Skagit County Volunteer Search and Rescue holds joint training exercise

As Skagit County Volunteer Search and Rescue marks 60 years of service, volunteers from all six of the organization’s specialized teams recently came together for a joint training exercise designed to prepare them for the next search and rescue mission.

The nonprofit is entirely volunteer-run, with about 75 members serving on its six teams: search dogs, mountain rescue, ground rescue, and three marine and water rescue teams.

“We don’t train together, we usually just see each other out on rescues,” said Todd Power, president of Skagit Ground Search and Rescue. “We could actually train together and get to know the people a little bit more and see how the other teams work.”

The training scenario, held at Lighthouse Point Wednesday near Deception Pass, was based on an actual search and rescue call.

“Every time we go out on a search, we learn something new,” Power said. “It’s really nice to be able to go back and train and try to hone our skills a little bit better so that we do better next time.”

Volunteers pretended to be three lost hikers while K9 teams searched the trails for them.

After locating one of the hikers on a steep bluff, the mountain rescue team lowered the patient to the beach, where marine crews completed the rescue by boat.

Sergeant Paul Wolfe of the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office, who oversees the county’s search and rescue operations, said the layered scenario was rare.

“That’s pretty unique when you get people on the ground and also a crossover with the water and some steep terrain,” Wolfe said.

At the same time, members of the Skagit Technical Water Rescue team flipped kayaks in the bay so marine crews could practice rescuing people from the water.

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