As a firefighter I was taught to use the acronym LCAN when giving status reports to the incident commander. LCAN stands for Location, Conditions, Air pressure and Needs. In the fire service LCAN can be used from basic team status to mayday scenarios. Here's and example:
IC: Engine 282 from IC
E282: Engine 282, go ahead
IC: Give me LCAN status
E282: E282 is located on the second floor, top of the stairs side B. Conditions, very hot with heavy smoke, Air (given the lowest air pressure on the team) 3000psi, Need ventilation.
IC: Received LCAN sending Ladder 87 to ventilate roof
I tried using LCAN in a SAR environment recently. Turns out it is better if base/IC knows what LCAN stands for, but they quickly the picture. For SAR purposes, I changed the LCAN a bit to stand for: Location, Conditions (team/subject), Altitude, and Needs.
For Location, I gave my GPS coordinates. Conditions could be used for either team condition or condition of subject(s) depending where you are in the search/rescue. Conditions could be current weather conditions and visibility if you are expecting/hoping for a helicopter. Altitude may or may not be necessary depending on regional landscape, but I found it useful for helping to further pinpoint your location. You should probably use the altitude off of a separate unit from the GPS. Finally, Needs, seems pretty straight forward. If you are hiking up a trail and you have no needs, you can report that. If you have located the subject and find they are injured your needs may be a litter, wheel and manpower.
I'm not sure if LCAN can or should be used widely across SAR operations, but I've found that it provides me with prompts I can let base know in my oxygen starved brain when I arrive at the subject.
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