A large group of LandSAR volunteers stand in an open field. They are wearing their hi-vis uniforms, and standing in front of a helicopter.

Who We Are

Man wearing hi-vis LandSAR cap and vest. He is standing in front of a rescue helicopter.

Our Purpose

To provide search and rescue support for the lost, missing and injured

How we do it

LandSAR Wellington is an organisation of unpaid professionals that provide search and rescue services to the Police and the Rescue Coordination Centre across the greater Wellington region. Our Members are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to help the lost, missing and injured. In a typical year they donate over 16,000 hours of their time in training and operations to the community.

Our members are dedicated volunteers that deliver their services for free. We provide an operational response to emergencies that is completely free of charge to both the rescued and the government.

We are one of 63 LandSAR units affiliated to LandSAR New Zealand.  As an affiliated unit, we provide specialist search and rescue capabilities to New Zealand Police and the Rescue Coordination Centre under a Memorandum of Understanding. We have 100+ unpaid professional members who train, prepare for and conduct operations.

Search and rescue operations almost always involve several different organisations. Locally, this usually means the Wellington Police specialist Search and Rescue Squad, and the communications providers AREC.

A male Police officer stands in front of a group of LandSAR volunteers in their orange hi-vis uniforms. He is pointing to a map and briefing the volunteers.
Three LandSAR IMT members plotting out the search area and conducting search planning on large topo map
Elderly man sitting on a bench, appearing confused. He is sitting next to a Police Officer wearing blue overalls and a hi-vis vest. Standing next to both of them is a woman wearing an orange Land Search and Rescue hi-vis vest. She is holding a large aerial that is used for searching for pendants worn by WanderSearch users.
Team of Wellington LandSAR members carrying a patient over a bridge in a stretcher
Group of LandSAR volunteers standing below a police officer that is giving a briefing to the searchers

2024 Statistics

Training Hours

3,862

Incident Hours

1,421

Total Hours

5,283

…and in 2023, our volunteers collectively gave up 5,071 hours of their time to help the community.
This was made up of 3,227 training hours, and 1,844 hours spent at real call-outs!

Updated daily – last updated 21/12/2024 @ 03:00