The Beauty and Danger of the Adirondacks
Sometimes, even the most experienced of trekkers need help finding their way
Story by Amanda M. Smith
Photos provided by Patty Warrington
The dogs on the team learn to track through water, pavement, and contamination in order to find a person in any element.
Search and Rescue of the Northern Adirondacks (SARNAK) team coordinator Frank Schmidt says that his team, which consists of 30 members, is requested for more than 20 private searches in New York State each year. “Locally, we assist the New York State Forest Rangers with searches and emergency carry-outs at least five to 15 times a year,” Schmidt says.
As the leader of an independent K-9 search and rescue team, Patty Warrington receives even fewer calls than SARNAK. She left Champlain Valley Search and Rescue about a year ago because it was too expensive to travel the daily 146-mile journey to Keeseville and back several times a week. Warrington’s independent team is now based in her hometown of Minerva.
Because there is a chain of command when someone goes missing, rescue teams generally aren’t used to their full potential. Typically, forest rangers are called first, then the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and then search and rescue is called in. Warrington says that the public can call on local search and rescue teams instead of waiting for protocol, but “most people don’t know they can do that,” Warrington says.
“A well-trained dog can find a person in 15 minutes."
The DEC has its own search and rescue team that involves dogs, but they are only qualified to find other animals or to apprehend suspects. “Our K-9 unit’s training is much more intense,” Warrington says. “If we were utilized more, people would see what these dogs can do. A well-trained dog can find a person in 15 minutes."
A trainer directs one of the team dogs through a series of obstacles in the training course.
Search and rescue dogs are held to high standards just like their human team members. Warrington says she prefers German Shepherds because of their drive. To Warrington, finding the right dog for the job means picking an aggressive and hyper pup; though sometimes harder to train, they make excellent search dogs. Puppies are hand-picked by a team member as young as eight weeks old and are not fully trained until they reach two or three years.
A puppy’s first lesson is learned when playing a game of hide and seek with a treat. Later in training, the game is played with live humans in the woods. The dogs learn to track through water, pavement, and contamination—which are among the most difficult situations—in order to find a person in any element. When searching for someone, dogs can cover nearly two miles in only 23 minutes.
The human members of search and rescue go through rigorous training as well. “When someone completes the SARNAK application to join, they must attend a certain number of field trainings and meetings and receive a certain DEC certification to remain on the team,” Schmidt says. “Once a team member, we require some medical training, which usually includes CPR, basic first-aid, wilderness medical associates, first-aid, first responder, and advanced first-aid or similar courses.”
The team is also required to take a physical pack test each spring to qualify for activities like carry-outs, or carrying a person to safety. The test consists of two levels: moderate and difficult. The difficult test requires carrying 45 pounds for three miles in 45 minutes, and moderate test requires carrying 30 pounds for two miles in 30 minutes. The next certification necessary is the search level, which takes nearly two years to complete. “When assigned to ‘crew boss,’ the Forest Rangers know that you hold all the proper training, wood skills, medical, and team leadership to operate during a search,” Schmidt says. “The class I attended had 22 SAR students and only three passed.”
“If we were utilized more, people would see what these dogs can do. A well-trained dog can find a person in 15 minutes." Warrington said.
In addition, there are field training courses in survival that involve GPS, land navigation, low angel rope rescue, snowshoeing, topographic map reading, fire building, and shelter construction, team work, safety, radio communication, first-aid, and day or night training.
“[The hardest part of my job is] being a volunteer and making time to train while making SARNAK the best,” Schmidt says. “Many of our call-outs happen a night or when something has been planned with the family, but we know that being called means making a big difference to folks that need our assistance.”
“Many people do not even know that we exist until they see us at a search or by word of mouth."
Warrington plans on organizing more public demonstrations early next year to ensure the public is aware of all that SAR can do. When Warrington was with Champlain Valley SAR, the team would do demonstrations in schools and in public to educate people about what to do when getting lost, how to recognize and react to a search dog, and how to prevent yourself from getting lost in the first place.
“Being independent now and not having to travel to Keeseville, I may be able to get more educational programs out there to the public,” she says.
Schmidt agrees with Warrington that the public is ill-educated about what search and rescue does and can do for them. “In most cases, many people do not even know that we exist until they see us at a search or by word of mouth,” he says. “This is one subject we are trying to correct.”
