Monroe Search Team Volunteers In Tennessee, Locally

AMORY, Miss. (WCBI) – There is no happy ending for the story of a small child lost, this week, in the woods. Searchers located the body of 2-year-old Noah Chamberlin near his home in Tennessee.

But this story is about the searchers.  The highly trained members of a specialized search and rescue team in Monroe County combed the woods and steep hills in Tennessee.

For this group, volunteering is a calling.

“It was tugging on our hearts for days,” said team leader, Matt Hannon.

That’s why a group of volunteers from the Monroe County Search and Rescue Team went to search for a missing child.

“We reached out several times to make contact to be requested to go and we know in that type situation they are overwhelmed with help. But we also know our capabilities and we’re very confident in what we can do. We went ahead and decided that if we were going to go, it was the time before the weather moved in. We packed up, we went. We honestly went on faith. We didn’t know if we were gonna be able to go to work or not, we rolled up and they were glad to see us. They put us to work immediately,” said Hannon.

The group is made up of civilians, officers, firefighters and other professionals but they all have one goal.

“The emotions that go along with it, that’s pretty much what drives us though. We know that the family needs peace, they need closure and that’s what pushed us on so we don’t stop. We worked into the night that night. the guys got a couple hours of rest, and we were back up at it again. The conditions were some of the worst you could imagine, the weather was bad, it was cold, it was wet. The guys never complained one bit, and they would keep going today. If we were still needed we would be there,” added Hannon.

The team not only assists with ground searches but also water rescue efforts.

Team members are required to keep their skills sharp by having monthly training sessions.

” We look at a very extensive training program. Most of the time we are very strict on the training requirements and the percentage of training these people have to attend if they stay on the team. We require the folks to attend at least 75% of the training throughout the year, and we have members who work very hard to keep that training up and that is essentially what we pride our selves in is the ability and the capability that we have because of the effort we put into it,” said team commander, Tony Garza.

Garza says their work is all about helping other people and he feels like that is what they are called to do.

“If that was my child out there or my family member, I want to know that everybody is coming to assist me and that’s the attitude we take. Not only do we want to go assist but I want to take highly trained people to go do that job so we can perform and get an accurate job done for the family or for that person that’s out there. We want to make a positive difference, not just go to that area to say we’ve been there,” added Garza.
The group is all volunteer based.
They function off about 90% of donations.

For more information on the group, visit their website at www.hatleyfire.com, or search their facebook page.