Deschutes County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue (DCSOSAR)
Under Oregon law, the sheriff of each Oregon county has a mandate to provide some aspect of Search and Rescue (SAR) activities within their county. Each sheriff decides what level that response might be; smaller counties may have less potential for calls and thereby fewer resources, while larger, more active counties generally have more missions and resources to respond accordingly.
DCSO SAR is headed by a Lieutenant and is comprised of the full-time paid staff assigned to the Special Services Unit, seasonal personnel in the Marine and OHV units, and 120+ dedicated volunteers who answer the call any time of day or night. Without the selfless service of those volunteers, many who recreate and become lost or hurt in the outdoors locally might find themselves in further peril.
Our mission is to provide professional, high-quality search and rescue assistance to citizens of Deschutes County, visitors who recreate locally, and mutual aid to other counties as requested. The ability to save a life or effect a successful rescue is often dependant upon how quickly the person can be found or reached.
The unit consists of general volunteers and a number of specialty teams, including swiftwater rescue, mountain rescue, winter search, medical evacuation, water operations and canine search. Additional teams include Incident Management, Air Operations, tracking and an internal horse team, separate from Posse assets. All members are trained in Wilderness First Responder as a minimum; other volunteers are EMT-certified, including Paramedic. Those medical team members operate under the direction of a Physician Advisor from St. Charles Medical Center-Bend.
These volunteers come from all walks of life, including retired teachers, physicians, corporate executives, engineers, chemists, bankers and business owners. When a call comes in, these volunteers often respond from work to deploy to the field. The volunteers have their own non-profit corporation, SAR Foundation, dedicated to raising funds for equipment and the overall needs of the volunteer unit. Support for the volunteers comes from the Sheriff in the form of logistical support, facilities, vehicles, and an annual budget for training and equipment.
During the year, DCSO SAR completed 99 SAR Missions and conducted 393 SAR trainings. DCSO has averaged 118 SAR missions each year over the past three years. The majority of SAR missions completed in 2021 were from the following categories:
• 58 Rescues (land & water)
• 23 Missing Persons (land & water)
• 5 Body Recoveries
• 10 Assists to Other Agencies/Counties
• 2 Evidence Searches
• 1 Beacon Search
Across various missions and in support of DCSO SAR activities, the volunteer members donated 24,343 hours in 2021. The national per hour rate for volunteers in 2021 was $28.54, meaning those dedicated volunteers donated a return of time and talent of $694,749.00 to the local community.
Links:
Upcoming Search and Rescue Academy
Deschutes County Search and Rescue Volunteers
