Become a Certified Unit

Start a MASAR Certified Unit

​​The Maine Warden Service, Acadia National Park, and Baxter State Park only call out MASAR-Certified teams because they can rest assured that there is oversight on each volunteer's training and certifications, and that the agency can be reasonably certain that MASAR volunteers will show up prepared for the conditions and won't divert resources by themselves needing help.

The process to certify your SAR Unit with MASAR is not difficult, time consuming, or expensive. Please be sure you review the full standard for unit certification and recertification here, but, in summary:

II. Certification

A. Unit certification shall be issued by the MASAR Standards Committee.
B. Original certification is valid for 3 years.
C. To apply for certification, a unit must make a request in writing to the MASAR Standards Committee. The following documentation must accompany the request for certification: 1. Unit organizational structure; 2. Unit by-laws and the date they were accepted; 3. Unit standard(s) and the date they were accepted; 4. List of unit members and their status, i.e. operational, in-training, support, inactive, etc.; 5. Regularly scheduled training exercises for the past 6 months, including attendance; 6. Provisions for ongoing training of members; 7. Records of responses to recent searches or other SAR missions, if any; 8. An agreement to abide by MASAR’s Unit Operational Policies as long as the unit is certified by MASAR.

III. Recertification

A. Recertification shall be issued by the MASAR Standards Committee.
B. Recertification is valid for 3 years.
C. To apply for recertification a unit must make a request in writing to the MASAR Standards Committee. The following documentation must accompany the recertification request:
1. A current list of unit officers.
2. The unit’s by-laws, if any revisions have been made since certification or the last recertification.
3. The unit’s standards, if any revisions have been made since certification or the last recertification.
4. A current list of unit members and their status, i.e. operational, in training, support, inactive, etc.
5. Records of scheduled unit training exercises for the 6 months prior to the request for recertification, including attendance.
6. Records of responses to searches or other SAR missions within the 6 months prior to the request for recertification, if any.
D. Recertification will be provided only to units which have a minimum of 3 active members currently MASAR-certified as ground searchers.

If you are not yet a member of a SAR Unit, please click here for information on how to join.