Ventura County Search & Rescue
VCSAR Team 1 is an all-volunteer branch of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office covering all 1,873 square miles of Ventura County including the 43 miles of coastline. The team is trained to use specialized equipment to handle a variety of emergencies such as high-angle rock rescues, car-over-the-side accidents, swift-water rescues, and other wilderness medical emergencies. The team is also highly proficient in search operations for overdue hikers, mountain bikers, off-road motorcyclists, missing children or lost hunters.
Training
SAR Readiness
SAR readiness depends on our team’s commitment to constant skills refinement. We work on a number of areas to ensure readiness to respond to a variety of rescue scenarios. Aside from training for physical fitness, skills such as climbing, using rope systems, medical assessments and treatment, and incident command and organization are critical.
We Train Hard to Stay Ready.
Many new SAR team members bring the needed skills with them from the get-go; but the team regularly trains to build and reinforce all of our abilities. Some of us are more specialized than others--for example, a nurse or medic will by definition be best equipped for many medical tasks--but all of us are expected to be proficient in every area of the SAR domain.
Get an inside look at the your SAR team members.
Team members explain what SAR means to them as well as their proudest moments.
For the County
Called to Serve
Life as a SAR teammate
SAR team members are unpaid professionals. We live full regular lives but enjoy our commitment to answer the call when our community is in need.
SAR Team 1
Benefits
SAR team membership is fulfilling in many ways. Here are a few of them.
Helping Your Community
As a SAR team member, you are a vital part of your community’s response to people in need, disasters, and the needs of law enforcement.
Team Friendships
Working closely alongside our teammates, we naturally strike up friendships that extend beyond the meetings, trainings, and callouts.
Training and development
One of the benefits of Search & Rescue is that we learn so much together.
Learn about
Helping Our Community
We Often Meet People on Their Worst Day
Our primary goal is to save lives by finding people in distress and getting them to safety.
We administer first aid and stabilize injuries on-site until further medical attention can be provided.
Using ropes, specialized equipment, and rescue techniques, we safely remove people from difficult terrain or hazardous situations like rock cliffs, rivers, or collapsed structures.
We work collaboratively with other emergency services, including law enforcement, fire departments, and medical personnel, to manage a rescue operation effectively.
We have expertise in wilderness survival, navigation, tracking, technical rescue, and specialized equipment operation.
Donate
Team Donations
VCSAR1 primarily relies on private donations to support our search and rescue mission. The cutting edge equipment that we require to rescue those in need is expensive. All amounts are welcome and we greatly appreciate the support that we get from the community. Unlike many charities, 100% of each dollar donated goes directly to the team, its equipment, and its mission.
CONTACT
REQUEST INFORMATION
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