Santa Barbara, Calif  – The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team was honored at the Board of Supervisors meeting this morning with a proclamation designating May 2025 as “Search and Rescue Month.”  The Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue Team (SBCSAR) is a highly trained, all-volunteer organization operating under the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, with financial support from two nonprofit organizations: Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue, Inc. (501(c)(3)) provides operational funding, compliance, and oversight, while the Santa Barbara Search and Rescue Foundation raises funds to sustain long-term growth, training, and equipment needs.

SBCSAR has a history of over 60 years of lifesaving service in wilderness, urban, and disaster settings and is comprised of 50 dedicated members, who devoted a total of 20,115 hours to incident responses from 2019-2024. SBCSAR maintains accreditation with the Mountain Rescue Association and responds 24/7 to emergencies including lost hikers, injured climbers, missing persons, natural disasters, and community-wide crises such as the 2018 Montecito Debris Flow, often in partnership with local, state, and federal agencies.

In addition to on-call responses, from 2019-2024, the team also dedicated 39,060 hours honing their knowledge in skills including rope rescue, wilderness survival, tracking, navigation, BLS-certified medical aid, UAV operations, and disaster response.

In a resolution proclaiming May 2025 as “Search and Rescue Month”, the Board of Supervisors commended the Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue Team for their service, sacrifice, and steadfast commitment to public safety.