Being on SAR, if you are searching a specific area, particulary at night, ANY light in the woods would be investigated. If it were too far away, it would be radioed in to another team, or a helo if one were available. In MA, the state PD was given a grant for a helicopter a few years ago fitted with FLIR, that has helped immensely with searches for Alzheimers patients.
touching on all that, in MA, ONLY certified searchewrs are allowed on search teams, per state police regs. All of us folks would recoginze ANY lights for what they were. However, we dont normally run into folks who are well prepared. Case in point: A hunter got caught out, after dark, in November. The guy wasnt prepared, at all, for cold weather (why, who knows). His wife didnt report him missing until 8:30 or so at night. He walked out, as we were assembling to start the search. He was less than a mile from his truck, on a busy road, in a state forest. No flashlight, no whistle....only a canteen & his shotgun. He was local, and thought he knew the area. Would we have gone looking for him, all he would have had were his shotgun to shoot (if he would do that), or his voice. Without a flashlight or whistle, he could have been in for a long night. Its the simple things folks leave behind, thinking they are OK. I mean, come on, how much does a flashlight weigh? Nothing. People just plain old arent concerned with their own safety.