Union County Search & Rescue

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La Grande, OR
Union County Search & Rescue

Union County SAR is an all-volunteer organization made up of dedicated community volunteers.

The SAR team operates under the authority and direction of the Union County Sheriff's Office, and provides search and rescue services to Union County and beyond, through mutual aid agreements with neighboring agencies.

08/28/2026

EARLY MORNING RESCUE NEAR EAGLE LAKE

In the very early morning hours of August 27th, Union County SAR was notified of a 35 year-old male who had experienced a significant fall the prior evening that resulted in the complete amputation of one of his fingers among other unknown injuries (at the time). After rendering aid, the injured man's companion hiked the approximately 7 miles out to the trailhead and then drove to where they were then able to call for help, as their cell phone was lost during the incident.

SAR began to organize the response immediately upon notification, and at approximately 3:00 AM, a rescue team with embedded paramedics from the City of La Grande Fire Department began a response by ground while a Life Flight Network helicopter attempted to locate the patient at their last-known location. The reporting party (who hiked-out and drove to call for help) was kindly provided hospitality by Union Rural Fire Protection District staff, while the amputated digit they had secured at the scene was brought to Grande Ronde Hospital by Union Ambulance.

The helicopter was unable to locate the patient on the initial flight, so the flight crew and SAR arranged for a second flight at daylight. Hoist-capable helicopter SAR assets from the Spokane County Sheriff's Office and Oregon National Guard were also briefed and on standby during this time, in case the patient was unable to be located or rescued with initial response resources. (Due to the very confined topography of the area, it was not safe for more than one helicopter to be operating in the airspace at the same time.)

While conducting a sound sweep shortly after 8:00 AM, the ground rescue team located the patient, who had started to self-extract towards the trailhead. The rescue team identified a nearby landing zone, where a Life Flight helicopter was able to land and pick up the patient, who was ultimately flown with their amputated digit to a regional hospital for surgery.

We'd like to extend a huge thank you to all involved, including our volunteers who dutifully answer the call, our local fire departments, the USFS staff at the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center, and Oregon Department of Emergency Management as were it not for their cooperation and all of the other interagency partnerships previously mentioned that we benefit from, we could not be nearly as efficient or successful as we are.

Union County Sheriff's Office
Oregon Department of Emergency Management
Oregon State Sheriffs' Association

07/27/2026

This weekend members of our team joined peers from Washington and Idaho for a SAR management class, worked alongside our incredible teammates with Umatilla County Search and Rescue for fire evacuations, and responded to a medical call at Jubilee Lake.

It has been a busy summer for all of our local agencies and resources are stretched thin across the state with wildfire responses. Please do your part to help by being extra cautious when recreating this summer!

07/20/2026

This past week our volunteers led a three-day outdoor survival camp as part of La Grande Parks and Recreation’s summer programs. SAR team members taught kids about the “ten essentials” of survival preparedness, discussed what to do when lost, and practiced building shelters among other skills. We want to sincerely thank our volunteers for generously contributing their time to make valuable public education events like this possible!

06/28/2026

We'd like to extend our sincere gratitude to our neighboring SAR teams in Baker and Umatilla counties for eagerly responding to assist us yesterday morning on a search for a missing mushroom picker.

On the late evening of Friday, June 26th, our SAR team was notified of a local La Grande man who was presumed to be lost after getting separated from his companion in a heavy rainstorm earlier in the day in the area of the USFS 43 Road west of Pilcher Creek Reservoir. Union County SAR responded and searched through the night, and we requested assistance from Baker and Umatilla counties' teams the following morning due to the amount of steep terrain and roads needing to be searched. The lost individual was found by SAR in the late morning of Saturday, June 27th. He was cold and wet from spending the night out in the rain and 40 degree temperatures, but healthy and in good sprits.

