It’s no secret that Harney County offers a number of recreational opportunities. Hiking, fishing, hunting, camping, and the list goes on. While the vast majority of these activities result in an enjoyable outing for the participants, every now and then, something goes wrong.

It could be anything from a lost hiker to a serious accident, and that’s where Harney County Search and Rescue (SAR) comes into play.

SAR is a group of trained volunteers who are willing to drop whatever they are doing at the moment — leaving their home or business at any hour — in an attempt to bring a positive outcome to the situation.

John Petty, president of the Harney County SAR, said the formation of the local group came about in the fall of 1989 following a couple of incidents in the forest that resulted in fatalities.

He said about five members of the Burns Fire Department got together and started talking about establishing a SAR team. Along with the Harney County Sheriff’s Office, the group began the organizational framework. Petty noted that there was no funding for SAR at the time, so they raised money by providing security at the county fair and other events.

In its initial stages, the SAR group underwent survival training. Since then, the group has become more organized and attended more training sessions.

“We kind of started with a little bit of training that was required by the state, the Sheriff’s Association that we based everything on,” Petty said. “Then we started doing tracker training, started going to managing search operations and stuff like that. It also evolved through the different sheriffs we had through that period of time.”

Petty added that there was a time when the focus was on tracker training.

“Earl McGee was one of our lead trackers, Greg Peterson was, and me, and a few of the others were the trackers of the group. We used to go every year to an annual meeting to have them trained to keep our certification,” Petty said.

Through the years, SAR has expanded training, including ice rescue training.

There are currently about 18 members of the Harney County SAR. Within that number is a small core of members who form the nucleus.

Suzanne Settle, a SAR manager, noted that the numbers fluctuate because members are all volunteers, and they attend meetings and trainings when it’s possible to do so around work schedules, private lives, etc.

Paul Gray, emergency manager for the county, said that was the case last summer when SAR was called out to an incident on Steens Mountain. It was Labor Day weekend, and resources were scarce. So when the call came in, there were only a few people available to respond.

Settle said the state was unable to send aid. Malheur County, with an 11-man rope team, had only five team members respond, and Grant County could only send one person.

“There for a while, it was every time we got called, it was me and maybe two other people who would show up,” Gray said. “After September, we kind of talked to everybody about needing more people, especially if we have to go out on the Steens, and all of a sudden, everybody started coming out every time we had a call out.”

Settle pointed out that, once fire season gets under way, the group gets smaller, as the firefighters and federal employees are probably not going to be able to respond.

“Which is why we want to get more people,” Gray said.

The Harney County SAR receives an average of seven calls per year, with the majority of those being hunters or elderly people who have become lost.

Gray said about three or four years ago, SAR was getting about three to four calls per year. In the past year, there has been a call out in almost every month. Part of the reason for the increase is people’s reliance on cellphones. Visitors and locals alike don’t realize cellphone coverage is spotty in some areas of the county, so contact with others is not always possible.

Settle said GPS units also play a factor in some cases, as some routes provided by a GPS are not the best ones to take.

“People are following their GPS and not reading maps,” she said. “GPS leads them on a different route that isn’t viable.”

As Harney County continues to see more people recreating in the area, SAR becomes more important. It is in need of more volunteers, as well as donations for equipment and training. The group meets for 90 minutes once a month, and there are training sessions for members as well, including a two-and-a-half-day training put on by Eastern Oregon Search and Rescue. The local SAR is nonprofit, so any donations made are tax deductible.

Gray said more training (such as rope training) is needed for more members. Donations and grants are also used to purchase more ropes, helmets, vests, training for a scent dog and a cadaver dog, equipment for ice and water rescues, and other equipment.

If anyone is interested in becoming part of the local SAR, they can stop by the sheriff’s office in Burns to pick up an application or attend one of the monthly meetings to get started. The meetings are held the fourth Monday of each month at the SAR headquarters on Fillmore Avenue at 7 p.m.