Membership
SCSARDA encourages membership from all interested individuals. We currently have a full roster and do not plan to consider any new K9 members until Fall 2012. We are always interested in people interested in providing ground support or support at the incident command. Please refer to the membership classifications (below) for the qualifications of those positions for new members
In order to begin the application process we strongly suggest a person first take the on line NIMS 100, 200, 700, and 800 prior to contacting SCSARDA. These free online courses will give you some inisght into what is involved in search and rescue. Dogs are an important tool that we use to assist on our searches but we are looking for people with a passion to help others and do whatever is requested during a search which may or may not involve your dog.
We get many requests to help people train their dog or they think their dog is the perfect candidate. All of our dog training time is dedicated to dogs on the team. Finding the right dogs is not so hard; finding the right people is much harder. If you think your dog is a good candidte, you may want to go to the training section of
www.disasterdog.org and look at the screening test used by FEMA as it is similar to what we do.
If you are still interested after reading the NIMS materials and the requirements below please contact us and we will invite you to a training.
Screening of potential members is a competitive process so any search experience or training will better your chances of becoming a part of the SCSARDA team. Listed below is some of the training we are looking for in an applicant. These things will be required along the way to becoming operational and we can assist you in locating these classes.
1) Make sure you can pass an FBI criminal background check. That process takes about 2 months and will be required before you can attend training.
2) Take free online training for ICS 100, 200, 700, 800, 809 through FEMA and keep the certificates.
3) Take the NASAR FUNSAR Class or equivalent (We require members take a class which has at least a weekend camping trip and mock search; passing the SAR III test is required, but not a substitute. If you are interested in SAR, this is the best way to find out what is involved)
4) Take the NASAR SAR Tech III and prepare to take (or take) the SAR II examination.
5) Obtain basic first aid and CPR training
6) Become proficient with map, compass, and GPS
As openings become available, we will update our web page.
Supporting documents
Membership Classifications
New Applicant Information
Attendance Policy
