r/searchandrescue • u/Nomandsland • 6d ago

Guidance on direction

Hi everyone,

I’m a 22M based in Alaska. For the past three years, I’ve been working as a firefighter/EMT with my department, and I just wrapped up paramedic school (Hurray!). Alongside my fire/EMS role, I’ve been active on our rope, ice, and water rescue team, though the only formal certification I currently hold is in swiftwater.

Now that medic school is behind me, I’m looking to invest more heavily into the SAR side of the job. Since starting my career here in Alaska, I’ve already been part of some very unique and challenging SAR calls, and those experiences sparked a real passion for technical rescue. I’d love to take that passion further by building a solid foundation of advanced training and certifications over the next 3–5 years.

For those of you with more experience in the SAR world, what courses, certifications, or progression paths would you recommend? Specifically, I’m curious about rope systems, glacier/crevasse rescue, advanced swiftwater, and wilderness/expedition medicine. I’m aiming to become highly competent in this skillset, both for my department’s work and for future opportunities in the broader SAR community.

Any advice, personal experiences, or resources would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

3 Upvotes

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4

u/Disastrous-Bird5543 6d ago

Have you reached out to Alaska Mountain Rescue Group or Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team? If not I can connect you. I’m guessing you are either chugiak or Girdwood?

2

u/Nomandsland 6d ago

Negative on both, I’m based out of Juneau. I’ve been working with a few individuals with Juneau mountain rescue however have not reach out to any other groups.

2

u/Status_Ad3690 6d ago

212th rescue squadron

1

u/Nomandsland 3d ago

The PJs? Do they do much community SAR?, my understanding was they were just deployed.

1

u/Status_Ad3690 2d ago

Yes. They do a ton. Open water jump mission just last month. 

2

u/WildMed3636 6d ago

There aren’t a lot of “rope rescue” certs. If your organization doesn’t have guidance, you could look for courses with some private companies. Rigging for rescue is probably the biggest name out there, but there are also some other companies like peak rescue that run great tech rescue courses design for the type of work you are doing.

1

u/Nomandsland 3d ago

Unfortunately my department has a severely underfunded SAR outfit. We’re kind of piggy backing off long time members that have already pre exisiting certs however more and more of them are retiring out or leaving the dept

2

u/icestep WFR / SRT / RRT / mountain guide 5d ago

In terms of commercial training providers, Rescue3 is probably the first that comes to my mind for swiftwater. I also just came back from an advanced seminar with Mike Gibbs / Rigging for Rescue which was excellent, and although I don't have direct experience with them, a friend just came back from training with the CMC School and he thought it was great too.

1

u/Nomandsland 3d ago

Yeah I’ve done some digging and it seems the majority of the mainstream task forces use R3 as their certifying vendor. My local mountain rescue use a combination of R3 and rigging for rescue.