Contents:

OPERATIONS

The Pennington County Search and Rescue (PCSAR) operates independently under the Pennington County Emergency Management. All searches are under the jurisdiction of the Pennington County Sheriffs Office. PCSAR works with EMS organizations including law enforcement, paid and volunteer fire departments, ambulance services, and other volunteer organizations.

PCSAR performs several types of operations:

PCSAR receives call notifications through Fire Dispatch via pager.

MEMBERS

PCSAR is an all-volunteer organization that does not receive any compensation for the duties or training that members perform. The only payment that might be received is an occasional thank you and the self satisfaction of helping your community.

All members are trained to the National Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) level of standards of searches. In year 2000, we started training new members to the state certified Emergency Rescue Technician (ERT) course for rescues, vehicle extrication, vertical rescue, and trench rescue. It is PCSAR's goal to get all members ERT certified. PCSAR members are certified trained in-depth in the areas not covered in the NASAR / ERT training course that pertains to our mission, for example GPS navigation, Emergency Vehicle Operations, etc.

The following training must be completed:

COMMON EQUIPMENT

PCSAR maintains a large cache of equipment to provide safe and effective operations. This equipment is used by the members as a whole or is issued to them.

The common equipment includes: