At our monthly general team meeting in April, Sheriff Bill Pribil announced that the Coconino County Board of Supervisors approved a $280K expenditure for completion of the administration area of our new Search & Rescue building. This will include offices, a kitchen, a conference room, municipal water, and bathrooms. (Yay! No more port-o-potty in the middle of winter! Changing into mission clothes in there was a real drag.)
The Sheriff said this funding is due to all the missions our team of volunteers responds to, including large incidents like the Schultz fire and resulting floods in the Timberline, Wapatki, and Doney Park areas.
Additional funds will be needed to complete parts of the bay area of the building where all of our equipment, SAR vehicles, and supplies are stored, including another bay door and the mezzanine. We're also hoping a technical rescue training area, including a climbing wall, will eventually be part of the facility.
The Sheriff's Department is also working on a plan to get the outside parking area paved before the monsoons so it won't be a mud pit again, with the hope that that project will be completed this summer.
Thanks again, Board of Supervisors!
These are my stories as a volunteer member of the Sheriff's Search and Rescue team in Coconino County, Arizona. I'll share what it's like to go from a beginner with a lot to learn to an experienced and, hopefully, valuable member of the team, as well as the missions, training, and other activities along the way.
My Third Arizona SAR Conference
Once again, it was a fun and informative long weekend. At this year's Arizona SAR Conference, held every 18 months in Heber, I helped teach the GPS courses. I also had time to attend a class.
In addition to the two all-day GPS classes, courses offered at this year's conference included:
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| AZ DPS Helicopter Class |
- Alternative Navigation
- Map & Compass
- Tracking
- Basic and Advanced ATV and UTV Operation classes
- New Search & Rescue Technology
- Swiftwater Awareness
- PLB/ELT Direction Finding
- Amateur Ham Radio
- Wilderness First Aid
- Search Area Segmentation
There was also a class about the AZ DPS helicopter, a demonstration by the USAF 305th Rescue Squadron, and a schedule of classes for those in Mounted Search & Rescue.
Among the awards given out at the conference were the Arizona SAR Team of the Year award, which went to Verde SAR from Yavapai County. And congratulations to my teammate, Art Pundt, for receiving SAR Volunteer of the Year!
Here are some more photos from the conference....
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| Art was the lead instructor for one of the GPS classes. |
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| Marty helps a student during the GPS class field exercise. |
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| Students plot waypoints on their maps, then enter them in their GPSes. |
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| Art helps a student during a GPS class. |
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| Our SAR coordinator for Coconino County presents Art with his award. |
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| Verde SAR accepts their SAR Team of the Year Award. |
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| Many different county SAR teams were represented at the conference. |
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| The Mounted SAR area, with all their horse trailers. |
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| USAF 305th Rescue Squadron |
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