Silver Valley Search and Rescue

05/09/2026

Depot Days! Come see all the cars and visit our booth. We have our annual raffle going on now with several items on the list including some not listed that we’ve had in years past😊
Tickets are $5 a piece or 5 for $20.
Reach out directly for more information!

04/28/2026

Meeting reminder, this Sunday May 3rd at 2:00 and training at 3:00 at the Osburn Firestation.

04/13/2026

Future Meetings and Trainings Notice!
May 3rd
June 7th
July 12th
August 2nd

For now, we will continue to conduct all meetings beginning at 2:00 pm followed by training (various small segmented learning sessions) at 3:00 pm each month. Location will usually be the Osburn Firestation, unless otherwise noted.
Dates and times are subject to change based on organization needs, however you should have plenty of notice of those changes.
More communication, flexible dates, and options for virtual attendance to come!

04/13/2026

Successful training complete! Thank you to our Sheriff Department for joining and supporting us today, Undersheriff Skinner and Deputy End.

Fantastic training led by Mark and Ericka, as well as a huge shout out to our President, Robert for his part in training SAR management and organizing it all.

Thank you to all who attended!

04/07/2026

Our training/monthly meeting will be this Sunday (4/12) behind the airport. We will be parking over by the Sheriff's Department vehicles on the dirt pad out there. Setup is at 8AM, 9PM search training will begin. At approximately noon we will begin our monthly meeting. If aren't a part of our team and want to join us please message us and let us know so we can get you into the facility.

Send a message to learn more

04/04/2026

Happy April everyone!

The next meeting will be on April 12 at noon preceded by training (if you are able) that begins at 9am. Robert is working on what the training will include so more details to come.

We will be at the airport this time, so if you are unsure how to get there let me know and we can arrange to meet, then go over together.

Working on having some food provided, please comment below if you are attending!

02/26/2026

Our March meeting will be Sunday March 1st at 2PM at the Osburn Firestation. If your interested in learning more about Search and Rescue feel free to drop on by! Applications are on site.

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02/20/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/1CMHMzEmXM/

02/19/2026

With the news this is a great time to discuss avalanches. The Silver Valley is prone to avalanches due to our lower altitudes and our fluctuating temperatures combined with our Avalanche terrain. Unfortunately combatting these challenges requires more knowledge of existing and predicted conditions and more knowledge of avalanche safety. We highly recommend taking c backcountry avalanche class if your spending a lot of time in the wilderness during the winter.

An important side note..........time vs survival. Below you will see a chart that shows the likelihood of survival vs time. Unfortunately what it will show you is that Search and Rescue, while we are here to help, has the unfortunate problem of spool up time. While we have avalanche dogs and people who specialize in avalanches getting those people to you in the back country takes time and that's the one thing you don't have with avalanches. The people who can save you are the people with you or nearby that might see it happen. Knowing how to use your beacons is imperative. Testing them before you leave the parking lot is also a requirement. Remember your life depends on the people around you.........everyone else is mostly irrelevant.

Keep an eye on IPAC's website for Avalanche info! https://www.idahopanhandleavalanche.org/forecasts/ #/silver-valley-&-bitterroot-mountains/

02/16/2026

Hello friends of Silver Valley Search and Rescue! We are reaching out to local businesses and individuals in an effort to have a really awesome raffle this year. We already have 4 high CALIBER products in the raffle, but we want to have this be our biggest and best raffle ever! We are solely funded on donations.......that's right your tax dollars don't come to us........that being said to have the tools and resources needed we need the communities help! We are a 501C3 and provide receipts allowing tax deductions. We will also help promote your business and it's generosity to this awesome group of volunteers! Please spread this message like wildfire across Facebook and let's make this the best raffle ever!

02/13/2026

It took me a few days to get to posting this but on Sunday night during the 3rd quarter of the Superbowl we were dispatched to go search for 3 missing people who went up to mark a mining claim. Unfortunately things went sideways and they got exhausted/lost and weren't prepared for the incoming storm. We were told there was numerous trees down in the area so we took 3 atv's up with chainsaws to go look for them. They managed to get a message out giving us a strong idea of where they were. Somewhere near Fulkerson Peak. Luckily someone else had cut the trees that were in our way exactly the width of an ATV. There were about 80 trees down across the road going in. There was no snow for 90% of the road.

About the 4000 foot mark we hit small amounts of snow and by the 4500 foot mark there was so much snow we couldn't proceed. Luckily the missing people passed a long a message that they could see us across the large ravine. We told them to start hiking as it was roughly 2 miles around to us and then proceeded to unstick the atv's and get them turned around. One of our team members hiked toward them in the deep snow but without snowshoes it was tough traveling. We got them back to the ATV's and back to their truck, cold and wet. I forgot to mentioned it was dumping snow at about an inch an hour when we got the atv's stuck. Luckily they managed to communicate with us as we definitely would have had to call off the search without a location.

Make sure you have backcountry equipment if you're going into the backcountry and make sure you have a good line of communication for emergencies. Our primary resource for situations like this is Two Bear Air but they are down for at least another month still. They are the only ones who can be deployed in IMR weather for the most part. Garmin In-Reach, Apple Satellite messaging, and the new Starlink via T-Mobile are great option. You don't need to use T-Mobile to add on Starlink for text, phone or even Video Calls from the middle of nowhere! You can simply add it on to whatever carrier you are using!

Don't worry I got to watch the Seahawks win the Superbowl on Monday :)

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