One thing to keep in mind with federally funded USAR Teams is that the membership is generally from career Fire Departments. Few, if any can argue that diverting a portion of one’s career staff for a major disaster is not justified. However, short staffing one’s department for an SAR operation is much harder to justify to the jurisdictions supplying the career personal. I doubt that the citizens who end up fronting overtime costs for the remaining personal, who would need to cover the shifts of deployed personnel for an SAR mission, would be too thrilled with the added tax burden and the diversion of necessary services away from their needs.

Many SAR and Technical Rescue Teams are volunteer or associated with local Fire and/or Sheriff Departments. The dedication of these individuals, I believe would never be matched by Statewide career SAR Teams. The cost to the taxpayer for the number of missions on a per capita base would be hard to justify. The United States Coast Guard is one very important exception to that statement.

Monies would be better spent in supporting the efforts of “professional” volunteer SAR and Technical Rescue Teams, who in many cases must pay out-of-pocket for their training and/or equipment. The word “Professional” applies to any rescue person, whether career (paid) or volunteer, who meets and maintains the standards for their specialty, as most jurisdictions require the same level of course work and training.

Of course, I am clearly bias and have very strong feelings on this issue, so take what I say with a grain of salt, although it be a big grain.

Pete