SAR Tech is the Canadian short form of Search and Rescue Technician, a military rescue specialist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. SAR Techs reach people after aircraft accidents, in maritime distress and at other hard-to-access emergency sites, begin medical treatment there and contribute to their evacuation. The occupation combines pre-hospital care with parachute access, helicopter rescue, rescue diving, and mountain and rope rescue. Survival training is part of the role because rescuers and casualties must withstand the same environmental conditions until evacuation.
A rescue occupation with its own training
SAR Techs train to the Canadian national standard for primary-care paramedics and acquire additional advanced skills. They take medical capability directly to someone an ambulance cannot reach. A casualty in an aircraft wreck, on a steep slope or aboard a vessel needs a safe means of access and a route out as well as treatment. The SAR Tech occupation brings these tasks together.
Entry into the occupation involves an occupational transfer by serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and specific training at the Canadian Forces School of Search and Rescue. Further courses and requalification cover areas including team leadership, dive supervision, rescue from overturned vessels, parachuting and medical skills. The same school's Sea Survival training for aircrew has a different purpose: people must survive after ejecting or crash-landing into water. SAR Techs prepare to reach, care for and evacuate other people.
Reaching the person and moving them out
The access method depends on the incident site, flight options and hazards. A parachute descent can deliver rescuers and equipment to a location where the aircraft cannot land. A helicopter hoist connects the hovering aircraft with a person on the ground, in the water or aboard a vessel. Mountain and rope rescue provide access and movement on steep terrain; rescue divers reach people underwater or in confined spaces. Travelling on foot with equipment and carrying casualties over long distances are also part of the role.
Within the rescue mission coordinated by the responsible JRCC, the SAR mission coordinator decides whether to deploy the team. The aircraft commander and SAR Tech team leader jointly choose the means of access. Both must concur with deployment on safety grounds. Wind, visibility, obstacles, water conditions and an unstable wreck affect whether rescuers can reach the person and then move them. Even after the incident site has been reached, evacuation may require a different means: a parachute gets the rescuer down, but it does not take the casualty back into the airborne aircraft.
Locating the site, gaining access and evacuating the casualty are therefore separate tasks. An aircraft crew can search for the site, observe it and drop equipment while SAR Techs work on the ground. Casualties may first need extrication from wreckage, movement out of a dangerous position or transport on a stretcher. The next step may be helicopter pickup once a suitable aircraft can reach the site under the existing conditions. When pickup is delayed, the rescuers already present and their equipment must sustain care at the site.
Medical care and survival until evacuation
With several casualties, medical work begins with triage: who is in immediate danger, who needs treatment first and who can still move independently? Actual field tasks include care for hypothermia, fractures and breathing problems, safe transfers of casualties unable to move, pain management and monitoring vital signs. The type and extent of treatment depend on the findings, qualifications and available equipment. Extrication from an aircraft wreck must also account for its stability; uncontrolled movement can cause further injuries to both patient and rescuer.
Care continues after the initial assessment. SAR Techs must monitor changes, maintain treatment and protect people from the environment. Shelter, warmth, water and food help sustain survivors where their condition and the available means permit. Medical care and protection from cold interact: a patient waiting for evacuation in cold terrain continues to lose heat. An available shelter and continued care can therefore be as urgent as preparing for eventual pickup.
When contact with a rescue team actually exists, specific information is more useful than “I feel bad”: current location, number of people, apparent injuries, changes in condition and who can still walk. A person's inability to move may require a stretcher, another rescuer or a different pickup method. For a possible pickup, pack your remaining equipment and secure loose items. Approach an aircraft only when instructed by the team; approaching on your own can obstruct access and take you into the area of rotors or propellers.
Canadian SAR and military isolation
Canada's national aeronautical and maritime search and rescue system uses Joint Rescue Coordination Centres, where the air force and coast guard coordinate their respective contributions. The armed forces provide aeronautical rescue; the coast guard provides maritime rescue services. Searches for missing people on land generally fall to provinces and territories and the responsible local services, with Parks Canada responsible in federal parks. Military assistance can be requested. A missing-person search on land therefore does not mean a SAR Tech team is already on its way.
SAR Techs can also serve in expeditionary operations. Their technical and medical capabilities initially answer how to reach a person, treat them and move them. In an area threatened by an adversary, a military recovery operation adds further requirements: actual forces, a feasible means of access under threat, and prepared contact and identification procedures. An overt distress signal that helps locate a civilian aircraft accident can also alert an adversary to an evader's position. In that setting, the threat and prepared recovery procedures govern when and how you reveal yourself.
American PJs, the US Air Force's pararescuemen, specialize in personnel recovery, including recovery in combat. SAR Tech names the distinct Canadian rescue occupation.