Rogue Valley Search & Rescue Unit

Causes: Disaster Aid, Disaster Preparedness & Relief Services, Public Safety, Disaster Preparedness & Relief, Search & Rescue Squads

Mission: Rogue Valley Search & Rescue is comprised entirely of volunteers that assist the Jackson Co. Sheriff's Dept. in searching for and/or providing basic first aid for lost persons of all ages. Assists in searches for evidence of a criminal nature; performing traffic control/road block functions for community events such as parades, air shows, wildland fires, and criminal searches; and, provides public education through the Lost, But Found Program for elementary school children, as well as others. Other demonstrations and presentations related to our functions, such as K-9 dog team awareness, are also shared in public forums. RVSAR assists other neighboring counties, as well as Jackson Co. in any searches for missing people. The volunteers logged over 10,000 hours performing in their official capacity in 2003 and again, in 2004, 11,750 hours. Volunteers meet once a month for unit business and training, which includes map and compass, track awareness, traffic control, radio communication, medic first air/CPR and the K-9 and dive team trains in various modes of finding or recovering lost people. Some training goes way beyond this minimum, such as the K-9 team puts in many hours and days beyond the normal expectation. The dive team trains several times a month, also! Another group has studied for SARTECH II, which is a NASAR qualification. Lastly, one of our members has his own helicopter, which has been highly successful in making finds, that have assisted our groundpounders immensely!