GREAT VALLEY, N.Y. (WKBW) — We're getting an inside look at the effort of the Niagara Frontier Search and Rescue Team to find missing members of the community.
I recently went along with the team on a training mission at McCarty Hill State Forest in Great Valley to find out what goes into a search.
"We're all volunteers and there are approximately 40 of us," said Mark Bernas. "Trained to conduct land, search and rescue operations for missing, lost, or injured persons in a wilderness environment."
"Priority number one is to find the person we're looking for…get answers for families," said Jack Wellington.
When I headed out with them, they were working alongside the Cattaraugus County Sheriff's Office and DEC Forest Rangers. One of the strategies they utilized was a grid search, which includes laying out a string to keep track of where they've already looked.
"That string is guiding our movements, and the last person in the row will be laying fresh string so that when we shift to the next section of our search area, we'll use that as our aim point," Bernas said.
You can find more from my time with the team in the video below.
