The Citizen

OWASCO - Brian and Christine Buff, of Skaneateles, have a tough avocation.

The husband-and-wife pair are two of 15 volunteers with the Cayuga County Highland Search and Rescue team who are ready and willing to travel throughout the state to respond to search and rescue efforts.

Like other search and rescue volunteers, they don't get paid for this work. They don't get reimbursed for the miles they travel to rescue efforts.

But they celebrated with their team Saturday a little help they got through a $12,000 member item grant that state Sen. David Valesky, D-Oneida, secured for them during the 2005-2006 year. With the state grant, they were able to purchase a Polaris six-by-six ATV vehicle with a trailer and a medical bed. It was delivered at the end of December and just fully entered service.

The six-wheel drive vehicle has excellent clearance over obstacles - it can move through a snow drift as tall as a human being without its rear wheels leaving the ground, Brian said. The current coordinator of the team, Brian said it is a top-of-the-line model.

Rescues are often in difficult and wild terrain. The vehicle will simplify and hasten rescues of

people in need. It's slow and arduous to carry out a heavy human body strapped to a rigid stokes basket designed to carry a litter. It will save people in need of rescue pain and get them faster to medical attention, said Terri Wren, of Wolcott, one of the deputy coordinators for the team.

“More often than not you end up doing it in the dark,” said Cayuga County Sheriff Outhouse, whose agency partners with the search and rescue team and attended the open house at the Owasco Fire Station No. 1.

“This is the kind of important use of taxpayer money. This is about the health and safety,” said Valesky, who also attended. “This is about a state of art vehicle that can help rescue.”

The vehicle will be able to be used statewide because of the interconnected nature of search and rescue teams. The highland team also celebrated a new command vehicle, a revamped ambulance donated by the Sempronius Fire Department.

Saturday's open house was also a membership drive. The Buffs both warned that it takes both dogs and humans 18 to 20 months to become fully trained to participate in a search and rescue team.

Dogs should be started from six- or seven-weeks-old so they bond with their human partner rather than puppy siblings, and they must have an active prey drive and they can't be skittish, said Christine, who is the canine director for the New York State Federation of Search and Rescue. She is in charge of testing rescue dogs, figuring out when they are ready to be used in the field and debriefing with law enforcement on what a dog is communicating.

Human volunteers, the Buffs said, must develop a rigorous skill set of understanding maps, compasses and search techniques, including taking a federation-required state Department of Environmental Conservation rangers' basic search class.

Christine's Mittru and Brian's Keena will soon by joined by Amanda Scarpato's seventh-month old Golden Retriever, Libby, a very “promising” dog that should be fully operational next spring, Brian said.

Highland's volunteers said all that work is worth it.

Wren used to play sports, but when she started her undergraduate career at SUNY Oswego she was looking for a new physical challenge, and community service seemed the best way to use her skills.

“It's a good adrenaline rush,” she said. “You get excited. Your body's primed. Also, it's so rewarding when we're able to find a child and see the family's faces.”

The volunteer team is split roughly in half between men and women. There is a culture of friendship between volunteers, Christine said.

“But it's damn hard work too,” she said. “You're racing time because you want it to be a rescue and not a recovery. (It's the) most rewarding thing I've ever done besides being a mom. It's just second to that.”

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net