“Ready to Rescue”: Volunteers train year-round to save the lost in southern New Mexico
LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) – Every year, dozens of people get lost or injured in the deserts of southern New Mexico. When that happens, a group of highly trained volunteers with Mesilla Valley Search and Rescue is ready to respond at any time and in any weather.
Founded in 1994, the all-volunteer nonprofit team trains every weekend, preparing for missions that range from missing hikers to large-scale disaster response.
“People get in trouble. The most experienced person can go out and trip an ankle or fall, or something happens,” Mesilla Valley Search and Rescue president Vic Villalobos said.
Villalobos joined the team in 1997 and said the group is made up of people from all walks of life.
“We've got professors from the university, we have construction people, and when we all come together, we just have one goal in mind, and that is to help,” Villalobos said.
Training includes off-road vehicles, drones and highly specialized canine teams. Volunteers say consistent training is essential to staying ready for emergencies.
“We meet every Sunday, and we've met every Sunday for as long as I can remember,” team navigator Phyllis Wright said.
“Our team works in all weather. We work in the day, in the night. We've done plenty of searches at two in the morning. Our point of view is that the imperative is to get the person fast,” canine handler Dave Cota said.
Cota has worked with his dog Akila for five years. Akila is trained to locate missing people, whether they are alive or deceased.
“We want the dog to know that the whole point of this, the big reward, is finding the person. It's not telling me, it's that's part of it, but the real reward. So we want him to love finding the subject every time,” Cota said.
Canine teams often work with navigators like Wright, who track their movement through assigned search areas using electronic maps.
“We are watching the map, we're navigating so the handler can focus exclusively on the dog and the search,” Wright said.
Canine team leader Nancy Chanover said handlers are responsible for covering their assigned areas effectively during real searches.
“In this particular map, we have the subject marked. In real searches, we would just be assigned an area. The handler's job is to figure out how to work that area effectively,” Chanover said.
The drone team provides another layer of support, monitoring search areas from above and communicating with teams on the ground. The drones are equipped with night vision, allowing searches to continue after dark.
Handlers watch closely for subtle changes in a dog’s behavior that could indicate they have picked up a scent.
“Maybe the ears go up, maybe the head turns, maybe the whole posture changes. The handler's looking for that,” Wright said.
Some dogs work off-leash during searches, wearing high-visibility vests and GPS tracking collars. The team includes dogs of various breeds and ages, with training tailored to each animal.
“It depends on how much time the handler puts into it or is able to put into it. It depends on how quickly the dog learns and how enthusiastic they are about the process,” Chanover said.
“Not every dog raises his paw or her paw. It's not just your willingness to do it. It's the dog's ability that we look at,” Villalobos said.
Search and rescue missions in New Mexico are led by the Department of Public Safety, which assigns an incident commander and coordinates with local agencies and volunteer groups.
“You've got a whole bunch of entities working together, and we have worked really hard to keep that relationship with Las Cruces fire and the police department very close. We try to train with them, and we work hand in hand with them,” Villalobos said.
While the team primarily serves the Las Cruces area, it has responded to missions across the state and country, including flood rescues in Ruidoso and deployments to Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey.
“We have a very specialized boat that's meant for kind of high water, low water, extractions. It's a really specialized boat that works so well. I think when we went to Harvey, we did about 178 rescues of people using our boat,” Villalobos said.
Villalobos said the team responds to about 30 rescue missions each year and currently has 42 members. All are unpaid volunteers.
“It's an automated system that we use; it does a call out to everybody–press one for yes, press two for no. Usually, within about five minutes, I have a printout of who can go and who can't go on the mission,” Villalobos said.
Mesilla Valley Search and Rescue is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that relies on community donations and partners such as the Southern New Mexico Community Foundation to fund equipment and training.
The team shares photos and videos from their missions on social media.
“We absolutely could not do what we're doing without the support from our community,” Villalobos said. “The funding we get, the support we get, it's crazy. We appreciate it, and we couldn't do it without it.”
ABC-7 reporter Paul Schulz and photojournalist Armando Ramirez collaborated on this special report.
