Information for Prospective Members

Welcome to the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group!  We hope that, though it might be hard work at times, joining our team will be both enjoyable and rewarding.

The Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group (AMRG) is an all volunteer, Pittsburgh based Search and Rescue team.  Providing ground searchers, search dogs, drones, search management, wilderness emergency medicine, cave and high-angle rescue services, our training standards, operational standards, and administrative requirements ensure that the our members provide these services with the quality and consistency that is needed. AMRG is an accredited member team of the Mountain Rescue Association, the Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Council the the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference. We are also the volunteer SAR component of the Allegheny County Child Abuduction Response team.

AMRG is dispatched to searches by Allegheny County 911 and we are requested to assist our law enforcement partners about 40 to 50 times per year.  Sometimes we have several close together and then none for a long time. Operations are mostly missing person searches (hunters, children, Alzheimer's patients, crime victims), with the occasional downed aircraft searches and mountain or cave rescues for variety, but the majority of our rescue work is when we look for a missing person.  Our searches can happen any time of the day or night, even at three in the morning during freezing rain (so don’t say you weren’t warned!) or during the work week.  As volunteers, there is not a requirement that you go on a particular mission -- members respond as they are available. We do have some members who are retired or who have flexible work schedules, which allow them to attend more searches than other members working a regular work schedule.

If you are interested in joining, Contact Us, and we will provide you with information about how to get involved. AMRG accepts new members in cohorts once or twice a year. Our Summer 2024 membership window closed on July 27th, 2024. The next new member application window will open in late winter/spring 2025. If you are interested in getting involved in search and rescue, please contact us to be added to the Spring 2025 membership cohort. Prospective Canine Handlers and people with previous SAR experience and certification are encouraged to apply throughout the year and do not have to wait for a membership window. We have immeadiate opening for experienced or prospecitve trailing/tracking dog handlers.

Prospective members will be invited to attend a prospective member orientation and will be given a packet of information about the application process, participation requirements, and required paperwork. If you are accepted as a prospective member you will be permitted to attend a limited number of trainings and you will be expected to submit all of your application materials by the close of application period, so that you can attend the required new member training with your cohort of other prospective members. If you do not submit all of the required application materials, you will be moved to the next new member cohort, which will be held 6 to 12 months later.  Our new member coordinator will provide you with the application materials and  discuss the application and background check process with you, which includes:

• Submitting the completed application form, the Pennsylvania criminal background check clearance, and, if necessary, FBI background checks, along with a non-refundable $51.00 initiation fee.
• The AMRG Board of Directors will review your application and background check results, as well as conduct reference check and review your performance from the trainings you have attended and feedback from our members. 
• You will be interviewed by our Chief or Board of Directors as part of the application review process. 
• The AMRG Board of Directors will then vote on your application and if approved you will become a Probationary Member. 

Probationary membership is a time when  you are expected to work on the skills to become an Operational member as well as meet and work with your new teammates. You will be a Probationary Member for at least 3 months. During this time, you will be receiving SAR training from the team and getting feedback on your training progress. Our goal is to have you ready to become a full Operational member by the end of the probationary period, however, Probationary Membership may be terminated by the Board of Directors due to lack of training progress, failure to meet the physical fitness requirement, or any behavioral issues or policy issues. Completion of the probationary period does not guarantee that you will be accepted by the Team for full membership -- we encourage you to dedicate time and effort to building your skills and contributing to the team and bonding with your teammates during your probationary period to help ensure you are welcomed when we vote your full membership!

As a Probationary, you may become Callout Qualified (CQ), or Awareness Level, which permits you to respond to searches under the supervision of an Operational Member. Being CQ means that you have demonstrated a basic understanding of SAR, meet the background, physical fitness, and participation requirements, and not likely to kill yourself (or someone else) the first time you go into the field and may participate in a search and rescue operation in a supportive role (usually under the direct supervision of an Operational Member or higher). AMRG CQs may wear our uniform shirt and jacket. To become CQ, you must:

• be a Probationary member for at least 3 months and attend must attend 12 trainings, including at least 2 canine trainings

• participate satisfactorily in AMRG's New Member Orientation training, which covers the role of the CQ, AMRG policies and procedures, our alerting and dispatching system,  personal equipment, short-term survival, search tactics, and personal safety

• satisfactorily complete a least one field training or exercise, demonstrating the physical ability to participate in SAR activities, as well as the ability to work within a team based organization

• Demonstrate you are physically fit enough to operate in the field by being able to successfully complete the stand wildland fire fighter moderate pack test. 

