Welcome to MSAR
Maryland Search and Rescue (MSAR) is a
professional volunteer wilderness search and rescue organization established to
provide assistance to those who become lost or injured in the outdoors. Along
with other member organizations of the
Appalachian
Search and Rescue Conference (ASRC), MSAR responds to emergencies
typically in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia for missing persons or aircraft, and to carry out rescue operations in
areas that require specialized equipment and techniques.
Based in Highland, Maryland, MSAR has members with expertise
in areas such as incident command, wilderness medicine, land navigation, search and tracking techniques,
land/air evacuation methods, wilderness survival, and emergency incident management. Our teams are
dispatched to search
emergencies, and operate in conjunction with state and local
authorities as well as other ASRC groups.
Searches
MSAR responds to searches though out the mid-Atlantic region, but most are in the Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
All search qualified members are on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
This can cause a conflict with school/work schedules.
Members should be prepared to inform and discuss MSAR with work, teachers,
and school administrators. Those who do, have generally had success having
searches classified as excused absences. Remember, searches are never
mandatory, so searches do not need to get in the way of work or education.