Mutual aid is something all SAR teams in our region rely on when additional resources are needed, and we cannot express our gratitude enough for the willingness of our neighboring teams to clear their schedules on a Saturday morning to assist us. Thank you!
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Baker County Sheriff's Office
Umatilla County Search and Rescue
Union County Sheriff's Office
Oregon State Sheriffs' Association
Oregon Department of Emergency Management

06/08/2026

Last week and this past weekend, members of our team trained alongside Umatilla County Search and Rescue and Wallowa County Search and Rescue team members, completing an Oregon Rescue Rope Rescue Technician course near La Grande. This was an incredible training for our team, not only for the technical rescue skills gained and practiced, but also the partnerships, relationships, and trust built between neighboring SAR teams who frequently provide mutual aid to each other.

We give our sincere thanks to Umatilla County SAR who took the lead on organizing the course, our volunteers who committed several days of their time to this very intensive training, and to our donors who make it possible for us to provide such valuable training opportunities to our team. Thank you!

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Union County Sheriff's Office
Oregon Department of Emergency Management
Oregon State Sheriffs' Association

05/30/2026

Today Union and Wallowa counties’ water rescue teams conducted a joint water rescue training mission with the Oregon National Guard on the Minam River. The National Guard flew our combined water rescue teams, boats, and equipment in to Red’s Horse Ranch, and the teams then worked their way the approximately 24 miles down the Minam River to the Minam State Park.

The upper Minam is a high risk section of river full of large rocks and dangerous strainer hazards. Recreation on and near the river has resulted in increasing calls for water-related emergencies in recent years, prompting both water rescue teams to identify the area as a priority for training. The combined training mission allowed us to not only strengthen the already strong relationship between all of the agencies involved, but also become familiar with new hazards in the river and sharpen individual and team boating skills in a fast moving and rocky river environment.

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Union County Sheriff's Office
Oregon Department of Emergency Management
Oregon State Sheriffs' Association
Wallowa County Search and Rescue
City of La Grande Fire Department

05/11/2026

The past several days SAR and Union County Sheriff's Office marine patrol participated in swiftwater rescue technician training taught by Oregon Rescue. While our interagency team trains together on a regular basis, we periodically bring in professional instructors to provide initial certification training to new team members, and ensure that we stay up-to-date with advances in rescue science and curriculum.

Oregon State Sheriffs' Association
Oregon Department of Emergency Management

05/08/2026

242 HOURS SPENT LOOKING FOR MUSHROOM PICKERS SO FAR THIS WEEK

Between May 3rd and 8th, Union County SAR team members have logged approximately 242 hours searching for lost mushroom pickers on three separate incidents. That is an average of over 40 search hours PER DAY. Two searches were days apart and completely unrelated, but in nearly the exact same area. The four individuals lost across all three instances were all local to and familiar with the areas they sarted out in.

Please let these statistics impart the importance of personal preparedness regardless of your familiarity and comfort with the area you are recreating in. Be prepared with the 10 survival essentials even if you're out for a short outing, carry your phone with you, and avoid going out alone. A GPS or GPS app for your phone that works offline is an excellent tool to add a degree of safety to your outings this spring, as mushroom picking can be extremely disorienting from wandering and looking at the ground vs the horizon.

Union County Sheriff's Office
Oregon State Sheriffs' Association
Oregon Department of Emergency Management

05/06/2026

Union County SAR has been working alongside SAR teams from across eastern Oregon assisting our neighbors at Umatilla County Search and Rescue with an ongoing search incident that they are managing. Weekday operations are always challenging for volunteers' schedules, especially following a separate search we had for a lost mushroom picker west of Elgin Sunday evening through Monday morning, so we are incredibly appreciative of the 13 generous and dedicated team members who we've been able to deploy so far to assist.

04/28/2026

This weekend our water rescue team took advantage of increased streamflows to do some training and kayak-handling practice on the Grande Ronde River upstream of La Grande. This stretch of river is popular for recreation, so our team takes advantage of opportunities like this to gain familiarity with the river and in-stream hazards at different water levels. With the passage of time and high flows, obstacles like trees move in and down the river, so regular trips allow us to be aware of areas where someone, or one of us, might get into trouble.

Address

1109 K Avenue
La Grande, OR
97850

Telephone

+15419631017

Website

https://unioncountysheriff.us/programs/volunteer-opportunities/search-and-rescue/, https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted

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