Members of FEMA US&R Task Force at World Trade Center after the 9/11 attacks. A FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force (US&R Task Force) is a team of individuals specializing in

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 ...

, disaster recovery, and emergency

triage In medicine, triage () is a practice invoked when acute care cannot be provided for lack of resources. The process rations care towards those who are most in need of immediate care, and who benefit most from it. More generally it refers to prio ...

and medicine. The teams are deployed to emergency and disaster sites within six hours of notification. The

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) created the Task Force concept to provide support for large scale

disaster A disaster is a serious problem occurring over a short or long period of time that causes widespread human, material, economic or environmental loss which exceeds the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources ...

s in the United States. FEMA provides financial, technical and training support for the Task Forces as well as creating and verifying the standards of Task Force personnel and equipment. There are 28 Task Forces in the United States, each sponsored by a local agency. In the event of a disaster in the United States, the nearest three Task Forces will be activated and sent to the site of the disaster. If the situation is large enough, additional teams will be activated.

Task Force makeup

Each Task Force is capable of deploying as a Type I with 70 personnel or a Type III with 28 personnel. This deployment configuration is increased if the Task Force mobilizes for a ground transport. Each task force member is a specialist in one of four areas: * Search - locating victims of a disaster by using specialized electronic equipment and tools to search for missing or trapped victims, especially rescue personnel who may be stuck inside of a collapsed structure. * Rescue - extricating a victim from the location where they are trapped, usually involving removing debris from around the victim. This is accomplished by using an extensive array of powered tools like saws, jackhammers, etc. * Technical - structural specialists who provide engineering support for the rescuers by using materials to see where the engineering was done and how. * Medical - providing medical treatment for the team, canines and victims before, during and after rescue by using medical monitoring equipment as well as splinting equipment, medications, etc. The search and rescue personnel are organized into four

Rescue Squad A rescue squad is an emergency service that provides technical rescue services, and may also provide emergency medical services and firefighting services. Rescue squads may be standalone organizations or an integrated part of fire departments o ...

s, each composed of an Officer and five Rescue Specialists, and are capable of working 12-hour alternating shifts. The medical personnel include two task force physicians and four Medical Specialists.

Canine rescuers

Rescue dogs The canine rescuers are a critical element of each US&R Task Force as their keen sense of smell allows them to locate victims that might go undiscovered. The majority of the dog handlers on the Task Forces are civilian volunteers. The dogs are usually considered to be family pets by the handlers when the dogs are not on duty. The canine rescuers will become unmotivated if they are unsuccessful in locating victims, as they consider search and rescue to be a type of game. To keep the canines engaged after long hours of working, one of the Task Force members will hide in the rubble so the dog will have a successful 'find'. In most instances, the dogs do not wear any equipment (collars, vests, booties, etc.) while working a debris pile. Protective booties may be used in areas where traction is not a primary safety concern. However, on large, unstable debris piles dogs typically do not wear booties or other protective equipment as they need to be able to splay their paws to obtain maximum traction and maintain balance. Harnesses, collars and other equipment can also pose a serious risk to the dog while working if they were to become snagged on steel rebar or other items contained within a disaster site. Because the dogs often work out of sight and out of reach of the handler, it is critical to minimize the possibility of the dog becoming trapped in a confined space or choking from an entangled collar. Because of the distinct possibility of injury from broken glass and metal, the medical unit maintains supplies for the canine rescuers. Urban Search and Rescue canine assists with response efforts after 2013 Colorado floods

Urban Search and Rescue canine assists with response efforts after 2013 Colorado floods

After first passing an evaluation of basic obedience, alert, directional control, agility and search skills currently known as an FSA (Foundational Skills Assessment), all canine/handler teams must pass an advanced certification known as a Certification Evaluation (or CE). This advanced certification process evaluates the ability of the canine and handler to locate an unknown number of buried subjects in multiple rubble piles in a limited period of time. All canine teams in the FEMA USAR system must achieve and maintain an advanced certification through the Certification Evaluation program to be considered a depolyable resource. This process is analogous to the Type II Basic and Type I Advanced certifications used prior to 2006.

History

The origins of the FEMA Task Forces goes back to the early 1980s when the

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department is a combination career and volunteer organization that provides fire suppression services, emergency medical response services, technical rescue services, hazardous materials Response services, w ...

and Miami-Dade County Fire Department created search and rescue teams to deal with rescue operations in collapsed buildings. The

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

and the Office of Foreign Disaster Aid requested the help of these teams to assist with rescue operations in the 1985 Mexico City, the 1990 Luzon and the 1989 Leninakan earthquakes. After the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, seeing the value in having a network of such teams in the United States, FEMA created the National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Response System that same year. In 1992, the concept was incorporated into the Federal Response Plan first published in 1992 and was later retained in the National Response Plan and the National Response Framework. FEMA sponsored 25 national urban search-and-rescue task forces. The number of teams has expanded to 28 since 1991.

