Who We Are

Respond Search and Rescue operates within the Greater Toronto Area providing search and rescue services along with assisting at community events with medical, sar, public safety, communications, and operations. 












Our History









Saturday November 10th 1979, a Canadian Pacific freight train carrying both explosive and poisonous chemicals derails in Mississauga. The largest peace time evacuation of its time is underway. A group of like-minded volunteers began helping emergency services in the evacuation of residents, Respond Search and Rescue was born.





Respond Search and Rescue or RSAR for short, operates within the GTA Providing Search and Rescue services as well as assisting at community events with medical, public safety, sar, operations, and communications. Events are the lifeblood of our organization, and are what provide the funding for us to serve the community. Respond is affiliated with the City of Mississauga and assists with numerous community events including ones in the Village of Streetsville, Mississauga, Burlington, Port Hope, and Toronto. Our current event roster includes many annual community events with requests for services throughout the year.





Respond Search and Rescue is also Second Call out for our Mutual Aid Partner OCEAP Search and Rescue covering Cobourg, Port Hope, and Northumberland County.































What We Do





Search & Rescue





Ground Search and Rescue is the search and rescue of persons who are lost or in distress on land. People may go missing for a variety of reasons. Some may disappear voluntarily due to issues like domestic abuse, family issues, or arguments. Others disappear for involuntary reasons such as mental illness, getting lost, an accident, death in a location where they cannot be found or, less commonly, due to abduction. Ground search and rescue call outs that occur in urban areas should not be confused with “urban search and rescue”, which in many jurisdictions refers to the location and extraction of people from collapsed buildings or other entrapments.





A Search is an emergency situation requiring a team of trained searchers to locate a lost person.





A Rescue is an emergency situation where the person’s location is known (possibly via a Search) and they must be removed from danger, stabilized, and transported to safety.





Training, Education & Presentations





We can provide training and educational presentations to your work, community group, school, etc.





  • Standard First Aid & CPR-C with AED Training
  • Stop The Bleed Training
  • Adventure Smart Education









    





Search & Rescue Prevention





In order to save lives, reduce pain and suffering, and minimize the economic and social burden associated with responding to SAR incidents, a focus on prevention is necessary. The sought-after outcomes should aim to reduce the frequency, and mitigate the duration and severity of SAR incidents by altering behaviour, promoting timely alerting, and increasing the potential of survivability.





We deliver Adventure Smart Training to aid in the prevention of Searches and to encouraging participants to “Get informed and go outdoors”. To get more information, or to request a free presentation please contact us at adventuresmart@rsar.ca





Events





Contact us to see how we can support you at your event





  • Event Medical
  • Event Search & Rescue 
  • Bike and Foot patrol units
  • Command Post & Medical Tent
  • Parade marshalling & control
  •  Road closures