Search and Rescue Manitoba
The Province of Manitoba has an area of 649,947 square kilometers, with an amazing 101,591 square kilometers of water surface with a population of 1,265,015 with 789,000 living in the Capital City of Winnipeg.
The Search and Rescue Manitoba (SARMAN) Volunteer Association was established by Search and Rescue Manitoba to recognize the most important element of Manitoba’s Search and Rescue program.
In Manitoba Search and Rescue Volunteers are made up of a combination of Volunteer firefighters and others outside of the fire service that volunteer exclusively in Search and Rescue activities.
Throughout the years the volunteers have transformed from a virtually untrained group into a highly trained and dedicated volunteer network which is represented by Search and Rescue Manitoba (SARMAN) Volunteer Association.
Manitoba Search and Rescue is organized by numerous government agencies through the SARMAN Advisory Council. This council meets annually to discuss the provincial Search and Rescue program to ensure it is meeting the needs of the member organizations as well as the public. A representative from the SARMAN Volunteer Association sits on the Advisory Council to represent the volunteers.
The SARMAN Advisory Council is chaired by the Office of the Fire Commissioner who also sits on the Ground Search and Rescue Council of Canada to represent the Province of Manitoba.
With the assistance of a National Search and Rescue Secretariat New Initiatives Fund grant (SAR-NIF), Winnipeg SAR and SARMAN assisted with producing an updated Hug a Tree and Survive video. Search and Rescue Manitoba (SARMAN) volunteers from WINSAR provided search teams, a tracker team, a K9 team and technical advice for search and survival techniques for the filming of the new Hug a Tree video in Winnipeg. Filming and studio work took place from August 17-21 in Beaudry Park as well as in studios in Winnipeg.
Winnipeg Police GSAR provided a search team plus a flight crew and helicopter for the production.
SARMAN is a great AdventureSmart partner with an active volunteer outreach program:
SARMAN: Number of Participants (Selected Reports)
| Program Delivered | Total | |
| Hug-A-Tree and Survive | 4544 | |
| Survive Outside | 371 | |
| AdventureSmart Overview and Promotion | 355 | |
| Trailheads | 350 | |
| Totals: | 5620 |
HUSAR, via Can TF-4 is a volunteer group that operates under SARMAN, with members of the team spread throughout the province.
SARMAN has 21 active SAR Groups with approximately 550 members with the following call volume provincially:
2015: 27 (year to date)
2014: 27
2013: 30
To learn more about SARMAN, check them out on the web, Facebook and Twitter. Winnipeg SAR can also be found on the web, Facebook and Twitter.