Years in the making, Union County Search and Rescue’s operations room is fully operational
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, August 29th, 2025 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
UNION COUNTY – It can be easy to take for granted just how many resources go into keeping emergency service organizations up and running. For volunteer organizations especially, it takes both monumental effort and generosity on behalf of communities, charitable organizations, local governments, and the volunteers themselves to ensure everything is running smoothly during an emergency. Thankfully, Union County Search and Rescue doesn’t have to worry about being neglected and is proud to announce the completion of its brand-new SAR operations room, streamlining logistics to a potentially life-saving degree.
According to Union County Emergency Manager Nick Vora, the completion of the operations room effectively acts as the third phase of expansion to the SAR equipment storage facility. For those unfamiliar, roughly six years ago, Union County SAR set out to build a proper storage and maintenance facility, replacing the less-than-ideal mix of cargo trailers.
The original building was constructed entirely by volunteers. Its later expansion was covered by ARPA funds secured by the county. The operations room was covered by a mix of grants from the Wildhorse Foundation, community donations, and additional funding secured by Union County Commissioners, coming out to just under $27,000 dollars.
In practice, the new room serves as a massive logistical boon to Union County SAR. As explained in more detail in a recent social media post by SAR:
“Prior to the construction of this climate-controlled room by Cornerstone Home Builders and interior set-up by our SAR Coordinator, team members, Amateur Radio Emergency Service volunteers, and volunteer Ziply Fiber staff, our team had to store all battery-powered equipment and run operations from the basement of the sheriff’s office. This presented significant logistical concerns with equipment being stored in two different locations and volunteers needing to shuttle equipment and people between locations to facilitate a response. We also had no internet at our equipment facility, and through the construction of this project were able to get that provided to us by Union County IT and Public Works.”
Aside from centralizing operations and storage to one location without the need to shuttle staff and equipment, the room being climate controlled also means that batteries and sensitive electronics can be more stored long term. Previously, any batteries kept in the general storage would wear out faster and lose a charge over time due to temperature exposure according to Vora. Volunteers would frequently have to take equipment and gear home with them to dry or maintain them, further complicating logistics. As Vora remarked:
“This room will really allow us to not only store sensitive electronics that cannot be constantly frozen or baked, but allow also us to all respond from the same place when a call comes in.”
As of the time of writing, the SAR operations room is fully functional and ready for use. The project would not have been possible without the generosity of the Union County community, SAR volunteers, Union County commissioners and staff, the City of La Grande, and organizations such as the Wild Horse Foundation (among others) who donated incredible amounts of time and money over the years to help Union County SAR expand into what it is today. As put best by Vora:
“It’s really been amazing to see how far we’ve come in the last ten years. Ten years ago, Union County SAR just had cargo trailers, uncovered in a parking lot. Now we have an equipment building, we have a room we can manage missions from. The equipment and resources that we have are something we are incredibly grateful for. The only way that’s possible is the leadership we have in our local government, our community and our volunteers.”
