Urban search and rescue

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Urban search-and-rescue (USAR) involves the location, extrication, and initial medical stabilization of victims trapped in confined spaces. Structural collapse is most often the cause of victims being trapped, but victims may also be trapped in transportation accidents, mines and collapsed trenches.

Urban search-and-rescue is considered a multi-hazard discipline, as it may be needed for a variety of hazards including earthquakes, cyclones, storms and tornadoes, floods, dam failures, technological accidents, terrorist activities, and hazardous materials releases.

1 Types
2 Equipment
3 Techniques
4 The FEMA marking system
5 The INSARAG marking system
6 External links
7 See also

[edit] Types

USAR Task Forces are often categorized for standardization [1]. Depending upon the classification of the task force, there can be close to 70 positions. But to be sure a full team can respond to an emergency, USAR task forces have at the ready more than 140 highly-trained members. A task force is often a partnership between local fire departments, law enforcement agencies, federal and local governmental agencies and private companies. In the United States, these can be federally endorsed teams [2] or state teams activated through mutual aid agreements.

USAR Teams bring together, in an integrated response: highly-trained personnel from the emergency services along with engineers, medics and search dog pairs, specialised equipment effective communications established methods of command and control logistical support procedures to request international assistance if required under an international search and rescue framework. The training that teams receive is an ongoing procedure combining classes from the local fire and resuce services and government agencies.

[edit] Equipment

USAR task forces are expected to be totally self-sufficient for the first 72 hours of a deployment. The equipment cache used to support a task force can weigh more than 60,000 pounds and is worth more than $1.4 million US. USAR task forces can:

Conduct physical search-and-rescue in collapsed buildings
Provide emergency medical care to trapped victims
Utilize search and rescue dogs to find survivors of the collapse
Assess and control utilities and hazardous materials
Evaluate and stabilize damaged structures

[edit] Techniques

In a disaster situation the goal of a search and rescue operation is to rescue the greatest number of people in the shortest amount of time, while minimizing the risk to the rescuers. In the United States, the organization of USAR operations is now standardized under the Incident Command System, which was in scattered usage before Hurricane Katrina but has since become the standard as Katrina proved the difficulty of coordinating multiple disaster response teams from around the country when some used ICS and some used their own local organizational models.

Three phases in USAR operations are:

[edit] Sizeup

Gather facts and make decisions on the course of action. For example, what types of structures are involved, the extent of damage, the layout of the building(s) involved, what hazards are present (such as downed power lines, natural gas leaks, flooding, animals, hazardous materials, or a structure susceptible to additional collapse during the rescue), and what rescue personnel and equipment are available. Structural damage can be categorized as light, moderate, or heavy. Sizeup is an ongoing process which should continue during all phases of search and rescue so operations can be modified as needed.

[edit] Search

Searchers should use a buddy system or two-in, two-out system and have backup teams available. Techniques for searching for potential victims are based on identifying possible locations of victims, or areas of entrapment. Areas of entrapment inside damaged structures are called voids. There are several types of voids, such as the pancake void (multiple floors of a building have collapsed diagonally onto each other), and the lean-to void (a single wall or floor has collapsed diagonally against another wall). Voids can also include spaces where victims may have entered for self-protection during a disaster - such as under desks or in bathtubs or closets. Once the potential areas of entrapment have been identified and the potential number of victims sized up, search operations should commence in an orderly manner, beginning with verbally calling out for victims to identify their location if possible, and searching using a systematic search pattern. Possible search patterns include triangulation (using three searchers approaching a potential area of entrapment from three different directions), a right/left search pattern (one team searches the left side and one team the right side of a building), or a bottom-up/top-down search pattern. Searchers should stop frequently to listen for noises or attempted communication from victims; often this can involve all searchers stopping activity at specified periods of time to listen. In situations where multiple structures are searched such as after a hurricane, the outside of buildings can be marked using the FEMA or INSARAG marking systems to indicate buildings which have already been searched, the results of the search, and to avoid duplication of search efforts.

[edit] Rescue

Trapped victims are removed and medical aid rendered as necessary. The triage system can be used to prioritize medical aid with those needing immediate attention aided first. Removal or stabilization of debris is often necessary to remove victims. This can be accomplished using leveraging to lift the object, or cribbing (constructing a rectangular wooden framework known as a box crib underneath the object to be stabilized). Leveraging and cribbing can be combined. Victims who are ambulatory can then self-extricate, or victims can be removed using lifts, drags, or carries. Removal of victims should be done so as to avoid any further injury: Where any neck or back injury is suspected, the cervical spine should be immobilized first before attempting to move victims, and dragging should be avoided in situations where the presence of debris (e.g., broken glass) would cause further injury by doing so.

[edit] The FEMA marking system

In the United States, markings on searched structures are used on the fronts of structures and are standardized as follows:

A single diagonal slash indicates that a search in the building is in progress. This is used to indicate searcher locations and to avoid duplication of the search effort.
An X inside a square means "Dangerous - Do Not Enter!"
An X with writing around it means "Search Completed", with the time (and the date if appropriate) written above the X, the team conducting the search written to the left side of the X, the results of the search (number of victims removed, number of dead, type of search such as primary or secondary) written below the X, and any additional information noted about the structure to the right of the X.

[edit] The INSARAG marking system

Outside of the United States, markings on searched structures usually use the United Nations International Search & Rescue Advisory Group marking system:

A 1 meter by 1 meter square with G or N (for go or no-go), the team conducting the search, the date and time of the start of the search, and the date and time of the completion of the search written inside.
The number of live victims removed is written to the left of the square. The number of dead victims found is written to the right of the square. Persons unaccounted for and/or location of other victims is written below the square.
Additional information on hazards pertaining to the structure is written above the square.