SLOSAR Teams
Ground Team
The Ground Team provides the manpower for the Sheriff to search for missing persons in the unincorporated areas of San Luis Obispo County. When called in as mutual aid locally we provide our service to the cities within San Luis Obispo County. We also get called out by the State of California to provide mutual aid to other counties within California
All Search and Rescue members are trained in ground search. Every member has NASAR training and meets the national standards for Type III searchers. A majority of our members have advanced training to the level of Type II which requires passing written and field tests administered by NASAR.
Members have ongoing training in ground search skills, land navigation, GPS, Map and Compass, man tracking, and survival training. Training includes practice searches, overnight campouts, classroom training, and out-of-county training with other State and Federal agencies.
Off-Road Team (4x4)
Members of Search and Rescue with 4X4 vehicles form the Vehicle Team. They provide transportation and support to the remote areas of the county and assist Medical Teams on the Pismo State Dunes.
Vehicle Teams are used for “hasty” searches of trails, streets, and roads and as attraction devices to bring missing people to the searchers. Most areas of the county are just a short distance from some form of road or trail and the Vehicle Team transports the search teams to their assignments. Training includes practice in rock crawling, mud, sand, and water driving.
K-9 Team
The mission of the SLOSAR K9 Team is to "provide fully trained and qualified California state-certified handlers and canines to local, state, and national agencies for the purpose of searching for and locating lost people." This team works as part of the whole SLOSAR unit and trains weekly to maintain a high level of excellence and professionalism. Team certifications include area search, trailing, and cadaver/human remains detection (HRD).
MEET THE TEAM!
Technical Rescue Team (TRT)
The Technical Rescue Team provides services for the SLO County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Unit, and to other agencies under the direction of the SLO County Sheriff, that require technical expertise in controlled horizontal and vertical access and egress, including victim evacuation. The team training strives to provide a knowledge base for which each team member can draw upon and evaluate a situation and apply the ropework and rigging skills required to create a safe, effective, and efficient rescue system.
Team members’ knowledge and skills include safety procedures, equipment capabilities, knots, rappelling, belaying, ascending, anchors and anchor systems, rigging for raising and lowering systems, litter handling, patient packaging, single victim rescue, self-rescue, and problem-solving. The environments the team can find itself include vertical, high-angle, and low-angle cliff-side rope rescue, swift water and flood rescue, and urban heavy rescue. The safety of the Unit and its members is always the primary concern during all mission and training activities
Medical Team
The Medical Team consists of Search and Rescue members who hold a minimum certification of Emergency Medical Responder (EMR). Many of the team members currently work in the medical community and contribute a variety of skills and expertise brought from their diverse backgrounds and experience in emergency response. SLOSAR’s Continuing Education Program allows these members to maintain their certification through on-going training which provides continuing education credit for EMTs, Paramedics, and RNs. The team’s primary responsibility is providing medical care for Search and Rescue members and for the citizens of San Luis Obispo County who are in need. During holidays and busy weekends, the team works alongside CA State Parks to provide emergency medical care at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. The medical team is also tasked with providing certifications in First Aid and BLS CPR to Search and Rescue members, as well as conducting recurrent medical training to maintain the skill proficiency of the Search and Rescue unit.
Project Lifesaver
Project Lifesaver relies on proven radio technology and a specially trained Search and Rescue team. Clients enrolled in the Project Lifesaver program wear a personalized wristband that emits a tracking signal. When caregivers notify the local Project Lifesaver agency that the person is missing, a Search and Rescue team responds to the wanderer's area and starts searching with the mobile locator tracking system. Search times have been reduced from hours and days to minutes. In over 1500 searches, no serious injuries or deaths have been reported. Recovery times average less than 30 minutes.
Tracking Team
The SLOSAR Tracking Team is a small and very specialized team. The primary mission of the Tracking Team is two-fold; first, the Tracking Team members follow various visual clues left by the missing person as they move through urban and wilderness areas in order to locate said person. Second, the members of the team aid in establishing the direction of travel, when unknown, of the missing person. In addition to the team's primary mission, it is also responsible for the on-going training in tracking techniques for the other members of SLOSAR.
Communications Team
The Communications Team provides the equipment and skills to assist the Search and Rescue team with their duties while in the field. The team mans the communications vehicle and assists the command team in deploying resources to the search area. The dispatcher monitors radio traffic and makes contact with the teams in the field. The team is also responsible for keeping an inventory of all department-owned communications equipment in addition to training Search and Rescue team members in the proper use of the equipment.
Mountain Bike Team
The Mountain Bike (MTB) Team gives the San Luis Obispo Search and Rescue (SLOSAR) unit the ability to quickly cover ground where other resources may not be as efficient or effective, both in wilderness and urban environments. In addition, to the many applications of mountain bikes in Search and Rescue, the MTB Team performs both hasty and route/area searches, supports ground teams with reconnaissance, patrol/containment of roads and trails, delivery of supplies, and expedites the response of emergency medical support. The MTB Team is trained and equipped to operate during both day and night time hours.
USAR Team
The USAR (Urban Search & Rescue) Team provides resources and training to assist the public during large-scale disasters and mass causality incidents. These duties may include triage, searching for missing people in a disaster area, and survey of damaged buildings and infrastructure.