September 9, 2020 3:30 a.m.

The deadline to sign up is approaching and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is still looking for community members willing to volunteer their time to the Search and Rescue Division.

A release said under Oregon law, the Sheriff of each county is tasked with the responsibility of search and rescue efforts. In Douglas County, that means Sheriff John Hanlin is responsible for searching for lost and missing people within the 5,000 square miles of the county.

DCSO is looking for individuals capable of physical tasks ranging from wilderness searching to technical rope rescues, to those willing to prepare meals for searchers, to those who want to help maintain equipment used by the searchers. Training is provided, at no cost.

Some of the search and rescue disciplines include:

*Mountain Rescue

*Mounted Searchers on horseback

*Dive Team with scuba equipment

*Ground SAR

*4×4 searchers

*Logistics

*K9 search team

An “Introduction to Search and Rescue” meeting will be held this Saturday at 8:00 a.m. at the Douglas County Search and Rescue building on Diamond Lake Boulevard.

Call 440-4498 or go to http://www.dcso.com/search_and_rescue_N.asp for more information.