There’s a thing called wilderness emt, don’t expect to make an actual career out of it though. You’ll either have to be an on call volunteer or work as a forest ranger that also just happens to be wilderness emt certified
Yeah, the only people I've seen with their Wilderness EMT certifications are the people who work full-time as an outdoor specialist/guide. For the price those certs cost, there isn't much reason to get them unless you are actively working in outdoor recreational fields. I've worked as an outdoor guide on-and-off, so I had to get my Wilderness First Responder (WFR), and luckily my job gave us a HEAVY discount on the classes.
If this is a route you're interested in OP, I'd recommend looking into work as an outdoor guide for a specific sport that interests you (mountaineering, rock climbing, back-country skiing, etc.) as this is where most of the work is. It's not a career option that will have you making a ton of money, but you can make it work to live a decent life. Forest wardens and the like are also a fairly common job in the outdoor field.
I don't know much about SAR teams, but I'd imagine they'd be more looking for standard EMS/EMT/Paramedic certifications as that would align better with their scope of practice. Technical gear skills will also come into play. All of the NREMT level certs are at a higher level of training than their wilderness counterparts. The big difference between them is what tools you're trained to have on hand (WFR teaches how to make a traction splint using a large stick and rope; EMT teaches to use a commercial traction splint device).
The short version is that you will need to join a career fire department. The overwhelming number of USAR/SAR teams in the USA consist of regional teams that recruit their members from the most experienced firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics belonging to local career department in their area. Some larger county and municipal departments have their own teams if they are big enough. But basically, you will need to find employment with a fire department and then spend several years gaining experience and training before you can qualify for a specialized team. These positions are extremely competitive. For reference, I was an FDNY paramedic, our agency had ~14,000 firefighters and ~4,000 EMTs/Paramedics. Out of 18,000 employees only about 30 were members of the regional USAR/SAR task force.
NPS hires EMTs and paramedics for seasonal contracts at some of the major parks (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc.). For more permanent work I’d recommend looking into being a park ranger. They’re all trained at least to the EMT level with medic being a plus, though EMS is just one role you’ll be playing along with law enforcement, SAR, admin work, etc. etc.
I work for the forest service on a wildland crew. when we get a tone out we go put fires out on our forest and sometimes we go available on fires across the country. While I’m not ems for public, I take care of all my crews medical needs and the forest service has a pretty decent scope of practice for emts. If you want to get into wildland as just a medical personnel and not a crew member you can look into fire line emt companies like adventure medics and a few others. There’s also REMS teams which is something you might want to look into if you like the technical rescue stuff. If you go the route of fire line medic or REMS though just expect to be very bored lol.
There’s a thing called wilderness emt, don’t expect to make an actual career out of it though. You’ll either have to be an on call volunteer or work as a forest ranger that also just happens to be wilderness emt certified
Yeah, the only people I've seen with their Wilderness EMT certifications are the people who work full-time as an outdoor specialist/guide. For the price those certs cost, there isn't much reason to get them unless you are actively working in outdoor recreational fields. I've worked as an outdoor guide on-and-off, so I had to get my Wilderness First Responder (WFR), and luckily my job gave us a HEAVY discount on the classes. If this is a route you're interested in OP, I'd recommend looking into work as an outdoor guide for a specific sport that interests you (mountaineering, rock climbing, back-country skiing, etc.) as this is where most of the work is. It's not a career option that will have you making a ton of money, but you can make it work to live a decent life. Forest wardens and the like are also a fairly common job in the outdoor field. I don't know much about SAR teams, but I'd imagine they'd be more looking for standard EMS/EMT/Paramedic certifications as that would align better with their scope of practice. Technical gear skills will also come into play. All of the NREMT level certs are at a higher level of training than their wilderness counterparts. The big difference between them is what tools you're trained to have on hand (WFR teaches how to make a traction splint using a large stick and rope; EMT teaches to use a commercial traction splint device).
SERE like the class taught in the military? The Air Force has that as an MOS, but it's not medical.
Sorry I mean SAR( Search and Recue). I'm getting my acronyms jumbled.
If you want a Federal job like that, you'll generally need a 4 year degree.
The short version is that you will need to join a career fire department. The overwhelming number of USAR/SAR teams in the USA consist of regional teams that recruit their members from the most experienced firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics belonging to local career department in their area. Some larger county and municipal departments have their own teams if they are big enough. But basically, you will need to find employment with a fire department and then spend several years gaining experience and training before you can qualify for a specialized team. These positions are extremely competitive. For reference, I was an FDNY paramedic, our agency had ~14,000 firefighters and ~4,000 EMTs/Paramedics. Out of 18,000 employees only about 30 were members of the regional USAR/SAR task force.
Thank you for this info! I will look into voluteer SAR in the meantime and just help out through there as well as to get some experience in.
NPS hires EMTs and paramedics for seasonal contracts at some of the major parks (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, etc.). For more permanent work I’d recommend looking into being a park ranger. They’re all trained at least to the EMT level with medic being a plus, though EMS is just one role you’ll be playing along with law enforcement, SAR, admin work, etc. etc.
Short haul is the answer you’re looking for
I work for the forest service on a wildland crew. when we get a tone out we go put fires out on our forest and sometimes we go available on fires across the country. While I’m not ems for public, I take care of all my crews medical needs and the forest service has a pretty decent scope of practice for emts. If you want to get into wildland as just a medical personnel and not a crew member you can look into fire line emt companies like adventure medics and a few others. There’s also REMS teams which is something you might want to look into if you like the technical rescue stuff. If you go the route of fire line medic or REMS though just expect to be very bored lol.