MODULE 2: URBAN SEARCH AND RESCUE

WHAT IS SEARCH AND RESCUE

 Locating endangered persons at an emergency incident.
 Removing those persons from danger
 Treating the injured, and
 Providing for transport to an appropriate health care facility.
 URBAN
Designating a city or town.
 SEARCH
Looking for/locating a lost subject.
 RESCUE
Evacuating a person from a situation in which they cannot help themselves.
BASIC SEARCH AND RESCUE SKILL
Components of SEARCH AND RESCUE operations
 Pre-planning
 Notification
 Strategy/Planning Survival Rescue
 Tactics/Operation Skill Skill
 Suspension
 Critique
OBJECTIVES OF SEARCH AND RESCUE Search Skill
 Locate
 Access
 Stabilize
 Transport
Standard priority for rescue operation
 You (the rescuer)
 Your team (rescue member)
 The Subject (the Victim/s)
THE WEAK LINK THEORY
 Know your limits.
 Communicate limits to other.
 Work to improve your limits and ability.
 The team moves as fast as the slowest person,
Personal commitment
 Be highly trained in your specialty.
 Know your limitation.
 Be willing to work under the appropriate authority.
 Be open minded.
 Be willing to work with others.
There’s a job for everyone in search and rescue
 Operation
a. Field personnel
b. Aircraft operation
 Planning
a. Interviewing
b. Computers
c. Resource management
 Logistics
a. Communication
 b. Transportation
c. Food services
d. Medical
OPERATION SAFETY
Safety Plans
Look-out
Communicate
Escape Route
Safety Zone
COMMUNICATION
Whistle Signal:
 3 short – Evacuate
 1 long – Cease Operations
 1 long, 1 short – Resume
RISK AND HAZARD
 Risk - is the likelihood that a person may be harmed or suffers adverse health effects if exposed to a hazard.
 Hazard - is a potential source of harm or adverse health effect on a person or persons.

STRUCTURAL CALLAPSE RESCUE

 Is an operation to conduct safe and effective SAR operations at collapsed structure incidents as in total or partial failure of a
structure to stand
CLASSIFICATION BY COMPOSITION
 Stone
 Metal
 Glass
 Wood
 Plastics
PROPERTIES OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
Concrete
Resistant to fire and compression
Steel
Can be bent without breaking
Resistant to fire and tension
Conducts fire, sounds and electricity
Wood
Can be cut
Light
Provides warning sound before breaking
Not resistant to fire
Good insulators
CLASSIFICATION BY USE
 Structural
 Columns
 Beams, studs
 Floor slabs
 Load bearing walls
 Foundations
 Decorative
 Non structural
 Non-load bearing walls, partitions, in-fill
 Windows, doors and openings
  Covering elements
FACTORS AFFECTING CONSTRUCTION
 Tension
 Compression
 Shear
 Torque
DAMAGE TYPE AND POTENTIAL HAZARD
 Falling
 Collapsed
 Other type
COLLAPSE PATTERNS
Lean to V-shape

cantilever pancake

SEARCHING AND LOCATING TECHNIQUES

A set of techniques and procedures to obtain a response or indication of the presence of live victims in a void space within a
collapsed structure
Step to SEARCH and locate
1. Compile and analyze information
2. Secure the scene
3. Inspect and evaluate the structure
4. Rescue surface victims
5. Make markings on the structure
6. Create a diagram
7. Select search area
8. Select search method
9. Conduct search
10. Analyze results and re-evaluate
11. First aid to victims
12. Confirm potential victim location
SEARCH MODALITIES
Hasty Search
 Extensive Search
Physical Search
Hailing Method
Canine Search
Technical Search
SEARCH PATTERN
 Multiple rooms
 Line search

SHORING SYSTEM
- Technique of setting up or placing props against walls or structures as support to strengthen or prevent further collapse
- Purpose
- To make entry safe for rescuers to undertake rescue within damaged structures
- Prevent further collapse and injury
Signs of impending collapse
 Cracked or dropping archways
 Splitting or stonework, falling of cornices
 Sagging floors or beam, or gaps between the edges of floors and walls
 Displacement of columns, pillars, beams or walls
Types of shoring
1. Raking Shore – prevent a wall or vertical part of a building from bulging or falling away
2. Dead or Vertical Shore
3. Horizontal or Flying Shore
4. Cribbage Shore
CRIBBING Ranking shore Window/door shore

Dead/vertical shore flying shore

SAFETY REGULATION
 For your safety
 Do not drive or force wedges in too tightly – has lifting effect
 Do not sit or work under shores unless necessary
 Observe the shores at all times when working under or around it.
 Strut and secure shores when there is movement
 Lifting and moving loads
PRIME RULES OF LIFTING AND MOVING
1. If you can leave it, leave it
2. If you can’t leave it, go around it
3. If you cant go around it, drag it
4. If you can’t drag it, roll it
5. If you can’t roll it, lift it
6. If you have to lift it, STAY AWAY FROM IT..
7. IF IT FALLS DON’T BE UNDER IT!
Confined space
Meets the following requirements
 Large enough for human entry/works
 Limited or restricted means for entry/exit
 Not designed for continuous occupancy
Confined space hazards
 Hazardous Atmosphere (toxic gases or vapors)
 Hydrogen sulfide
 Carbon monoxide
 Explosive atmosphere
 Low oxygen
 Others
Fall Risk
 slippery ladders/rusty and unstable walkways
 Mechanical failure of equipment
 Flooding
 Explosion/Fire
Tools, equipments and accessory
Tools – Manual Use
Hammer
Saw
Crow – bar
EQUIPMENTS – powered by fuel/electricity
Rotary Hammer
Drill
Chainsaw
Electric or by Fuel
Nails
Equipment mattings
Drill bits