✅ SAR Responder Certification Online: Course Completion Roadmap

Follow each stage in order to complete your SAR Responder Essentials Certification Track. This roadmap is designed to help you build confidence, operational skill, and SAR readiness - one course at a time.

🧭 Stage 1: Foundation - Core Knowledge and Awareness

Start here. These are the essential concepts and safety mindsets every SAR responder must understand.

• Search and Rescue (SAR) Fundamentals
• Responder Risk Management and L.C.E.S.
• Bloodborne Pathogens Awareness for Responders
• Emergency Medical Awareness
• Job Hazard Analysis (JHA)
• Flood Awareness Training for Law Enforcement & Non-Responders
• Emotional Intelligence

🗺️ Stage 2: Field Response Skills - Search, Rescue, and Scene Tactics

Build the core technical skills for SAR operations in a variety of environments.

• Tracking and Clue Awareness
• Search Strategy for the Lost and Missing
• Types of Searches for the Lost or Missing
• Search Techniques – Intermediate
• Search Techniques – Advanced
• Interior Search Strategy
• Types of Interior Spaces for SAR
• Search and Rescue (SAR) Intermediate
• OFR3: Off-Road Recovery Support
• OFR2: Off-Road Recovery Lead
• Helicopter Operations for Search & Rescue (SAR)

📋 Stage 3: Scene Management - Initial to Ongoing Operations

Learn how to manage, document, and operate effectively from first response through evolving incidents.

• Initial Response
• Improving the Initial Response – Part 2 (Trigger)
• Initial On-Scene Assessment
• Documentation for Search & Rescue
• Crime Scene & Evidence Preservation for Responders
• Conducting Field Interviews
• Evacuation Prerequisites
• Preliminary Damage Assessment

📡 Stage 4: Teamwork and Coordination - Communication and Structure

Coordinate seamlessly across agencies, teams, and ICS structures.

• Briefing and Debriefing for Better Communication
• Communication Essentials
• Span of Control
• Command Posts vs. Operations Centers
• Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Fundamentals
• Event Facility Management
• Forms Used for Response Planning
• Resource Types and Kinds
• Resource Tracking
• R.O.C.K.: Developing the Crisis Response Organization

🔬 Stage 5: Specialty Topics - Focus Areas and Advanced Contexts

Drill into K9 operations, technical SAR, and disaster-specific methods.

• United States National Grid (USNG) Mapping
• Canine Behavior & Drives
• Search and Rescue K9’s – Introduction
• 4 Objectives of Disaster Search

🎓 Stage 6: Readiness and Leadership – Strategic and Legacy Thinking

Round out your journey with advanced leadership insight and crisis-tested practices.

• Legacy of Leadership