The Sheriff's Office is responsible for all search and rescue missions in the county. Trained Deputy Sheriff’s act as incident commanders in support of highly skilled volunteer groups. The volunteers are organized into specialty groups including;
Sheriff’s Posse
Gallatin Valley Snowmobile Association
Gallatin Ham Radio Club
Civil Air Patrol
Big Sky Search and Rescue
West Yellowstone Search and Rescue
Tactical Divers
Alpine Hasty Team
The Salvation Army
Backcountry Hasty Team
Western Montana Search Dogs
Statistics
|
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
Searches (looking for the lost) |
|
55 |
37 |
65 |
46 |
60 |
43 |
53 |
Rescues (rescuing the injured) |
|
36 |
46 |
35 |
29 |
30 |
26 |
40 |
Total SAR Calls |
66 |
96 |
88 |
100 |
75 |
90 |
71 |
98 |
*Totals don’t necessarily agree. Balance is other (mutual aid, community service, assisting
Law Enforcement, etc. . . )
We believe that we are the busiest SAR system in the state. See our press release page for our most recent missions.
Volunteers
The volunteers that make up Search and Rescue in the county come from all walks of life including professors, construction workers, doctors, retired persons, computer programmers and real estate brokers. We have recognized experts in the fields of technical climbing, technical radio operation, avalanches, extreme snowmobile operation and search operations. If you are considering a challenging and rewarding way to serve your community contact Sgt. Jarrett at 582-2105 or via email. There are a multitude of ways to serve from actual search
operations to support, administrative and public outreach functions.
Below are some news video clips that showcase our volunteers. They may take a few minutes to load.
Funding
Search & Rescue is funded in the following ways:
1/2 of a mill general tax levy from all county residents
Donations from individuals and companies
Reimbursement from state fees on licenses
Resort tax in Big Sky
If you know a search and rescue volunteer be sure to thank them for the hundreds of hours they volunteer each year in the support of their community.
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