Mutual Aid

Stronger Together

Mutual aid partnerships are vital to effective volunteer search and rescue. No single organization can provide every resource, specialty, or capability that may be needed during a complex search or rescue operation. By working together, agencies can bring the right personnel, equipment, experience, and technical expertise to an incident when it matters most.

Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group 75+ volunteers and canines respond to more than 50 searches each year across the 13 counties of Western Pennsylvania and surrounding states. These missions may involve missing-person searches, technical rescue, water rescue, evidence searches, specialized canine resources, or operations extending across multiple jurisdictions.

In 2025, AMRG requested mutual aid from 24 different partner organizations across a wide geography. These partnerships help ensure that requesting agencies and the people they serve receive a coordinated, capable, and timely response.

Expanding Our Mutual Aid Network

As a regional search and rescue asset, AMRG is always interested in expanding our mutual aid network with:

  • Search and rescue teams
  • Water rescue teams
  • Canine search teams
  • Technical and wilderness rescue organizations
  • Emergency services agencies with specialized capabilities

Our goal is to build relationships before an emergency occurs. Established partnerships allow agencies to better understand one another’s capabilities, activation procedures, communications practices, and operational expectations.

Joint Training Opportunities

AMRG welcomes opportunities to conduct joint training with other agencies. Joint exercises help teams develop stronger working relationships, improve interoperability, and practice coordinating personnel and resources in realistic environments.

Training opportunities may include search operations, incident management, field communications, patient evacuation, water rescue, technical rescue, canine operations, and other mission-specific capabilities.

Work With AMRG

Organizations interested in developing a mutual aid relationship with AMRG are encouraged to contact us. We can provide additional information about our capabilities, activation procedures, and mutual aid agreement.

Contact Us to begin the conversation.