(wind whooshing) - [Rochelle] In the dark, just before daybreak on a humid, rainy August morning, a group of first responders gathers in a high school parking lot in Lincolnton.

- [Trent] Mr.

Billing went missing sometime during the night.

He's walked off.

- [Rochelle] Commander Trent Carpenter leads this 23 member unit.

- Had a backpack with him and a hat.

- [Rochelle] Which includes personnel from the Lincoln County Fire and EMS Departments and the sheriff's office.

- They volunteered to be on the team and serve their community in a time of need in a special way.

- [Rochelle] When someone goes missing in the county and surrounding areas, the land search team answers the call.

There's no time to waste no matter the weather.

This is actually a drill.

The team is conducting a mock search for an elderly man missing from a nearby nursing facility.

The squad runs urban training exercises four times a year to build group cohesion and to keep their skills sharp.

Tyler Chapman is a team leader.

- I kind of get a game plan.

Here's our area, this is where we're gonna start.

We're gonna look high, low in, out, walk through anything somebody can get in under or behind.

- [Rochelle] Planning section Chief Darren Ledford coordinates the search from the Mobile Command center.

Tracking multiple teams across a wide grid area is a strategic effort.

- We're looking at path of travel for the victim where they may go, any roadways, any power lines or any trails or anything like that.

- [Rochelle] Crews have 100 acres of land to cover traversing woods and fields in the heat and rain.

In these conditions, observation skills are key.

- During the search, what we're looking for is A, any clues.

Whether that's soda bottles, maybe they dropped their wallet.

- [Rochelle] But sometimes there are no clues.

Those are some of the toughest cases according to Ledford.

- It's a lot of stress, so when you get that one clue, it's just a big morale booster.

It sort of gives you that, you know, drive to continue on.

- [Rochelle] Ledford and other team members vividly were called back in April, 2021 when 13 year old Taylor Falls went missing from her Cherryville home.

The teen has a rare heart condition, is non-verbal and suffers from seizures.

Falls' mom, Nichole Lanier.

- It was horrible.

It was a nightmare.

- [Rochelle] Chapman says The Land Search Team faced some unique challenges.

They were looking for a teen who wouldn't respond to their calls.

And they didn't have a single lead to go on.

- The family hadn't seen her, she snuck out at night.

She doesn't talk, she doesn't verbalize anything.

They didn't know what she was wearing when she left.

We had nothing.

- Like I said, we seen an ambulance come pulling up.

- [Rochelle] Lanier's cousin Lynette Upton gets emotional thinking back to that day and how she nearly lost the young girl she loves so much.

- She's patiful.

She's pretty and beautiful.

That used to be her favorite word.

Patiful.

- [Rochelle] Upton says she felt helpless but assured as she watched Lincoln County Searchers and other law enforcement agencies work tirelessly to find Falls.

- They cared and they were tough and strong and knew exactly what they were doing.

- Like eight hours later we got a footprint and that gave us, you know, hope and we were able to find her alive.

- [Rochelle] Alive.

But unconscious.

Falls and her family were reunited at the hospital.

- It was like a moment of answered prayers for me.

(upbeat music) - [Rochelle] The squad has plenty of tools in its arsenal to aid search efforts on land, including this two member tactical team.

The Deputy Sheriff Morgan Ginther and her canine partner Marty.

- Marty does trailing, which is looking for missing people.

He does article search, which is if somebody throws something from a car like a gun, an ID, something from a vehicle, he can locate that as well.

And he also locates illegal narcotics.

(drone revving) - [Rochelle] The team also includes drone pilots who can use color detection and thermal imaging to pick a body heat or a person's clothing in areas that are hard to access on foot.

- We can give them eyes in the sky for the land search crews, if they miss something and we see something, we can tell 'em, "Hey, you just passed that."

- [Rochelle] Searchers in the field also use the CalTopo app.

- Now with the technology, our guys on their cell phones, we can track 'em in the field.

We can see it live data on the map.

I mean, oh gosh, technology has helped our job immensely.

- [Rochelle] The Land Search Team averages six missing persons a year.

The most common missing person categories are older males and those with dementia.

On average, they go missing less than a half mile from where they were last seen and found in about an hour.

But the sad reality is not all searches end in rescues.

- Even if we didn't recover a said person alive, we still brought that person back to their family.

- [Rochelle] "Those days are the hardest," Chapman says, so he holds on to the happy endings.

- I owe them my life because she is my life.

I owe them.

Thank you so many.

I don't know so many thank yous.

- [Rochelle] A mother forever grateful to the many strangers who brought her baby girl safely back home.

For "Carolina Impact."

I'm Rochelle Metzger.