The Utah County Sheriff volunteer Search and Rescue team ranks among the busiest in the world, with 80 to 100 calls in a typical year. 2008 was no exception with 98 total calls.

Utah County offers a wide variety of terrain and activities, and the types of rescue missions reflects this. Missions included vehicle, horse, kite surfing, sailing, rafting and motorboating accidents; stranded, lost and injured climbers, hikers, hunters, skiers, snowmobilers, boaters and bikers; weather-related emergencies; vehicles stuck in snowbanks, rivers, and over steep embankments; plane crashes, and more.

This number includes several calls which were canceled before many SAR members arrived on scene and were needed, but omits other involvement such as over 90 trainings by the team as a whole, new member trainings, and special teams who operate their own trainings to keep their skills sharp and ready.

Utah County Sheriff SAR is recognized throughout the intermountain rescue community as a highly-skilled and dedicated team.

If you would like to apply to become a member of our team, donate to support our efforts (your donations are tax deductible and they save lives!), or otherwise contribute, please use the Join, Donate or Contact links at the top right of this website. Thank you for your support!

Three agencies – Air Med, Spanish Fork Fire, and Search and Rescue – cooperated in the rescue of a 75 year old man who was injured while riding a snowmobile without a helmet in the Wan Rhodes area of Diamond Fork. The man apparently accidentally hit the throttle and ran into a tree.

Rescuers rode snowmobiles eight miles to the scene of the accident, treated the man for injuries, and transported him to the helicopter which was able to land nearby.

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A man and young girl were rescued after their snowmobile engine seized up in the Diamond Fork Three Corners area.

SAR units left from Hobble Creek Right Fork on snowmobiles, a helicopter spotted the pair’s fire and provided GPS coordinates for the snowmobiles. The pair was well prepared and ready to spend the night if necessary. The incapacitated sled was towed out and both passengers were transported to their cars.

An injured skier skied out of bounds from below Sundance’s Arrowhead lift and hiked all the way to Wildwood in Provo Canyon.

SAR units accompanied Sundance Ski Patrol to track the man, but stopped when their FLIR (forward looking infra red) cameras, which showed the heat within the man’s tracks through the snow, led them to a narrow canyon with dozens of avalanche starting zones and high avalanche danger following recent storms. The man was soon located on the road.