Under the rubble....

During my contract with Department of Fire and Emergency Services here in Perth, I spent a great deal of time with the Urban Search & Rescue group (USAR). My contract included an overhaul of the State Conference and I was keen to incorporate practical elements into the conference program. I spent a great deal of time researching and developing ideas that could be suited to the logistic constrictions that I had to take into consideration.

As part of this research, the USAR team invited me along to a incident they were holding in conjunction with the Department of Housing.

"The term Urban Search & Rescue was first used in the USA by the Metro-Dade Fire & Rescue Department in Florida which developed a specialised rescue squad for deployment nationally and internationally to earthquakes and other major disasters where people had been trapped in collapsed buildings. Since its humble beginnings, USAR has developed into a discipline of its own, with international guidelines provided by the United Nations on the organisation and equipment required" (Quote by Greg Mullins, Commissioner NSW Fire Brigade)

So what do USAR actually do?

The Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) is a specialist resource that assists victims who have been trapped or affected by a structural collapse. Often collapses will occur without warning leaving the victims little or no time to escape, for example the Thredbo landslide of 1997 and the Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand in 2011.

USAR teams consist of highly trained firefighters supported by specialists such as paramedics doctors, engineers, hazardous materials experts, police and search dog handlers who are specially trained to respond to USAR emergencies. USAR utilises specialised equipment, communications and guidelines to help locate, provide medical assistance and extract trapped victims.

SAR personnel also undertake Rapid Damage Assessments (RDA) and constantly report on their actions and observations which aids in effective coordination of assistance. RDA is the gathering of accurate information from a preliminary onsite evaluation and reporting of the data collected.

USAR teams are able to rapidly deploy and are trained and equipped to operate on a fully self-contained and self-supported basis for 14 days working in shift continuously on a 24/7 basis.

USAR teams have the capability to assist with initial relief operations, re-establishment of critical infra-structure, and once the rescue phase is completed; assistance with early recovery operations.