The call came in on Christmas Day, a time when Michael Dest, like most people, was planning to celebrate at home with his family.

But just like Christmas Eve last year, Dest responded to the call for search and rescue volunteers, joining in the search for campers trapped or missing following mudslides in San Bernardino's Waterman Canyon.

The search continued for five days, utilizing most of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department's 480 search and rescue volunteers and all but one of its 22 teams, working in shifts. The volunteers, along with sheriff's and fire officials, eventually recovered 15 bodies , several of whom were children. The body of an 11-year-old San Bernardino boy remains missing.

This search was different from many other missions due to the large number of deaths, the fact that so many were children, and the dramatic way in which the campgrounds were almost literally wiped away.

"This one is the most tragic amount of lives lost in one incident, such a violent and sudden loss," said Dest, a member of the Rim of the World search and rescue team for 20 years.

But , the incident was notunusual in that volunteers were called out at a moment's notice, at an inconvenient time and during harsh weather conditions.

"Almost all of our call-outs are in very bad weather and at night," said Donna Newlin, commander for the Rim of the World search and rescue team.

That's one of the facts of life that the volunteers must accept when they sign up.

"When a person joins a team they have to make a commitment to the team that they'll be there," said Cpl. Bill Fertig, who coordinates volunteer services for the Sheriff's Department.

Search and rescue averages about 200 missions a year, although as of October the Sheriff's Department had only 67 missions for the year in which volunteers were called out, Fertig said. He attributed the drop to the increased usage of cell phones and global positioning systems that make it easier for people to be found.

The teams are organized according to location, from the west end to the Colorado River, and specialty, from underwater divers to cave experts to high-angle climbers, Fertig said.

"San Bernardino County being the largest county in the contiguous United States, we have every type of topography found in every part of the world except we don't have a beach," Fertig said.

New members must take part in a 56-hour training course that leads to certification from the National Association for Search and Rescue. Afterward, they continue with at least one training day a month, Fertig said.

Volunteers tend to be community service-oriented residents who have an interest in the specialty for which they volunteer.

"It's John Q. Public," Fertig said. "Someone who is very, very dedicated."

They receive no compensation and even buy their own gear, he said.

Dest, 52, a San Bernardino County Superior Court judge, said he enjoys climbing-while in college he spent a summer in the French Alps-and wanted to give back to his community.

Newlin, 42, is patrol manager at Snow Valley Mountain Resort and has worked as a seasonal firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service. "Search and rescue is a nice way to blend all of my interests into community service," she said.

The job also requires an understanding family. "We kind of joke that every holiday we get called out," Newlin said.

They say it's worth sacrificing their time for those successful missions where they help reunite people with their loved ones, such as Christmas Eve when a man and his son were found at night in the San Bernardino Mountains.

"Those are the ones that keep us going forever," Dest said.

Still, some searches, such as the mudslides, can be emotionally draining for volunteers. The Sheriff's Department had counselors at the command center to talk to searchers as they returned.

"It's very tough," Dest said. "I think one of the first things we do is go home and hug our own family."