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PRESS RELEASE 3/28/02
Top of Virginia Search and Rescue Group (TOVSAR) had a busy 2001. During last year, TOVSAR was called out 13 times, more than twice the number of callouts in 2000. Searches were conducted in Albemarle, Augusta, Buckingham, Fauquier, Green, Lee, Madison, Shenandoah and Washington Counties in Virginia and Hardy and Preston Counties West Virginia. People lost included patients with Alzheimer's disease, father and son camping in the Shenandoah National Park, a distraught teenager, and an overdue hiker. Their ages ranged from 10 years to 94 years of age. The most difficult mission was locating the downed helicopter which crashed in the George Washington National Forest near Woodstock, VA.
Between searches for missing people, TOVSAR spent over 556 hours in formal training including entry level field training in search and rescue techniques designed for the practitioner, principles of clue awareness , managing the search and rope rescue technical training. This course included repelling, self-rescue and victim access and was attended by nine men and women. Training is a big part of TOVSAR's preparedness. TOVSAR trained with ten other SAR teams throughout the year and helped to certify Rockingham-Augusta Search & Rescue to state standards.
Through the generous support of several local charities, TOVSAR added critical equipment for its team, including six new multi channel radios, four Global Positioning System Receivers (GPS) and eighteen pagers which were immediately assigned to team members. Volunteers were trained in the use of GPS.
TOVSAR is an all - volunteer Search & Rescue Group who respond to assist law enforcement in searches for missing people. The members of TOVSAR live in Winchester, Clarke, Frederick, Shenandoah and Warren Counties. TOVSAR responds anywhere in Virginia and West Virginia when called by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. For more information, visit our web site: www.tovsar.org.
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