This past weekend, members of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Hasty Team passed the third and final field assessment required by the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) to become one of only 75 fully accredited Mountain Rescue teams in North America.
There are eight MRA regions in the United States, the WCSO Hasty Team will be added to the California region.
There are currently only 75 out of roughly 2500 Search and Rescue Teams across the United States that have earned this accreditation.
“I would like to congratulate the men and women of the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office Hasty Team on this incredible accomplishment. Just three percent of Search and Rescue teams in the United States have earned this accreditation, and we are very proud of their hard work.” Sheriff Darin Balaam said. “These brave volunteers are ready to respond to a call for help, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Their tireless dedication to the citizens of Washoe County is invaluable and saves countless lives every year.”
This two-year long process included evaluation by MRA representatives of team policies, training standards, equipment and performance in the field involving thousands of hours of training across a range of mountain rescue disciplines (in addition to still maintaining competency in NON mountain rescue disciplines, such as Swift Water Rescue, Helicopter Hoist Rescue, and Public Safety Diving) in order to pass MRA field assessments in Technical Rock Rescue, Technical Snow and Ice Rescue, and Search and Tracking.
About 40 volunteers make up the entire WCSO Hasty Team.
