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Champaign County Search & Rescue seal Champaign County
Search & Rescue Sheriff's Office · EMA
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Training

Search and rescue is a trained skill. We'll teach you what you need — in the classroom and in the field.

While no prior experience is necessary to volunteer, Search and Rescue is a trained skill, and CCSAR offers its members training opportunities both in the classroom and the field to develop and maintain those skills. Search and Rescue Ground Operations Training, Lost Person Behavior, Search and Rescue Management, First Aid/CPR, and Using a Compass are among the training topics we offer.

A searcher in a blaze-orange jacket, cap and pack sights a bearing through a handheld compass while standing in tall grass at the edge of a treeline.
Taking a compass bearing during flanker training.

Training requirements

Successfully complete one of the following initially, and then at least once every two years thereafter:

CourseProviderDetails
Search and Rescue Ground Operations Training (SARGOT) CCSAR Offered twice a year (usually April and October). An 8-hour course.
Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) ISARC 16-hour course offered around the state, including central Illinois, usually over a Saturday and Sunday. ISARC's Basic Land Navigation (BNAV) is a pre-requisite.
Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSAR) Awareness Illinois Fire Service Institute See fsi.illinois.edu for more information.

FEMA Incident Command System (ICS)

Obtain certifications for the following FEMA ICS modules — free, online courses offered through the FEMA Emergency Management Institute:

  • IS-100.c — An Introduction to the Incident Command System
  • IS-700.b — An Introduction to the National Incident Management System
Upon completion of these courses, a copy of your certificate of successful completion must be furnished to Champaign County EMA.
Strongly recommended: we encourage all volunteers to take Lost Person Behavior. The information presented in this course lays the foundation for where and how to search.

Training after dark

While night searches are rare, CCSAR trains just in case. Searching at night is much different than searching during daylight.

Searchers in orange jackets work along a brushy field edge after dark, lighting the ground with headlamps and flashlights.
Night search training.
Next up

See when the next training runs

SARGOT typically runs in April and October. Check the calendar for the next classroom session, field exercise, or team meeting.

Open the calendar