Butte County’s Search and Rescue Team is fundraising to build a new headquarters. The all-volunteer team relies entirely on donations to respond to over 120 calls per year. Now they are asking for the community's help to expand their space.
This time of year is particularly busy for rescues. Butte Search and Rescue did five emergency water rescues between Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday Nov. 23 due to the recent storm.
Operating since 1961, the team of volunteers has grown out of their old headquarters.
Kevin Soukup, Public Information Officer for Butte Search and Rescue, said the current building doesn’t have space for the equipment the team needs.
“A lot of our equipment sits outside and it just is deteriorating in the elements,” Soukup said. “In the summertime, that summer heat really takes a toll on a vehicle. In the winter time, the rain really takes its toll on vehicles.”
Soukup said the lack of storage space is also costing time. When an emergency call comes in, volunteers respond as fast as possible but are limited by logistics.
“They’ll have to pull at least one vehicle out, then start moving trailers around to get to the equipment they need to respond to that call. It adds about 15 or 20 minutes onto our response time,” Soukup said.
The Butte County Search and Rescue Team is two-years into their five-year fundraising plan. They have so far raised about $300,000 of the $1.5 million capital campaign to build the future storage facility.
Vulcan Materials, a local business, has offered to match all donations for the rest of the year up to $25,000.
Community members can contribute to the fund drive by visiting the team’s website.
“Our team is an all-volunteer, donor-funded, 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization,” Soukup said. “We take no tax dollars, there is no one on our team that is paid for what we do. We do this out of the spirit of community service.”
Soukup and the rest of the Search and Rescue Team are hopeful that the local community will make the new storage facility a reality so they can continue to provide and improve their disaster response services.
