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MUMBLINGS July 21, 2005
Last week it was told you in this column that there is
900-1,000 volunteer firemen in Baldwin.
The rest of the story is that another 118 volunteers work
with three Search and Rescue units in the county, North Baldwin, Daphne and
Lillian, and have received local and national honors.
The Lower Alabama Search and Rescue of
Lillian was formed four years ago and currently has 80-plus members, all
volunteers. They cover Baldwin from I-10 east to the Florida line and to the
Gulf in south Baldwin County.
According to Ken Sanders secretary of the
Lower Alabama group, they have two of the top dogs in the country. Both dogs
travel first class wherever needed, compliments of the FBI. They have a medical
doctor with dive medicine specialty, an RN, three EMT's, four BLS, CPR and AED
instructors and numerous other medically qualified personnel.
LASAR runs it's own national certified
diver training program. LASAR member Ken Sanders is the National International
Subcommittee chairman for the Public Safety Diver Program under The National
Association of Search and Rescue.
The group was honored last year by the
Alabama Association of Rescue Squads as the rescue squad of Alabama for 2004
and in May of this year as the 2005 rescue squad of the year for the entire
North American Continent by NASAR. They have been notified they will receive
the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, Gold Level, later this year.
Besides search and rescue, LASAR aids the
community in many other ways. They have a school program, "Lost and Found",
which teaches children not to get lost, but if they do, what they do to be
found. They also have roadside trash clean-up, local waterways clean-up and
heads-up Earth Day clean up in the Lillian area. They are in charge of the
Perdido Bay clean up and provide medical coverage at a local racetrack.
They also provide medical and rescue training to local
groups and individuals, and do assorted training for Boy Scouts, as well as
medical and rescue training for the National Navy Seals Cadet Program.
LASAR is committed to working with and supporting all
agencies; fire, police, sheriff and county and state agencies requesting their
support. They can and do travel to support any agency that requests their help.
They respond for almost any reason, as long as the unit has funds to support
missions.
They also have horse teams available. They
do land search, water rescue and recovery, high angle rope rescue with ten
additional rope certified rescue specialists. They are members of the Alabama
Association of Rescue Squads and the National Association of Rescue Squads.
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