COLORADO SEARCH & RESCUE ASSOCIATION, INC
BSAR INCIDENT SUPPORT AGREEMENT
v.06/02/2026
To better serve those injured, stuck, lost, or deceased in the Colorado backcountry the Colorado Search and Rescue Association, Inc. (CSAR) invites Colorado Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJs) for backcountry search and rescue to enter into this BSAR Incident Support Agreement. By entering into this Agreement you are ensuring that CSAR will be available to and invested in assisting you to resolve your Backcountry Search and Rescue (BSAR) incidents utilizing CSAR personnel and its purpose engineered and fast BSAR Incident Support Platform (BIS Platform) to fulfill your specific needs. (Definitions at end)
Summary of Agreement: When you enter into this Agreement, you will receive a password to pre-verify your access to the BIS Platform to rapidly make a request for resource needs or to ask questions, and you’ll be invited to join and learn about the BIS Platform before an incident occurs. During an incident, if you choose to use the BIS Platform and as you have time, you’ll be able to maintain situational awareness regarding CSAR’s support and maintain contact with CSAR and the requested resources on CSAR’s BIS Platform. While the BIS Platform is cloud based, CSAR can also use phones or CCNC’s DTR network if that is better for you.
AGREEMENT
The parties to this Agreement are your agency, as indicated below and CSAR. Resources provided to you are considered third party beneficiaries. CSAR provides its valuable BIS Platform access and BIS Services at no cost to you, under the following terms and conditions:
Your Authority: You represent and affirm that you have the responsibility for BSAR in your jurisdiction and authority to commit your agency or entity to enter into this Agreement.
BIS Password (Password): You agree that CSAR may rely that any BIS Platform submission received from your agency using your Password constitutes an official request and anyone using this Password is acting as your authorized agent and that CSAR will treat their actions as authorized by you. If at any time you desire a new BIS Password, CSAR will provide a replacement.
Initiation Process: When you choose to utilize the BIS Platform, you or your agents may submit a request online, which immediately activates CSAR or by calling (800) 593-2772. Once alerted, CSAR will communicate with you via phone, text, or the BIS Platform to fulfill your requests. CSAR recognizes incidents can be chaotic and will work at your pace and availability to gather information and request resources.
Costs & Performance of Coordinated non-CSAR resources: CSAR does not charge for its BIS Services and CSAR has no responsibility for the performance, management or compensation of any ordered resources or cost incurred as a result of their deployment. CSAR will make their best efforts to identify appropriate resources requested by an AHJ, contact those resources, and help coordinate a timely response of those resources to the AHJ’s incident. These resources are not agents of CSAR. CSAR will seek to include a representative of all resources on the BIS Platform to the extent practicable and useful to facilitate coordination, situational awareness, and ongoing communication. Any resources ordered and accepted by the AHJ become the AHJ’s direct responsibility. CSAR has no role in the performance of the resource nor the treatment or compensation of any coordinated resource. CSAR will strive to advise the AHJ of any known third-party costs or insurance matters.
Termination and Amendment of Agreement: This agreement remains in full force until terminated by either party. CSAR retains the right to modify these terms of service by notifying You of such changes to your designated email on file with 30 days’ notice. You or CSAR each have the right to terminate this agreement at any time by providing written notice.
Timely and Complete Communication: During an incident you agree to strive to provide timely information of all relevant matters necessary for the safe and efficient deployment of any CSAR coordinated resources and to keep such information reasonably updated. This includes but is not limited to: 1) The location and contact for incident staging, 2) The communications plan, 3) general incident conditions, 4) local and other non-CSAR coordinated resources associated with the incident, especially any aviation resources, and 5) any information that reasonably may affect the safety of responders.
Deployed Resources: You agree to treat resources requested through CSAR to be deployed to your incident in a manner consistent with safe mobilization, rehabilitation and demobilization. This includes but is not limited to timely cancelling resources no longer needed, assuring those responding resources have access to adequate rest facilities and food from time of arrival through their deployment, and immediately following their incident involvement. We all want every incident to conclude safely.
CSAR Membership is separate: Nothing in this agreement conveys membership in CSAR. CSAR invites all members of the Colorado BSAR community to join CSAR. Though membership is not a requirement for an AHJ to receive BIS services, each membership supports CSAR’s capability to deliver these services and also provides access to other CSAR resources, programs and educational discounts which are otherwise not available to non-members.
