Utah's search and rescue teams: what the records say about workload and money

County sheriffs coordinate search and rescue in Utah, using staff and volunteers, with help from state helicopter crews and medical flight services. ^[8][17]

Public records show the work growing in some places and the state reviewing how it helps pay for it. They do not show a statewide volunteer shortage or measure whether teams are meeting demand.

One county's year

Washington County's sheriff's search and rescue team handled 128 incidents in 2025, up from 117 in 2024, according to its year-end report, attached to the minutes of the Jan. 6, 2026, county commission meeting. People rescued rose faster, from 148 to 208. ^[1]

Most of those rescued were not local. Of the 208, 68 lived in Washington County, 55 elsewhere in Utah, 82 outside Utah and three outside the country. ^[1]

The team logged 7,113.5 hours in 2025, up from 6,343.5. That includes 3,684 training hours. The 2025 report splits incident hours between volunteers (2,968.5) and certified staff (461); the 2024 figure combines them, so a volunteer-only comparison is not possible. ^[1]

A roster is not a schedule

Salt Lake County's all-volunteer team lists 37 members, about 75 incidents a year and about 10,000 hours of rescue and training a year on its website. ^[2]

Utah County's team says it responds to around 100 missions a year and expects members to attend at least 30% of them, on top of monthly meetings and trainings. New members can expect to spend $1,000 to $2,000 in their first year on gear, it says. When more people are needed, a second page goes out and members decide whether they can leave work. ^[3]

Utah County's 2025 budget describes a team of about 50 volunteers with skills ranging from high-angle and swift-water rescue to cave and avalanche rescue. ^[4]

Membership counts don't show who is available on a weekday afternoon, or who holds a particular skill. None of the records reviewed track that statewide.

Not every team is unpaid

Grand County's team pays members an hourly rate for missions and training, and Wasatch County's gives a stipend of $300 to $600 a month, the Mountain Rescue Association reported in April 2026. Summit County was working on a tiered system expected to pay around $25 an hour, after a new statewide tax for emergency services took effect. ^[5]

Wasatch County's 2025 budget also set aside $150,000 for design work on a future expansion of its search and rescue building. ^[6]

What the state reimburses

The state's Search and Rescue Financial Assistance Program reimburses sheriffs' teams for operations, training and equipment. The Division of Emergency Management supports an advisory board that administers it. The fund is financed by surcharges on recreational vehicle permits and hunting and fishing licenses, plus sales of the voluntary Utah Search and Rescue Assistance card. ^[7][8]

The state says counties don't typically seek reimbursement for volunteers' time or deputies' salaries and overtime, and that the fund can cover only a fraction of teams' costs. Reimbursement totals therefore leave much of the cost out. ^[8]

The program's page says its data section is under construction. Its card sales table ends in 2021, when 214 cards brought in $11,397. ^[7]

A formula under review

In December 2025, the advisory board asked state finance staff to model a cap on high-cost equipment requests, which members said throw off the year-end distribution formula. ^[9]

In March 2026, staff showed how late applications reduce a county's score, and the board asked for more examples, especially for small rural counties with many rescues. ^[10]

In June, staff demonstrated a worksheet using population, incidents, victims and volunteer hours. Asked whether the formula disadvantages rural counties, staff said its ratios favor smaller counties. The board postponed any motion. ^[11]

The Sept. 3 agenda listed potential caps and rule changes. As of Oct. 17, the state's public notice site had not posted minutes from that meeting. An Oct. 8 special meeting was called to review one Iron County reimbursement request. ^[12][13][14]

At the June meeting, a Division of Outdoor Recreation representative also introduced the Outdoor Recreation Mitigation Grant for third- through sixth-class rural counties strained by tourism. The division was detailing eligible costs for search and rescue, emergency medical services and road repairs tied to visitor safety. ^[11]

Many hands on one rescue

In February 2025, Washington County search and rescue teams worked through the night after a father and his 12-year-old son were stranded in Snow Canyon; a Department of Public Safety helicopter crew then found them on a ledge and hoisted them out. ^[15]

On Dec. 30, 2025, Salt Lake County's team located a skier critically injured in a fall on Mount Superior. DPS extracted him, LifeFlight flew him to a hospital and Powderbird assisted. ^[16]

DPS says its rescue flights depend on county sheriffs, volunteer teams, emergency medical providers and medical helicopter crews. Counting each agency's part separately could count one rescue several times. ^[17]