WA State SAR Planning Unit
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide SAR Planning expertise and resources to assist local command staff during extended or complex SAR incidents. We are an all-volunteer unit, and can be requested by any Washington State county via the WA Emergency Management Department.
About WASSPU
Remote and on-scene planning resources utilizing sophisticated search theory.
Members
Our team is made up of volunteers with many years of search and rescue work.
Resources
Tools and resources we have developed from our knowledge and experience.
SAR Training
Classes and Presentations
In addition to the search planning work we do, we also provide educational services.
Online and in-person presentations on search theory:
- Introduction to CalTopo for SAR Planners
- CalTopo for First Responders
- Getting More Out of CalTopo
- Introduction to Search Management
We travel around the state to provide in-person training to SAR teams. We present at conferences as well as publish papers.
Latest Missions, Projects & News
4th Annual Dicks-A-Thon
The 4th Annual Dicks-A-Thon is coming up October 18, 2025! This iconic run that has you visiting a number of Dick's Burgers provides financial support to a number of Search & Rescue Teams, including ours. Click here for more information and to sign up.
2nd Annual Dick’s-A-Thon to support WASSPU
On August 20, 2022 Ian Cox went on a solo trek through the North Cascades and didn’t return. WASSPU members were on site at North Cascades National Park, alongside the rangers and several other search teams, as the search proceeded for several days. As...
We’re Getting Starlink!
Thank you to a grant from the Tulalip Tribes Charitable Contributions Fund we are getting a Starlink Internet Device. This will be incredibly helpful to us as we frequently operate in areas without cell service. With Starlink we will be able to connect our laptops to...
When is WASSPU Activated?
WASSPU is usually called in after the first operational period (24hr search day) if nothing has been found and the search planning needs to be more sophisticated. Smaller rural counties often don’t have a lot of depth in the search teams so we are able to augment what they have with the work we do.
We specialize in:
- Providing remote or on-scene planning resources
- Recommending search planning strategies and tactics
- Providing technical search mapping services
- Applying modern search theory to extended search & rescue incidents.
Newsletter
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Our Work
WASSPU primarily provides sophisticated search planning services that utilize search theory, best practices for planning techniques, cell phone forensics, mapping and so much more.