Instructor Profile

Jerry Smith, President and Senior Instructor of PRS, Inc., has over 30,000 hours of professional teaching experience and has taught over 700 different agencies in the United States, as well as, Japan and Europe. He has been teaching professionally for over 25 years averaging 25 to 30, forty-hour courses per year.

Jerry was a member of Los Padres Search and Rescue Team and the Mountain Rescue Association for over 10 years. Although his background comes from mountain rescue, he has spent the last 25 years developing rope rescue programs geared toward municipalities and industry. Once while conducting a class, the team was called out on an actual rescue, which was later reenacted on an episode of RESCUE 911.

During his years of teaching, Jerry has developed many products, which are widely used in the industry today. For several years, he was the technical consultant for American Safety and Rescue, Inc. (ASR) and was active in the design and development of many of their products. Jerry is now the President of ASR where he remains active in R&D, while still maintaining the Progressive Rescue Solutions, Inc.’s rope rescue school.

Jerry also co-authored the CMC Rope Rescue Manual 1st and 2nd editions. Many of the techniques and theories in this book are to his credit.

In addition to his regular teaching schedule, Jerry has developed a Belay and Testing Seminar, which he has held annually since 1993. One of the major benefits of this seminar is that it allows the student to participate in equipment testing and to gain first hand knowledge of the physics of rescue techniques, systems and equipment.

Jerry’s unique teaching ability assures the student a solid rope rescue foundation, thus making Progressive Rescue Solutions, Inc. a leader in the rope rescue industry.