Greetings fellow MRA Members,
I hope all of you had a safe and enjoyable summer. As we head into the fall, the board has a few avenues that it is exploring.
With the deployment of FEMA teams to recent disasters, the question has arisen as to whether the MRA might be able to create a national FEMA Response Team to assist federal resources. We are in the early stages of determining how to develop this. It will require a review of MRA Policy 105.1 last updated in 2006 to ensure it is in accordance with FEMA Typing.
Recently, the federal legislature proposed to sell off public lands. It failed to get traction at the time. In an effort to be pro-active, the MRA will be soliciting feedback from the membership to determine what the effect would be on the SAR community if these lands were sold.
At the upcoming winter business meeting, we want to hold a “strategic planning” session as we have in the past. We will determine the focus of the organization for the next few years.
After many years of serving faithfully as the Communication Committee Chair, Bill Laxson is stepping down. Noam Shendar has been selected as the chair with committee members, Mark McClernan, Devon Lozano, Ryan Jenkins, Jeff Lehman and Edward Wolf. With the diverse background these folks have the committee will be a bit more active than in the past. At their first meeting they brainstormed over a dozen different ideas and are working on prioritizing them. Once that is done, they will determine the best ones to move forward on.
Justin Wheaton will be developing a near-miss program under the Education Committee umbrella. He will introduce some formal procedures to capture, catalog, and communicate near misses throughout our MRA community. Communicating near misses within any industry or profession is a proven way to prevent accidents before they happen, promulgate proactive improvements, and spark innovation and development in resources, processes and procedures. Fourth quarter 2025 will see the:
- Creation of a dedicated email for submitting near misses from teams and individuals.
- The development of simple and concise forms to be used for submittals.
- Beginning of a formalized review process to help teams and individuals dig for root causes.
- The creation of a small team to help with these endeavors.
After some time capturing near misses, communication channels will be finalized to disseminate information. This will be accomplished this in a few ways:
- Digital publishing, either within the Meridian or stand alone, we will send out a digital compilation of what we have received, and lessons learned.
- Virtual discussion, every quarter or so, we will mix “significant” near misses into the Third Thursday presentation. Similarly to how we currently do Significant Mission Debriefs.
Near Miss panels will continue to be hosted at Spring Conferences as has been done for several years.
The International Commission for Alpine Rescue is being hosted by Teton County SAR in Jackson Hole, Wyoming this year from October 7th through the 12th at the Snow King Resort. This is a great opportunity for us to participate in ICAR event as they are typically held in Europe.
Cheers, Mark
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