Douglas Co. SAR Honors, Dec. 23

On Friday, December 9, 2016, The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit had their annual awards banquet at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. The purpose of the banquet is to recognize the hard work and dedication of the volunteers who put in hundreds of hours throughout the year. The following individuals were recognized for their accomplishments. SAR Volunteer of the Year: SAR Volunteer of the Year is giving to individuals in SAR who have shown special abilities and achievements throughout the year. Two adult volunteers were recognized as well as two youth volunteers. Rick Fugate: Rick Fugate comes to SAR with over 20 years of fire department training. Rick is one of the key team leaders in Mountain Rescue. Ricky has been on most of all SAR missions in the county and several outside of the county. Rick is described as “a big asset to the Douglas County SAR program.” Brenda Bryant: Brenda Bryant is in both Mountain Rescue and the Mounted unit of SAR. Brenda assists the SAR program by instructing in field training and works well as a one-on-one instructor. Brenda played a key role in a rescue mission on the Pacific Crest Trail this year with her horse, Thunder. Zachary Riesen: Zachary (Zax) Riesen belongs to the Explorer group. Zax has shown outstanding abilities while training and working missions this year. Zax has also joined the Douglas County SAR K-9 group; he spends much of his time training with the SAR K9 team in addition to the Explorer group. Zax has attended training out of the state with the other K9 SAR volunteers. Christopher Willis: Christopher (Chris) Willis is a part of the Explorer group and is currently president of the Explorer Post. Chris is one of the key leaders and he helps the advisors with their instruction and training. Chris also belongs to the Douglas County Mountain Rescue unit and is one of their key persons in rescues and training. Instructor of the Year: Instructor of the Year is awarded to an individual who shows outstanding abilities in helping and guiding others in the SAR program. Angela Hooker received this award because of her willingness and enthusiasm to undertake a teaching position as both a Mountain Rescue instructor and a General SAR instructor. Basic State Certification: Suzanne Porter received her Basic State Certification. This certification and its standards are set by the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association (OSSA) as a minimum requirement for SAR certification. It takes approximately 1 year to complete all the classes and requirements to become certified. Suzanne is on the Douglas County K-9 Team. The Douglas County Search and Rescue Unit would like to thank all of the men and women of our community who volunteer their time and efforts throughout the year with our team. Without them, we would not be able to provide such a high quality service to our community. We would like to thank the individuals and businesses who contributed to our awards banquet. Your contributions to our volunteers and program are very much appreciated.