11 minute read
Key considerations when establishing a technical rescue team
By Colin Deiner, chief director, disaster management and fire brigade services, Western Cape Government
The term ‘technical rescue team’, ‘special operations team’ or ‘urban search and rescue team’ have increasingly become part of the fire and rescue services vocabulary over recent years. Unfortunately these terms have also come to mean different things to different people. In this article I will attempt to unpack what a technical rescue team should look like, what should be expected from it and how you should go about establishing it.
Let’s start with what it is not.
A technical rescue team is not a bunch of rescuers who have done a series of rescue training courses and are spread over several shifts and then come together when their skills are needed to perform whatever tasks are needed to be performed from time to time.
Technical rescue teams should also not be seen as ‘superheroes’ who are able to respond to ’any’ incident and have the skills to manage all rescue disciplines successfully. I have often seen emergency services make this mistake.
The varied skills required for the many types of technical rescue disciplines seldom all exist within one person. Someone who is an excellent swimmer (and will therefore be a good water rescue technician) might not be any good at structural collapse rescue where concrete breaking and shoring skills are required.
It is also important not to put all your eggs into one basket and place your reliance on only a few individuals to manage the entire system. If any of them leaves your service or is not available on the day, you are not able to respond effectively and do what is needed when your team is needed most.
A technical rescue team is, in fact, more a system of personnel, equipment, procedures and command systems, which form part of a department’s structure just as its hazmat team or dive rescue team does. It’s more a system than a team.
The need for a technical rescue team (TRT)The first two considerations in the process should be:• Do we need a technical rescue team and• Can we afford a technical rescue team?
The first question might be the easiest to answer. Doesn’t it stand to reason that complex rescue scenarios can happen anywhere? People can get swept away by swift moving water, trapped under heavy structures, trapped at a height, in many varied locations –and for this you need a technical rescue team!
I think we should consider the overall capability of our service before we think about the need to specialise. It should be part of each firefighter/rescuer’s skillsset to perform effective motor vehicle rescue, rope, confined space and fire search and rescue activities.
A very good baseline of rescue skills within each of your members not only ensures effective responses to your normal ‘bread-and-butter’ incidents but also provides the platform for a more advanced level of responder to the more specialised mission.
I recall speaking to a training officer several years ago who was intent on having all his staff members complete a structural collapse rescue course. When asked how many of his staff members had actually completed a motor vehicle rescue course, he was unable to say.
The very first time I was involved in a foreign response to an earthquake disaster was in 1999, when a small team of 18 members responded to a major earthquake near the city of Yalova, Turkey.
Three years previously, my department had acquired a range of structural collapse equipment for us to deal with the sinkhole problem in parts of our municipal area that was caused by the dolomitic rock formations, which make up a large part of the region. We had also studied and tested various structural collapse rescue techniques, however, none of our members had actually completed more than some introductory training in structural collapse rescue.
What we did have was a very good motor vehicle rescue training programme, which focused heavily on vehicle stabilisation with new techniques being constantly researched. When the call came in August 1999 for volunteers to form part of a rescue team to travel to Turkey, our department’s management saw this as a great opportunity to gain valuable experience and grow our system.
The important question, however, was: who do we send? We decided to send most of the members of our vehicle extrication competition team who had just excelled at the recent National Extrication Competition in Cape Town.
The reason: this team was well versed in vehicle stabilisation, metal and glass relocation, operating heavy hydraulics and other hand tools and were comfortable working in a small group under a single incident commander.
My point: We had a good baseline system, which allowed us to ratchet up our capabilities to meet the more complex problem.
A few years later I was discussing this with Tom Carr, a member of a pioneering team from Montgomery County, Maryland in the USA, who had responded to the 1988 earthquake in Armenia with very much the same approach. Taking some of their most skilled rescue technicians and a small cache of equipment they were able to use this opportunity to build their capacity in future years.
The second question will need serious thought. Establishing a TRT is not a cheap exercise.
The range of equipment required for the many varied types of incidents you might encounter might be difficult to justify. Will your department allow you to procure a concrete chainsaw if it is going to impact on your firehose or SCBA replacement programme? Can you afford to purchase new rescue ropes every time after you have used your existing ropes during an actual rescue mission and can’t guarantee their integrity any longer?
Looking at your risk is very important when making this decision.
A single specialty such as a rope-rescue team might meet the needs of the community. It might be necessary to include other specialties. If you have a lot of construction happening and a several industrial complexes in your area, you might need to consider adding a trench collapse and confined space rescue capability.
A big city emergency service with multiple complex risks will have to invest heavily into a technical rescue team capability and generally have the budget (and the foresight) to maintain a team and progressively expand it to meet the increasing risk.
