The link to apply to Summit County’s SAR team will be reposted in the coming weeks, according to Lt. Alan Siddoway, who coordinates SAR for the sheriff’s office.
People waiting to hear back about an application may be contacted soon.
“We're looking towards January to basically allow the applicants to come in and meet with us,” he said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour.”
New member interviews and training are only ever conducted in January. But hiring had been paused while the county revised its volunteer policies.
The new year will also bring the SAR team new cashflow. Voters approved a 0.5% sales tax on all purchases except gas, groceries and prescriptions.
Some of that money will go toward rescue equipment. The nonprofit Friends of Summit County Search and Rescue has said rescuers frequently use their own equipment, or are under-equipped for rescues in backcountry environments.
“The newest snowmobile that we have in our fleet, not member-owned, but county-owned, is six years old,” Siddoway said.
SAR is planning to buy four new sleds at around $17,000 a piece with some of the sales tax revenue. Siddoway said it will allow them to keep up with the equipment recreationists are using in the Uintas.
He also hopes to invest in a snowcat that has a heater, to warm patients during medical transport, and pay for state-mandated training.
This winter, SAR reminds recreationists to be cautious about variable conditions.
“This time of year, and in the spring, we deal a lot with vehicles that will go around a ‘road closed’ barricade where there's not a hard gate closure,” Siddoway said.
He also recommended adjusting cell phone and GPS settings to avoid sending false SOS signals to rescuers.
Some electronics can sense when their user has crashed, but if they’re stowed in a backpack or saddlebag, routine bumps in the trail might dispatch SAR.
The primary area Summit County Search and Rescue responds to is the Uinta mountain range. Historically, winter calls ramp up and peak in February.