Notable US&R Task Force responses

Task Forces respond to a variety of different situations ranging from natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes to man-made disasters such as gas explosions and bombings. Listed below are a few of the notable situations that US&R Task Forces have responded to: *

Hurricane Iniki Hurricane Iniki ( ; Hawaiian: ''iniki'' meaning "strong and piercing wind") was the most powerful hurricane to strike Hawaii in recorded history. Forming on September 5, 1992, during the strong 1990–1995 El Niño, Iniki was one of eleven Cent ...

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

- September 11, 1992 *

Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

- January 17, 1994 *

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry N ...

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

- April 19, 1995 *

Hurricane Opal Hurricane Opal was a large and powerful Category 4 hurricane that caused severe and extensive damage along the northern Gulf Coast of the United States in October 1995. The fifteenth named storm, ninth hurricane and strongest tropical cyclon ...

, Fort Walton Beach, Florida - October 6, 1995 * Humberto Vidal Explosion,

Río Piedras, Puerto Rico Río Piedras is a populous district of San Juan, and former town and municipality of Puerto Rico, which was merged with the municipality of San Juan in 1951. The district today is composed of various '' barrios'' (these are the primary legal divi ...

- November 21, 1996 * Explosion of DeBruce

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

- 8 June 1998 * Izmit, Turkey earthquake - August 17, 1999 *

Athens, Greece Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

earthquake - September 7, 1999 *

Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd was a very powerful Cape Verde hurricane which struck the Bahamas and the East Coast of the United States. It was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Floyd tr ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

- September 16, 1999 * Düzce, Turkey earthquake - 12 November 1999 * World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks,

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

- September 11, 2001 *

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City, Utah 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 ...

- February 8–24, 2002 (Task Forces acted in a supporting role) *

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 ...

- August 27 - September 30, 2005 * 2010 Port-au-Prince, Haiti earthquake * 2011 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake (CA-TF2) * 2011 Tōhoku, Japan earthquake and tsunami (CA-TF2, VA-TF1) *

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...

October 29, 2012 * 2014 Oso mudslide March 22, 2014 *

Hurricane Matthew Hurricane Matthew was an extremely powerful Atlantic hurricane which caused catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis in Haiti, as well as widespread devastation in the southeastern United States. The deadliest Atlantic hurricane sinc ...

Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina October 6, 2016 * The 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season to include

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 ...

August 24, 2017,

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two ...

September 4, 2017, and

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...

September 17, 2017

Task Force locations

The 28 teams of the US&R Task Force program are spread throughout the United States. The teams are identified by the official two-letter U.S. Postal Service state abbreviations followed by the letters TF for Task Force and a sequential number for the number of the task force for that state. The numbering of the Task Forces is in alphabetical order of the sponsoring agency location within each state. * AZ-TF1 -

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

- Phoenix Fire Department * CA-TF1 -

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Los Angeles City Fire Department The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD or LA City Fire) provides emergency medical services, fire cause determination, fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous materials mitigation, and technical rescue services to the city of Los Angeles ...

* CA-TF2 -

Los Angeles County Fire Department The Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACoFD) provides firefighting services as well as technical rescue services, hazardous materials response services and emergency medical response services for the unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County ...

* CA-TF3 -

Menlo Park, California Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; ...

- Menlo Park Fire District * CA-TF4 -

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

Oakland Fire Department The Oakland Fire Department (OFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Oakland, California. The department is responsible for with a population of 406,253. History The Oakland Fire Department was initially sta ...

* CA-TF5 -

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

Orange County Fire Authority The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for unincorporated areas of Orange County, California as well as 25 cities within the county that contract OCFA's services. There ...

* CA-TF6 -

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...

- Riverside Fire Department * CA-TF7 -

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

Sacramento Fire Department The Sacramento Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Sacramento, California. The department was first organized on February 5, 1850. It was not until March 30, 1872, when it finally became the fi ...

* CA-TF8 -

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

San Diego Fire Department The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department (SDFD) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of San Diego, California, United States. The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department is the second-largest municipal fire department in the st ...

* CO-TF1 -

Lakewood, Colorado The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...

- West Metro Fire Rescue * FL-TF1 -

Miami-Dade County, Florida Miami-Dade County is a County (United States), county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populous county in ...

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department (MDFR) provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the unincorporated parts of Miami-Dade County, Florida, along with 30 municipalities located within the county. In all the department is respo ...

