Urban Search and Rescue Utah Task Force 1 (UT-TF 1) is one of 28

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

(FEMA) Urban Search & Rescue Task Forces in the United States. The task force is based in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

and is managed by the

Unified Fire Authority The Unified Fire Authority of Greater Salt Lake provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the unincorporated Salt Lake County, Utah as well as for 9 cities located within the Salt Lake Metropolitan Area. These cities include A ...

. Activation of the task force is accomplished by the State of Utah, or FEMA for rapid deployment of the Task Force, modular or single US&R resources. The task force is self-sufficient for up to 72 hours and includes

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

s, search dogs, heavy rescue technicians

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s and

paramedic A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research. Not all ambulance personnel are p ...

s, and

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...

s. The Task Force manages 6.3 million dollars in specialized vehicles and equipment that is maintained by personnel trained by FEMA.

Urban Search & Rescue

Urban search and rescue Urban search and rescue (abbreviated as USAR or US&R) is a type of technical rescue operation that involves the location, extrication, and initial medical stabilization of victims trapped in an urban area, namely structural collapse due to natu ...

(US&R) involves the location, rescue (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 and mine and trench collapses. Urban search and rescue is considered a "multi-hazard" discipline, as it may be needed for a variety of emergencies or disasters including earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, storms and tornadoes, floods, dam failures, technological accidents, terrorist activities, and

hazardous materials Dangerous goods, abbreviated DG, are substances that when transported are a risk to health, safety, property or the environment. Certain dangerous goods that pose risks even when not being transported are known as hazardous materials ( syllabi ...

releases. The events may be slow in developing, as in the case of hurricanes, or sudden, as in the case of earthquakes.

Deployments

UT-TF 1 was deployed to the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

site in 2005, 2013 Colorado floods in September 2013,

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest t ...

in August 2017 and numerous other federal and local responses.

US&R Incident Support Team (IST)

UT-TF 1 membership holds rostered positions on the FEMA US&R IST. This overhead team, the National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Incident Support Team (IST) provides a group of highly qualified specialists readily available for rapid assembly and deployment to a disaster area. The IST furnishes Federal, State, and local officials with technical assistance in acquiring and using US&R resources. It provides advice, incident command assistance, management and coordination of US&R task forces, and US&R logistics support.

References

External links

{{United States fire departments Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces