often supported park police, local police, and volunteer fire personnel with no training. On one job we got called after the local FD dive team had given up for the night on an ice skater, we found the hole at 5 AM with no ice gear on hand, 90
miles from home base. We got called to the last one I was on
after the fire company hospitalized members with heat problems
during the afternoon (but did not tell the park they were in that they were searching).
We don't have county support of any kind here-- we have counties with 90+ fire departments, 60-70 local police departments, and SAR service areas that cover 6-8 counties, 3 states. We have gone looking for one body and found 3 extras as well in the same river and we didn't do rivers.
Maybe I'm not with the current crop, I teach at the fire academy but I teach courses in organization, logistics, MSO,
vehicle rescue, structural rescue, decision making. I am used to A-types. A guy I am working with now is a former township
cop who now is a bike patrol cop on an inner city university campus and still volunteers with the local fire company for fire and rescue as well as teaching. He is typical of the volunteers we got, and hope to get in the future.
Irv Lichtenstein 215-233-3360 215-233-2343 fax
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east coast west coast north south 
SAR membership organizational problems
(Richard Hannibal)
How are they getting there???
(David R. Tate)
How do you keep members ?
(irv lichtenstein)
How do you keep them if you don't?
(David R. Tate)