• complete the following online courses:
  • NIMS IS-100 Introduction to Incident Command System
  • NIMS IS-700 NIMS An Introduction

• obtain the proper personal equipment:

  • appropriate clothing and footgear

  • water bottle of 1 or 2-liter capacity

  • 5 large plastic leaf bags

  • headlamp and second light source (second light can be handheld)

  •  Orienteering compass 

    • We highly recomment an orienteering compass with adjustable declination such as a Suunto M-3 or an Suunto MC-2 with a mirror

  • waterproof pen/pencil and notebook (keeping your regular notebook and pencil in a zip-lock bag is adequate)

  • daypack

  • food for 48 hours

  • lighter, waterproof matches and candle, or other fire source

  • knife

  • personal first aid kit

  • whistle

  • two pairs of latex or plastic exam gloves

  • leather gloves 

  • eye protection/goggles

  •  Hi-visibility Orange Safety Vest

• The AMRG SARTopo team app installed on your phone

•  optional (and encouraged equipment):
  • An external battery and charging cable for your phone

After successfully completing the Probationary Membership period, you may be proposed for Full Membership at a monthly business meeting. Full Membership is voted on by the Team as whole and being a Full Members is required to have voting rights withing the Team. Once you are a Full Member, you can advance to other certification levels, including:

Operational Member.  All AMRG members are expected to become Operational Members, which indicates that you meet the MRA requirements for competency as a ground search and rescue technician. To become an Operational Member, you must first meet the CQ standards, participate in four training sessions, including one on wilderness survival and one on search theory, get additional personal equipment, and meet a set of technical standards.  You must pass an external standard written and practical test (either NASAR SARTech II, ASRC FTM, or DCNR FTM), and then, at a Group business meeting, receive a favorable vote for Operational Member status.  you must also have a current First Aid and CPR card. You must be a member for at least 6 months and complete the probationary period before becoming an Operational Member.

• AMRG Operational Member Equipment and Skills Checklist

After becoming an Operational Member, you may pursue additional specialization in areas such as Canine SAR, Rope, Cave, or Water rescue, or Search Management. Each of these specialities has its own requirements and participation requirements, as well as an AMRG officer that oversees the area of specialization.

Canine Handler certification is specialty certification open to members who reach Operational Member. It requires an appropriate canine partner, one- to two-year commitment with weekly trainings for you and your dog before you will become certified, and a commitment to continuing to train your dog weekly for the rest of its operational lifetime. For a new member who is interested in canine SAR, the highest priority for the first six months is developing the basic search, navigation, and gridding skills of you, the handler, so that you can operate either with or with your dog. You, as a human, will have far more to learn than your canine partner does. AMRG will help you determine if your dog is cut out for SAR work, or help you select a new canine partner, as well as detimer the best fit for the type of search dog certificaiton to persue: Live Find Airscent, Trailing, or Human Remains Detection. For more information, see AMRG's Canine Standards.

Drone Pilots are encourated to join AMRG and put your drone skills to use with missing person searches. AMRG is currently a BYOD (bring you own drone) organization, meaning that you will have to provide your own drone. However, AMRG will help you with training, certification, and choosing the appropriate drone for SAR work. 

eBike Seach Unit members are eBike riders that can quickly cover trails and roads, get to search ares to perform dismounted ground searches, and to move equipment and gear. AMRG is a current a BYOB (bring your own eBike) organization, meaning that you will have to provide your owe eBike to participate in this aspect of AMRG.

Rescue Member level has stricter and more extensive standards thanOperational Member, which reflect the member's ability to undertake leadership roles in the field and supportive roles in search management and also requires meeting the MRA standards to undertake more direct roles in high-angle rescue, as well as minimal on-line skills such as rappelling and ascending. You must be a member for at least a year before becoming a Rescue Member.

• AMRG Rescue Member Equipment and Skills Checklist

Higher Rescue Specialist standards go beyond the Rescue Member standards in technical mountain rescue, as well as Cave and Water Rescue.  The RS standards cover building and safely operating high-angle rope rescue systems, as well as on-line skills such as being a litter attendant in a vertical rescue and alpine travel and rescue. AMRG has three levels of higher rescue tech certifications: Mountain Search and Rescue Technician III, II, and I, each representing a sequentially higher level of competency.

Search Manager is an additional level beyond Rescue Member certification who are trained in the responsibilities in the command post such as heading an operational section or, at the higher levels, managing the search. AMRG Search Managers meet the requirement the the Mountain Rescue Association Policy 105.1 Operations Leader.

Since we are a mountain rescue team, most who join go on to become certified, at one or more levels, for wilderness search and rescue work. But Sustaining Membership is available for those who want to participate or help the team, but not respond to missions.For instance, lawyers or CPAs who help out with the Group’s administrative work and who attend meetings on a regular basis can be Sustaining Members, even if they’ve never set foot in the woods. 

Please talk to any Group member if you have questions.  Business meetings are the first Tuesday of each month, at 6:00 PM. Locations change each month and are sometimes done remotely (particularly in the winter). 

For information, Contact AMRG