Volunteer search-and-rescue groups offer vital help across US

Volunteer rescuer Matt Clarke searches for local residents after a mandatory evacuation was ordered in the area beneath the Barker Reservoir as water is released, after Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding in Houston, Texas on August 31, 2017. Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas coast with over 3 feet of rain and 125 mph winds.

First responders and volunteers prepare to comb a cornfield near South Bauer and Clark roads Tuesday morning, Oct. 10, 2023 for a missing Watertown Township, Michigan. boy.

A volunteer from Samaritan's Purse (R) passes recovered items to a daughter (NAME WITHHELD), as they search for family items in the rubble of her mother's wildfire destroyed home on October 09, 2023 in Lahaina, Hawaii. Volunteers from Samaritan's Purse helped displaced residents and family members search for meaningful personal belongings at several destroyed homes in the area. The wind-whipped wildfire on August 8th killed at least 98 people while displacing thousands more and destroying over 2,000 buildings in the historic town, most of which were homes. A phased reopening of tourist resort areas in west Maui began October 8th on the two-month anniversary of the deadliest wildfire in modern U.S. history.

Lisa Briggs, director of emergency and disaster management at Western Carolina University and director of the university's cadaver dog training program, volunteers for the Walnut Fire Department and Onna, a 6-year-old full German Shepherd cadaver dog, paddled at French Broad River. The team was part of a search and rescue operation on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, during the aftermath of flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene.

Kelly White, 30, of Fletcher, NC., shows a a screenshot of where she and search and recovery teams have looked for her cousin Alena, missing since Tropical Storm Helene hit Western North Carolina, Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024.

Mitch Hampton gives instructions to his fellow rescue crew members from the Walnut Volunteer Fire Department as they navigate downriver on the French Broad River in Madison County, North Carolina, on Oct. 10, 2024 after they concluded a search for missing persons.

Mitch Hampton helps unload a rescue raft at the Hot Springs Resort and Spa in Hot Springs, North Carolina, as his team of volunteer firefighters gets ready to go search for missing persons in Madison County on Oct. 10, 2024.

Volunteers listen to instructions before starting the search for missing three-year-old Elijah Vue, Tuesday, February 27, 2024, in Two Rivers, Wis.

Members of the Cajun Navy search a flooded residence in Lumberton, North Carolina, on September 15, 2018 in the wake of Hurricane Florence. Besides federal and state emergency crews, rescuers were being helped by volunteers from the "Cajun Navy" -- civilians equipped with light boats, canoes and air mattresses -- who also turned up in Houston during Hurricane Harvey to carry out water rescues. (

Victoria and Brandon Jones, of Watertown Township, Michigan, are silhouetted against a light as first responders and volunteers search for their missing 2-year-old son, Jermaine, on Oct. 10. The search ended tragically when Jermaine's body was pulled from the Looking Glass River.

Charlie closes in on the hiding place of volunteer Beth Fitzpatrick, who was acting as a human scent target for the dogs during their search and rescue training.