OSRT Search and Rescue Team Members Gain Top International Certifications

Mansfield, Ohio – Sarah Gentry, Mark Pitts, and Alan Plastow of the Ohio Special Response Search and Rescue Team have qualified for the internationally recognized ASTM 2209 Land Search Team Member credential. The rigorous 2209 search and rescue (SAR) certification has been achieved by fewer than 5% of Ohio's various volunteer search team members.

Training completed to gain the 2209 certification includes over 60 courses covering such topics as the National Incident Command System, Techniques for Wide Area and Land Search, Land Navigation, Rope Rescue Techniques, Lost Person Behavior, Disaster Damage Assessment, Man Tracking, K-9 Search Techniques, and more.

The Ohio Special Response Search and Rescue Team, a 501(c)3 headquartered in Mansfield with 7 units around the state, is the single non-profit volunteer Ohio SAR team credentialed in the Federal Emergency Management Administration's (FEMA) Emergency Support Function 9, Job Type 35, Wilderness Search and Rescue.

Mark Pitts is a resident of Canton and an employee of Aultman Hospital in Canton, Ohio. Alan Plastow is a resident of Louisville, Ohio and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Akron. Sarah Gentry is a resident of West Salem and employed at Comprehensive Internal Medicine in Wooster, Ohio