A method for supporting rescue channels in a communications system. The rescue channel feature supports the use of pre-allocated radio resources at neighboring BSs 104, 106 in order to attempt to recover a voice call in danger of being dropped. The MS 114 disables its transmitter upon detection of a loss of forward frames from the network. Once the source BS 102 detects a loss of transmission from the MS 114, it may attempt to re-establish communication with the MS 114 by performing soft handoff additions to rescue cells at neighboring BSs. The neighboring BSs are the MS's neighbor list, last reported Extended Pilot Strength Measurement Message (EPSMM), and possibly other factors.