Information
Frequently Asked Questions
If a friend or family member is lost or missing, contact the New Mexico State Police.
The New Mexico State Police activate all search and rescue operations in New Mexico.
CALL 9-1-1!
IN NEW MEXICO, THERE IS NO CHARGE TO THE PUBLIC FOR ANY SEARCH AND RESCUE EFFORT BY STATE OR VOLUNTEER RESOURCES.
(Does not apply to commercial air or ground ambulance transportation). If you feel you or someone you know is in trouble in the wilderness, do not hesitate to call 9-1-1 or your local New Mexico State Police district office. Alerting the authorities in a timely way could mean the difference between life or death.
When hopelessly lost, do the following, UNLESS there are sound reasons to do otherwise:
- Stay in the location where you first realized that you were lost.
- Send off emergency signals: THREE gunshots and/or whistle blows. Pause, then repeat.
- Make a fire IF conditions permit.
- Stay as warm and dry as possible.
- Make and consume warm/hot liquids as circumstances allow. Even hot water is good.
- If necessary, make a very simple shelter
- Protection from high winds and cold rain is the main concern. If there is sufficient snow on the ground, dig out a trench so you can sit protected from the wind. Use pine branches for insulation under feet, seat and behind your back.
- Listen carefully. We often find people by making voice contact, so listen for someone calling your name.
- DON’T PANIC!
NO! You will NOT be charged if you call Search and Rescue.
The New Mexico Search and Rescue Act became law in 1978. It is considered by many to authorize one of the most efficient search and rescue systems in the United States.
All search and rescue missions in New Mexico are conducted by the New Mexico State Police, with assistance from a wide range of trained volunteers. A lost or injured person, or their family, will not receive a bill from the State of New Mexico or from New Mexico State Police Search and Rescue for the operation.
Many times aircraft from the New Mexico State Police, New Mexico National Guard or Border Patrol may be used on a search and rescue mission. Those agencies also will not send a bill for their services.
However, if a private air ambulance service is used to transport a subject for a medical emergency, they may bill the subject.
We provide trained teams of unpaid volunteers for wilderness searches for and rescues of persons who are missing, injured or lost. Such searches may be conducted on foot, in 4-wheel drive vehicles and snowshoes. All missions are officially called for and supported by the New Mexico State Police and are under the supervision of a trained volunteer incident command staff.
Incident Command staff will decide what teams will be needed and in what areas they will search.
Search teams will be given assignments based on the strength and fitness of the team’s members. Team assignments may involve hiking between five and ten miles and can be up twelve hours long.
Many searches involve hiking at altitudes of over 9,000 feet.
The majority of our missions are in the Sangre de Cristo and Jemez Mountains (to the east and west of Santa Fe respectively). Occasionally we are asked to participate in missions in other areas of New Mexico. Many searches are initiated in the evening and require searchers to be active in the middle of the night, both in the summer and winter and often in stormy weather.
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