Members of Kachemak Bay Search and Rescue participated in a 3.5-day hands-on training session, Jan. 30 through Feb. 2, in Homer. By the end of the training, those 18 members were nationally-certified searchers.
KBAYSAR is an all-volunteer search and rescue team operated through a business license under the Friends of Kachemak Bay State Parks, a Feb. 2 press release says. They are also a member organization of the Alaska Search and Rescue Association, which supports SAR teams across the state with equipment, software and training.
Alison O’Hara, a member of the FKBSP board of directors, started KBAYSAR last spring. According to the release, she was galvanized by a search and rescue call-out that occurred in July 2024, after a hiker visiting from France was reported overdue for her pickup in Kachemak Bay State Park. Park rangers and volunteers mobilized and conducted a search for the hiker, who was ultimately self-rescued two days after being reported missing. The release states that this incident “underscored the need for a trained and organized local search and rescue group.”
“We tried to rally and put together an ad hoc group of searchers, but we didn’t find her — she found herself,” O’Hara said Thursday. “I just really felt like there was a need to have an organized effort, a team and a plan.”
