WNC Wilderness Safety Fund

10/17/2026

We had a great time with some Haywood County SAR team members at the Apple Harvest Festival today!

We enjoyed all the friendly conversations and kids that stopped by to get hoisted in the air.

10/17/2026

10/17/2026

If you are in Waynesville and swinging by the festival, stop by and say hello!

05/03/2026

Our mission is to support rescue organizations in our region, both financially and through training.

Today, we, along with members of the Haywood County Search and Rescue team led training for regional rescuers in Murphy, NC.

We covered managing a search, self care, how/what to pack to facilitate a rescue, using technology to support search efforts, and effective patient packaging before hitting the forest for a mock rescue scenario involving 3 patients in various states of need.

Rescuers did a fantastic job following clues, making patient contact, prioritizing patients, packaging and extracting all patients safely.

Our goal is to continue to use your donations to provide the necessary training and gear to make sure our regional rescue teams are equiped with the things they need to effect positive outcomes for visitors to our wild places.

Thanks to our friends at the Murphy FD for their support and use of their facilities!

04/14/2026

We are down to a few slots remaining and would love to have you. Last call!

If you are part of emergency services in WNC, we’d love to have you!

We will be learning the fundamentals of a search and rescue with topics like setting up a search, search tools, patient packaging and movement in a wilderness setting, safety and risk management, and then putting it all together in a mock rescue scenario in the afternoon.

If you are interested, send us an email at [email protected]