WRT Operations Page

"TO FIND, TO AID"
Home
Archived Minutes
Administration
Operations
Training
Membership
Minutes
Sponsorship
Site Map
Gear Swap
Members Only
Links
Photos

Operations

General Operations

The Wilderness Rescue Team responds to requests for wilderness search and rescue services from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Maine's Baxter State Park, the Maine Department of Conservation/Bureau of Forestry, and other state and federal park authorities. Service is initiated when a designated representative from one of these agencies contacts any team officer and issues a request for service. That team officer will then activate a response by issuing a page in accordance with our group paging protocol. This protocol simultaneously sends a page to every member's pager and includes coded information such as the response location, the type of response requested, and a telephone number to dial for more information. Members who are available to respond call the telephone number contained within the pager code, indicate their response availability, and receive further instructions.

In order to assure that we maintain the highest level of operational proficiency, all team members must maintain expertise in at least one of three operational specialties. These specialties are described below. Documents and protocols relating to these each of these specialties can be obtained by clicking on the name of the specialty.

Search Specialty

All team members must maintain expertise in the Search Specialty. Members who have completed our basic training requirements are considered to have expertise in the Search Specialty and are responsible for:

Participating in search operations
Providing support to Technical and Medical Specialists during technical and medical operations
Adopting, developing, or modifying search protocols that are used by the team
Maintaining search equipment that is owned by the team

Technical Specialty

Team members who have significant skill and experience in technical climbing and rescuing function may serve as Technical Specialist. Technical Specialists complete additional technical training and are responsible for the following activities:

Accessing patients who are in locations where technical climbing skills are required to reach them
Helping support personnel to reach said patients by establishing fixed ropes and climbing routes
Supervising the establishment of any technical rescue systems that may be necessary
Adopting, developing, or modifying all technical climbing and rescuing protocols that are used by the team
Supervising the maintenance of all technical equipment that is owned by the team
Providing technical climbing and rescuing training to non-technical team members

Medical Specialty

Team members licensed at the Basic EMT level or above, or who are certified Wilderness First Responders, may function as Medical Specialists. Medical Specialists are responsible for the following activities:

Providing primary medical care whenever required during search and rescue operations
Adopting, developing, or modifying all medical protocols that are used by the team
Supervising the maintenance of all medical equipment that is owned by the team

General Operations Protocols

The Wilderness Rescue Team maintains a number of written protocols in order to assure consistent operations. Protocols that apply to search, technical, or medical operations can be viewed by visiting the appropriate unit section above. General operations protocols can be viewed by selecting them from the list below.

Uniform/Identification Protocol
Equipment List for Winter Overnight Rescue Operations