Helicopters mean searches end in hours rather than days. With cell phones and radios, contact between team members and the Sheriff's Department is constant. Each incident initiates a stream of paperwork. While some searches make front page news, most don't. There's never been a volunteer death during an operation, and few major injuries.
Challenges remain the same.
Matthews, Reynolds and Hofmeister said that while it requires a special person to join search and rescue, the volunteer's family must also be a special breed. On Thanksgiving Day, the phone rings. On Christmas Day, the phone rings. Something like five out of the last seven Christmases, we've been out. And while some find the commitment to be too much, most volunteers stick around for decades.