Accuracy & Ownership of CSAR Work Product and Incident Data: The data collected by CSAR during your incidents becomes the non-exclusive property of both parties. CSAR agrees to strive to maintain appropriate confidentiality of this information. CSAR may collect and share statistical and summary incident information sanitized of individual or subject specific information at CSAR’s discretion. While CSAR will make reasonable efforts to maintain data security commensurate with our budget and personnel capabilities, we can make no guarantees of confidentiality of the data or BSAR subject information collected on the BIS Platform, nor can we make any guarantees about the data security of data input into our third-party software providers. Further, due to the potential numerous parties involved and the dynamic nature of BSAR incidents, CSAR makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of information collected or provided on the BIS Platform.
Volunteers: You agree that CSAR is a Qualified Volunteer Organization under C.R.S §25-33.5-823. During your incident, CSAR’s agents are volunteers, even if the volunteer otherwise has a paid staff role for CSAR. Consequently, all CSAR’s volunteers are subject to the protections and benefits enumerated in C.R.S. §24-33.5-824 and other state and federal laws.
Resolving Issues and Continuous Improvement: You and CSAR agree to resolve issues through direct communication as soon as practicable. The parties further agree not to disparage one another to third parties or the public. The parties further agree to advise each other promptly of any injuries, serious compromises of safety or unacceptable behavior encountered in relation to any resources deployed under CSAR’s coordination. Feedback that promotes continuous improvement is encouraged. As practicable, incident-involved CSAR Coordinators and CSAR leadership will make themselves available to participate in After Action Reviews.
Notice: Notice pursuant to the termination of this agreement shall be made:
If to CSAR, via email to:
[email protected]
If to the AHJ party, via email to the jurisdictional email provided to CSAR when agreeing to these TOS.
Limitation of Liability: Neither party shall be liable to the other party for any special, consequential, incidental, punitive, or indirect damages arising from or relating to this Agreement, regardless of any notice of the possibility of such damages. As CSAR does not control an incident or any of the resources on an incident, You agree to indemnify CSAR from all claims relating to actions not taken directly by agents of CSAR.
Authority: This agreement is generally intended to comport to C.R.S. § 24-33.5-822 or the most relevant Federal analog(s).
DEFINITIONS:
Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) is any governmental agency or entity with the legal responsibility for resolving a BSAR incident within the territory over which the AHJ has jurisdiction. Under C.R.S. § 24-33.5-707(10), “the sheriff of each county shall: (a) be the official responsible for the coordination of all search and rescue operations within the sheriff's jurisdiction; …” In addition, the following entities may be considered to be AHJs as appropriate: national parks & monuments, the state of Colorado, federal agencies, tribal authorities, and/or home rule jurisdictions. For this Agreement, the definition of AHJ is extended to any agent authorized by an AHJ.
Backcountry Search and Rescue (BSAR) is as defined in C.R.S. § 33-1-102(1.3).
BSAR Incident Support Services (BIS Services) constitutes the array of support services that CSAR provides to AHJs, upon request and at no cost, to assist in resolving BSAR incidents. CSAR’s free BIS Services can include coordination of extra-jurisdictional resources - deployed to the incident or acting remotely - facilitated communication, incident wide situational awareness, and access to groups of BSAR specific subject matter experts. All of these services rely on CSAR’s Platform. Neither CSAR nor its agents will assume responsibility for an incident once the appropriate AJH has been identified, but instead will operate solely in a support capacity and under the direction of the AHJ.
BIS Platform is CSAR’s collaboratively developed and utilized proprietary combination of cloud-based software instantiations to provide its BIS services. CSAR’s Rapid Activation Process (RAP) is the cloud-based tool for AHJ’s to seamlessly and immediately activate CSAR and potentially partner resources.
Colorado Search and Rescue Association, Inc. (CSAR) is a 50+ year old nonprofit association of local Colorado based BSAR organizations which is organized to provide opportunities and services in support of those performing BSAR in Colorado. CSAR provides BSAR responder education and advocacy services, public outdoor safety education, support to BSAR teams and BSAR Incident Support services.
