Seattle Mountain Rescue
Encyclopedia
Seattle Mountain Rescue is a volunteer mountain rescue
group operating out of King County, Washington
. Within the county, SMR is part of the King County Search and Rescue Association (KCSARA). It is also part of the Mountain Rescue Association and frequently works with other neighboring mountain rescue units, including Everett Mountain Rescue, Tacoma Mountain Rescue, Olympic Mountain Rescue, and others.
The organization's roots started in the 1930's as an informal list of climbers helping each other. Many of these climbers served in the 10th Mountain Division (United States) during World War II
. They formalized the organization in 1948.
Some of the early leaders of Seattle Mountain Rescue, notably Wolf Bauer, Ome Daiber, and Dr. Otto Trott, brought back extensive knowledge from Europe, designed new gear, and pioneered new procedures.
and dispatch appropriate units. Outside of King County, a request will be made from that jurisdiction to King County Sheriff Office for SMR's involvement. The unit is paged, and a member of the unit is preassigned to be In-Town Operations Leader (ITOL). The ITOL coordinates with the sheriff and members of the unit to deploy people into the field.
Mountain rescue
Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. The difficult and remote nature of the terrain in which mountain rescue often occurs has resulted...
group operating out of King County, Washington
King County, Washington
King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....
. Within the county, SMR is part of the King County Search and Rescue Association (KCSARA). It is also part of the Mountain Rescue Association and frequently works with other neighboring mountain rescue units, including Everett Mountain Rescue, Tacoma Mountain Rescue, Olympic Mountain Rescue, and others.
The organization's roots started in the 1930's as an informal list of climbers helping each other. Many of these climbers served in the 10th Mountain Division (United States) during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. They formalized the organization in 1948.
Some of the early leaders of Seattle Mountain Rescue, notably Wolf Bauer, Ome Daiber, and Dr. Otto Trott, brought back extensive knowledge from Europe, designed new gear, and pioneered new procedures.
How Seattle Mountain Rescue is dispatched
A reporting party calls 911. (The reporting party may be the subject or his/her partner, or maybe someone in the city reporting an overdue hiker.) They tell the dispatcher that the subject is in the mountains and needs search and rescue. That will transfer the response to the appropriate people. In King County, a sheriff deputy will act as Incident CommanderIncident Commander
The incident commander is the person responsible for all aspects of an emergency response; including quickly developing incident objectives, managing all incident operations, application of resources as well as responsibility for all persons involved. The incident commander sets priorities and...
and dispatch appropriate units. Outside of King County, a request will be made from that jurisdiction to King County Sheriff Office for SMR's involvement. The unit is paged, and a member of the unit is preassigned to be In-Town Operations Leader (ITOL). The ITOL coordinates with the sheriff and members of the unit to deploy people into the field.