BackWoods Rescue & Survival offers comprehensive, hands-on wilderness medical training courses for police, firefighters, EMTs, and other first responders who need certification, recertification, or certification upgrades. We also provide volunteer search and rescue (SAR) training for individuals and corporate teams. Our expert staff, innovative facility, and diverse private grounds accommodate customized training experiences designed to meet each organization’s unique needs and goals.
Police organizations can utilize our versatile 55-acre training grounds to conduct customized Canine SAR, Fugitive Search, Land Navigation, and basic and advanced Wilderness First Aid courses. We also offer a concealed 30 x 70-yard private firing range that is soon to include elevated shooting positions from 100 to 110 yards. Upon request, and for an additional fee, scenario based obstacles can be constructed for live-fire trainings such as door breach walls, window walls, and even vehicle placement. Classes can be taught by our instructors or a police organization’s preferred state-certified instructor—please note that if an organization uses outside instructors, we require a Safety Officer from our staff present during the training.
Firefighters can improve their wilderness medical treatment skills at our facility. Our private grounds offer multiple landscape and elevation changes, allowing us to stage customized training areas with variable intensity levels to meet organization specific goals and requirements. Our courses include Rope Rescue, Land Navigation, Steep-Grade Extraction, and ATV/UTV Competency and Advanced Driving and Utilization Skills. In 2024, we will introduce a new Drone-Based Patient or Situation Location—check back for more information!
Our Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) certification courses are currently unavailable but will resume in 2024. Check back on our website for more information in the future. If you’re an EMT, please consider our two-day Wilderness First Aid or five-day Wilderness First Responder courses.
Our SAR training covers a range of topics, including basic wilderness first aid instruction that’s crucial during natural disasters, lost person searches, and other situations where someone may require medical treatment in the backcountry. Participants benefit from hands-on instruction and practice in diverse terrain. Other topics addressed include smart gear selection to meet the landscape, attire to meet the climate, ensuring adequate fluids and hydration, communication devices and nature-based communication techniques, crime scene preservation, and effective grid search tactics to locate the stranded or lost. Don’t just show up…show up Trained and Prepared.
BackWoods Rescue & Survival invites eligible Wildlife First Responder graduates from other wilderness medical training schools to recertify with us. Our WFR recertification course refreshes essential skills and protocols while discussing the most recent advancements in the wilderness emergency health care field. Guided discussions, realistic patient assessment drills, and hands-on technique rehearsals are all part of the recertification process. You can also Certify or Re-Certify in CPR and AED skills.