* FL-TF2 -

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Miami Fire Department The Miami Fire-Rescue Department, also referred to as the City of Miami Department of Fire-Rescue, provides fire protection and emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic ser ...

* IN-TF1 -

Marion County, Indiana Marion County is located in the U.S. state of Indiana. The 2020 United States census, 2020 United States census reported a population of 977,203, making it the largest county in the state and 51st List of the most populous counties in the United ...

Indianapolis Fire Department The Indianapolis Fire Department (IFD) provides fire and rescue protection and emergency medical services to the city of Indianapolis, Indiana. In total the department serves . History The first fire department in Indianapolis was not founded u ...

* MD-TF1 -

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous county in the state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat and largest municipality is Rockville, although the census-design ...

- Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service * MA-TF1 -

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...

* MO-TF1 -

Boone County, Missouri Boone County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Centrally located in Mid-Missouri, its county seat is Columbia, Missouri's fourth-largest city and location of the University of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 183,61 ...

- Boone County Fire Protection District * NE-TF1 -

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

- Lincoln Fire & Rescue Department * NV-TF1 -

Clark County, Nevada Clark County is located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,265,461. Most of the county population resides in the Las Vegas Census County Divisions, which hold 1,771,945 people as of the 2010 Census, across ...

- Clark County Fire Department * NJ-TF1 -

Lakehurst, New Jersey Lakehurst is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 2,654,New Jersey State Police The New Jersey State Police (NJSP) is the official state police force of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a general-powers police agency with statewide jurisdiction, designated by troop sectors. History As with other state police organization ...

* NY-TF1 -

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Fire Department of New York The New York City Fire Department, officially the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY), is an American department of the government of New York City that provides fire protection services, technical rescue/special operations services, ...

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

* OH-TF1 -

Miami Valley The Miami Valley is the land area surrounding the Great Miami River in southwest Ohio, USA, and includes the Little Miami, Mad, and Stillwater rivers as well. Geographically, it includes Dayton, Springfield, Middletown, Hamilton, and other ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

* PA-TF1 -

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

* TN-TF1 -

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

Memphis Fire Services Memphis Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services to the city of Memphis, Tennessee. History The Memphis Fire Department got its start in 1846 when the first independent fire company was formed. It wasn't until 1 ...

* TX-TF1 -

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...

Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX, pronounced "teeks") is a state extension agency that offers training programs and technical assistance to public safety workers, both in Texas and around the world. Established in 1940 as the Industri ...

* UT-TF1 -

- Unified Fire Authority * VA-TF1 -

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

* VA-TF2 -

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

- Virginia Beach Fire Department * WA-TF1 -

Puget Sound region The Puget Sound region is a coastal area of the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. state of Washington, including Puget Sound, the Puget Sound lowlands, and the surrounding region roughly west of the Cascade Range and east of the Olympic Mountains. ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

- Pierce County Department of Emergency Management The U.S. Army's

911th Engineer Company The 911th Technical Rescue Engineer Company, formerly the MDW (Military District of Washington) Engineer Company, is a unit of the United States Army that specialises in technical rescue, particularly urban search and rescue (US&R). It is the on ...

, modeled on a FEMA USAR Task Force, provides additional response to the National Capital Region.

Task Force equipment

FEMA has created a standardized list of equipment that each Task Force maintains. The 16,400 pieces of equipment are cached and palletized for quick access and transportation. The complete load of equipment weighs 60,000 pounds (27,215 kg) and is designed to be transported by tractor trailer or in the cargo hold of one C-17 transport aircraft or two

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally desig ...

transport aircraft. The equipment cache allows the Task Force to operate independently for up to four days. The cache contains five categories of equipment: Medical, Search and Rescue, Communications, Technical Support and Logistics.

Medical

The medical portion of the cache includes medical treatment and tools to provide sophisticated medical treatment for victims and task force members, including limited treatment of disaster search canines. The treatment materials are designed to be enough to handle 10 critical cases, 15 moderate cases and 25 minor cases. Items included in the medical cache are medicines, intravenous fluids, blankets, suture sets, airways, tracheal tubes,

defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). A defibrillator delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''coun ...

s, burn treatment supplies,

bone saw A bone cutter is a surgical instrument used to cut or remove bones. In addition to surgery, they are also used in forensics, torture, and dismemberment. Types of medical bone cutters include: * Unpowered – Unpowered bone cutting implements ...

s and

scalpel A scalpel, lancet, or bistoury is a small and extremely sharp bladed instrument used for surgery, anatomical dissection, podiatry and various arts and crafts (either called a hobby knife or an X-acto knife.). Scalpels may be single-use disposa ...

s. On site, the "durable" medical equipment will stay with the Task Force when patients are transferred to other medical facilities. The local medical facilities must provide their own

medical equipment A medical device is any device intended to be used for medical purposes. Significant potential for hazards are inherent when using a device for medical purposes and thus medical devices must be proved safe and effective with reasonable assura ...

as the equipment may be needed again by the Task Force.