In smaller communities the trade-offs may have to be more focused. In this situation it becomes important to be aware of what is happening around you.
Are there other organisations doing the same thing you are attempting to do? There might be a volunteer wilderness search and rescue organisation who would be delighted to be involved in your activities.
You might have an industrial complex with all the equipment required for confined space entry and who would be willing to make their equipment available to you in an emergency. A construction company doing a lot of pipe laying could have a lot of side-panels and trench shores lying around.
Identify these people and organisations and involve them in your planning. While the inclusion of outside organisations is a great solution and could save you a lot of money you should make sure that whatever equipment they make available is compliant with the relevant safety legislation. This should not be a problem at all as most private companies have robust safety standards; however, it is important to ensure that your staff will be protected when using it and that any unnecessary legal claims are avoided.
The start-up costs are usually the one thing we give the most attention to while forgetting about the cost of sustaining the team and maintaining the equipment. Gas measuring instruments for your confined-space rescue team must be replaced periodically, all your pressure vessels such as SCBA cylinders and high pressure lifting bags, must be tested independently according to law and manufacturers standards. Ensure that these costs are budgeted for.
TrainingThere are various avenues through which technical rescue teams can be trained. I don’t wish to spend much time on the merits of the various training institutions available in the country at the moment, suffice to say that there are some really excellent options which, not only provide the initial training but also follow this up with periodic refresher training.
There are various avenues through which technical rescue teams can be trained. I don’t wish to spend much time on the merits of the various training institutions available in the country at the moment, suffice to say that there are some really excellent options which, not only provide the initial training but also follow this up with periodic refresher training.
When you have decided on what training needs to be done, consider the offerings available and work on a development plan for your team. Members’ skills should be tested and their results logged periodically along with their physical ability to perform the tasks expected of them.
Assuming your prospective technical rescue team members already have a good motor vehicle rescue and rope rescue foundation your initial skills development and training programmes should focus on the following:
• Advanced technical rope rescue skills
Rope systems
Rigging and anchor systems
Vertical and horizontal rope rescue techniques
High-angle rescue skills.
• Confined space rescue
Knowledge of confined space regulations and safety protocols
Entry and exit techniques for confined spaces
Use of specialised equipment for confined space rescues.
• Swiftwater and flood rescue
Water safety and rescue techniques
Swiftwater swimming and boat operations
Knowledge of hydraulic principles in water.
• Structural collapse rescue
Understanding of building construction and collapse patterns
Shoring and stabilisation techniques
Use of heavy equipment for debris removal.
This will put your technical rescue team in a great position to perform their missions effectively but please remember the following two things:
• Keeping up-to-date and currentI have visited rescue squads in Europe and the USA who require their technical rescue team members to complete a specified number of hours, outside their normal shift hours, doing refresher training and attaining proficiency on any new equipment that may be acquired by the service. Periodic tests are done to ensure this is being done. Always make sure that the team members are in the right shape physically and mentally to do their jobs and that they are skilled in the equipment and techniques required to do it. Complex technical rescues don’t happen often enough for rescuers not to continuously train for them.
• DiversifyThe discipline specific skills are vitally important to the team but so is the ability to bring other, sometimes non-specific, skills to the mix. Being able to field service a hydraulic pump, crane operation, controlling leaking product in a confined space and many others, are skills that could turn out to be essential to a specific operation. When considering the diverse range of skills required some of the areas to focus on would include:
Communication (effective communication skills within the team and radio communication for coordination with the incident command and other emergency services).
Navigation and mapping (map reading and navigation skills as well as GPS navigation in unfamiliar terrains).
Technical skills (understanding mechanical and hydraulic systems, the ability to use specialised rescue equipment and basic fuel and battery operated motors).
Knowledge of legislative and departmental safety protocols and regulations.
As mentioned earlier, ensure a good physical fitness programme for all members, which should include endurance and strength for demanding rescue operations and ability to work in challenging environments.
The value of teamwork and leadership will be achieved through focusing on developing collaboration within the team and developing the leadership skills for managing complex rescue scenarios.
All of these factors must form part of a comprehensive training and development programme that must be central to your team’s existence. So often rescue squads or fire crews get caught up in the normal service bureaucracy, which very easily takes the focus away from the actual mission. If you don’t guard against this, it will happen and your system will collapse.
In closingMuch like Special Forces in the military, your rescue squad or Technical Rescue Team will be seen as the elite of any emergency service. Better trained, more skilled and getting to do all the neat stuff makes the rescue squad the pace most people want to be.
As the person responsible for this activity, make sure it stays that way. This can only be achieved by proper planning, persevering with your programme and demanding the highest standards of professionalism within your team.
Rescue is for the serious, not the well-meaning.
