Ready & Willing
Search and rescue volunteers face some of the harshest terrain to help those lost in the wilderness
County Search and Rescue is a team of approxi- mately 20 active members who volunteer their time, ener- gy, and in many cases their sleep to help others. I had the privilege of sitting down with three volunteers on the search and rescue team: Todd Lewis (Commander), Heber Allred (Lieutenant) and Terry Allred (Secre- tary).
It was immediately ap- parent that all three have a lot of passion for the job. They explained that peril doesn’t stick to a schedule, so search and rescue team members never know when they might receive a call that requires an immediate response.
“A lot of our calls come out in the evening when people haven’t returned from hunting, or when they wake up in the morning and realize someone’s run away. So we get a lot of early morning and late-night calls, and some calls right in the middle of the afternoon.” Lewis said.
That means volunteers al- ways have to be ready to get up and get going, no matter how late or early the call for help might come through.
Of course, it’s not possible for every member of the team to drop everything each time a call goes out. Volunteers also have fulltime jobs, families and other responsibilities that take up their time. So each member only responds to a call when able. Fortunately, most rescues don’t require a lot of people. The exception is any rescue that involves rope rescue operations. These are more dangerous and require a minimum number of peo- ple to perform.