Search and Rescue

The Search and Rescue portion of the cache contains all the equipment that the Search and Rescue teams will need to extricate victims from debris. Technical search tools include telescopic cameras with heat detecting sensors and seismic listening devices (Delsar). Construction type equipment such as

concrete saw A concrete saw (also known as a consaw, road saw, cut-off saw, slab saw or quick cut) is a power tool used for cutting concrete, masonry, brick, asphalt, tile, and other solid materials. There are many types ranging from small hand-held saws, cho ...

jackhammer A jackhammer (pneumatic drill or demolition hammer in British English) is a pneumatic or electro-mechanical tool that combines a hammer directly with a chisel. It was invented by William Mcreavy, who then sold the patent to Charles Brady Kin ...

s, drills and

rope A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly ...

, and technical rescue type equipment such as lifting airbags, shore systems, and

hydraulic rescue tools Hydraulic rescue tools, also known as jaws of life, are used by emergency rescue personnel to assist in the extrication of victims involved in vehicle accidents, as well as other rescues in small spaces. These tools include cutters, spreaders ...

. Non-reusable shoring material such as

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

and

pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...

is not included in the cache and is to be found or acquired at the disaster site.

Communications

Generators, lights, radios,

cellular phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...

laptop computer A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

s Task Force personnel will be issued portable radios at the point of departure to a disaster and are responsible for that radio until the Task Force returns to the point of departure. The radios operate in the 403-430 MHz range and are capable of penetrating structures and below grade environments (i.e. underground).

Technical support

Snake-like cameras,

fiberscope A fiberscope is a flexible optical fiber bundle with an eyepiece on one end and a lens on the other that is used to examine and inspect small, difficult-to-reach places such as the insides of machines, locks, and the human body. History Guid ...

s, sensitive listening devices, measuring devices such as

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

strain gauge A strain gauge (also spelled strain gage) is a device used to measure strain on an object. Invented by Edward E. Simmons and Arthur C. Ruge in 1938, the most common type of strain gauge consists of an insulating flexible backing which supports ...

s and levels; audio-visual equipment such as

still A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been used ...

and

video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...

LCD projector An LCD projector is a type of video projector for displaying video, images or computer data on a screen or other flat surface. It is a modern equivalent of the slide projector or overhead projector. To display images, LCD (liquid-crystal display ...

haz-mat 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 ...

equipment and support equipment for canines such as

kennel A kennel is a structure or shelter for dogs. Used in the plural, ''the kennels'', the term means any building, collection of buildings or a property in which dogs are housed, maintained, and (though not in all cases) bred. A kennel can be made o ...

harnesses A harness is a looped restraint or support. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types: * Bondage harness * Child harness * Climbing harness * Dog harness * Pet harness * Five-point harness * Horse harness * Parrot harne ...

and sleeping pads.

Logistics

Sleeping bag A sleeping bag is an insulated covering for a person, essentially a lightweight quilt that can be closed with a zipper or similar means to form a tube, which functions as lightweight, portable bedding in situations where a person is sleeping ...

s, cots, food and water, as well as cold weather gear, portable toilets, portable showers, safety equipment such as gloves,

earplug An earplug is a device that is inserted in the ear canal to protect the user's ears from loud noises, intrusion of water, foreign bodies, dust or excessive wind. Since they reduce the sound volume, earplugs are often used to help prevent hear ...

kneepad Knee pads or kneepads are protective gear worn on knees to protect them against impact injury from falling to the ground or hitting an obstacle, or to provide padding for extended kneeling. Use Sports Knee pads are worn in many recreationa ...

respirator A respirator is a device designed to protect the wearer from inhaling hazardous atmospheres including fumes, vapours, gases and particulate matter such as dusts and airborne pathogens such as viruses. There are two main categories of respi ...

s and

protective eyewear Eye protection is protective gear for the eyes, and sometimes face, designed to reduce the risk of injury. Examples of risks requiring eye protection can include: impact from particles or debris, light or radiation, wind blast, heat, sea s ...

; administrative equipment such as

office supplies Office supplies are consumables and equipment regularly used in offices by businesses and other organizations, by individuals engaged in written communications, recordkeeping or bookkeeping, janitorial and cleaning, and for storage of supplies o ...

and reference materials; equipment maintenance materials and Task Force member's personal gear.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fema Urban Search And Rescue Task Force