West Mercia Search and Rescue, (formerly: West Midlands Search and Rescue) commonly abbreviated WMSAR, is a voluntary

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

organisation which operates in the counties of

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. The organisation responds to calls for assistance from any of the emergency services and operates both by day and night. WMSAR was formed from former members of Mercia Inshore Search and Rescue (MISAR). It is principally based in Shropshire and Worcestershire with plans to expand in Herefordshire. The organisation is a registered charity and its purpose is to provide back-up personnel to the official

Emergency Services Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...

in a range of situations, including in particular searches for

missing persons A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...

, and support at public events and during times of adverse weather conditions,

natural disaster A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...

civil emergency Civil may refer to: * Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights * Civil disobedience *Civil engineering * Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a m ...

. WMSAR is a member of the Association of Lowland Search and Rescue (ALSAR), an organisation with more than 900 members nationwide providing assistance to Police authorities in searches for missing persons. WMSAR is a member of the West Mercia Local Resilience Forum County Volunteer Emergency Committee (CVEC).

References

External links

WMSAR Website
{{authority control River Severn Organisations based in Worcestershire Volunteer search and rescue in the United Kingdom