Local volunteers attend major SAR conference

Twenty four members of the Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue unit attended the 2010 Washington State Search and Rescue Conference, May 17-23, held in Skamania County.

The training conference is hosted annually by a Sheriff’s Department within Washington State and is designed primarily for volunteer search and rescue members, but includes training for law enforcement personnel with search and rescue oversight responsibilities. It is attended by SAR volunteers and law enforcement personnel throughout Washington State and SAR units from Canada, and on occasion from the United Kingdom, Iceland, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

This year the conference was hosted by Skamania County Sheriff’s Office and held at the Skamania County Fair Grounds in Stevenson. The conference was conducted in two parts, the pre-conference, May 17-21, and the general weekend conference, May 21-23. During the pre-conference, out of 12 courses given, SAR unit members attended classes in SAR Team Leadership, Logistics, SAR Incident Management, Law Enforcement High Risk Search Operations, and Basic Man Tracking. During the general conference, out of 75 courses given, SAR members attended 25 courses including courses required by the Washington Administrative Code, courses in SAR skills, basic ATV, various K-9 subjects, communication and navigation, general SAR courses, management and administrative, medical, and man tracking.

Payment to attend the SAR Conference was through donations, fund raising, and payment by individual SAR members. All Wahkiakum County SAR youth members and their chaperones were paid for through a grant from the Wahkiakum Community Network. In addition to the annual SAR Conferences SAR members attend monthly SAR meetings/trainings, two bi-annual weekend trainings and other trainings. For any more information about the Wahkiakum County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue unit drop by the Sheriff’s Office or call 795-3242 and contact Deputy Bill Tawater, SAR Coordinator, or Officer Vernon Barton, Assistant SAR Coordinator.

The Washington State Search and Rescue Coordinators Association provided scholarships for two Wahkiakum volunteers, Arlene Stefan and Wally Wright.