Search And Rescue Association

SAR Terminology

CPR: Cardiopulmonary Respiration
EMS: Emergency Medical Service
EMRT: Emergency Medical Response Technician
EMT: Emergency Medical Technician
ERT: Emergency Response Team
First Responder: A person trained in the medical and mechanical skills and possessing knowledge necessary to successfully manage the care of an individual on first discovery until the person can either be evacuated or placed under more intense care. The term “first responder” is usually associated with fire, police, and ambulance response in non-SAR environments.
GPS: Global Positioning System
Ground SAR: The conduct of a search and rescue operation to assist persons lost, stranded, trapped, or injured in an area on land or water other than the bordering oceans, Great Lakes, or St. Lawrence waterway.
Hasty team: A group of trained individuals, usually part of a police organization, that can be convened quickly for the purpose of responding to an emergency situation.
ICSAR: Interdepartmental Committee on SAR
IADRS: International Association of Dive Rescue Specialists
IRECA: International Rescue and Emergency Care Association
Local authorities: The persons granted authority within organizations who may be involved with or in a ground SAR incident. Local authorities other than the head of the police force of local jurisdictional do not have authority over the search commander.
Marine SAR: The employment of vessels and/or aircraft for the conduct of a SAR operation that occurs on or under water.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU): An agreement drawn up to clarify roles, responsibilities, functions, and procedures between two organizations. Not binding as a contract, but important to establish understandings and arrangements prior to the occurrence of an emergency situation.
NASAR: National Association for Search and Rescue a not-for-profit membership association dedicated to advancing professional, literary, and scientific knowledge in fields related to search and rescue. NASAR is comprised of thousands of paid and non-paid professionals interested in all aspects of search and rescue - the humanitarian cause of saving lives - throughout the United States and around the world.
MVR: Motor-vehicle rescue
Rescue: A rescue entails assembling, coordinating, and using the necessary resources to relieve distress, save lives, and remove lost, stranded, trapped or injured people from disasters, emergency scenes, or hazards to a place of safety.
SCBA: Self-contained breathing apparatus
Search: A search involves assembling, coordinating, and using the necessary resources to find lost, stranded, trapped, or injured people.
Search and Rescue: Search and rescue combines activities and tasks involved in both searches and rescues. Many searches involve no rescues, and many rescues require no searches.
Search commander: The person who has overall responsibility and authority for the execution of a SAR operation, and who represents the authority responsible for the area in which the incident has occurred. The search commander is usually a police officer assigned to the search operation by the police force of jurisdiction
Search dogs: Dogs who, with their handlers, have successfully completed a course of training resulting in the ability to track lost persons, and behave under handler control during the search operation.
Search manager: The person who manages, under the general direction of the search commander, the search, and leads and directs individual SAR resources. The search manager is usually an experienced member of a SAR organization, a park warden, forest ranger, or police officer.
Team leader: The person responsible for the conduct of the SAR party. The team leader reports to the search manager
Trained SAR volunteer: A SAR volunteer who has attained at least “basic SAR” performance objectives
UTS: Universal Tracking Service.