Search Initial Actions for First Responders

Description

This one-day, eight-hour training, presented by Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group, is designed to equip firefighters and other first responders with the essential knowledge and skills needed to initiate and support a search for a missing person in Western Pennsylvania’s urban, suburban, rural, and wilderness environments.

Fire departments are often among the first agencies requested to assist with a missing-person incident. The actions taken during the first hours can have a significant effect on the efficiency and outcome of the search. This course prepares first responders to organize an effective initial response, conduct time-sensitive search tasks, establish incident command, preserve clues, manage arriving resources, and prepare for an extended or multi-agency operation.

Instruction begins with community preplanning and vulnerability assessments before moving into the initial report, search urgency, containment, rapid search tactics, search-area development, resource requests, field operations, and planning for future operational periods.

Special attention will be given to searches involving people with dementia, individuals with developmental or cognitive disabilities, despondent or suicidal subjects, missing children, juvenile runaways, crime victims, and other vulnerable populations. The course will also address the appropriate use of specialized search and rescue teams, search dogs, drones, water rescue resources, helicopters, cell-phone analytics, and regional mutual aid.

Who Should Attend

This training is designed for:

  • Fire chiefs and command officers
  • Company officers
  • Firefighters and rescue personnel
  • Incident safety officers
  • Emergency medical services personnel
  • Emergency management personnel
  • Water rescue personnel
  • Public safety officials who may help initiate or manage a missing-person search

The course is appropriate for first responders who may be responsible for the initial stages of a missing-person incident or who want a more comprehensive understanding of search operations, incident organization, and the specialized resources available throughout Western Pennsylvania.

Course Materials

Participants will receive a Search and Rescue Initial Actions Guide booklet for use during future incidents.

A certificate documenting eight hours of training will be provided to participants.

Host This Training

This training may be scheduled for an individual fire department, council of governments, county, emergency services organization, or regional public safety partnership.

A shorter 4 hour version or 2 hour introductory session that can be taught on a drill night are available. These shorter sessions can also be combined with a practical mock search or rescue field exercise.

Contact us for more information about hosting a class at your department.

Training Topics

Common Types of Lost or Missing-Person Searches

  • People with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia
  • Individuals with developmental, cognitive, or communication disabilities
  • Despondent or suicidal subjects
  • Missing children
  • Juvenile runaways
  • Crime victims
  • Abductions and human trafficking
  • Missing hikers, hunters, and outdoor recreationists
  • Water-related and flood-related searches
  • Evidence searches and support to law enforcement

The Four Stages of a Search Response

Stage 1: Initial Report

  • Gathering essential information
  • Determining search urgency
  • Identifying subject risk factors
  • Establishing the last known point or place last seen
  • Recognizing situations requiring an immediate response

Stage 2: Initial Response

  • Establishing incident command
  • Conducting rapid initial actions
  • Identifying hazards and responder safety concerns
  • Protecting potential clues
  • Initiating containment and confinement
  • Coordinating with law enforcement and other responding agencies

Stage 3: Search Team Activation

  • Recognizing when specialized search resources are needed
  • Requesting search and rescue teams
  • Selecting resources based on the incident
  • Preparing for the arrival of mutual aid organizations
  • Integrating outside resources into the incident command structure

Stage 4: Field Search Operations

  • Developing search assignments
  • Deploying field teams
  • Maintaining accountability and communications
  • Tracking searched areas
  • Managing clues and subject information
  • Supporting field teams with logistics and medical resources

Preplanning and Vulnerability Assessments

  • Identifying high-risk populations within the community
  • Developing facility and community search preplans
  • Working with nursing homes, group homes, schools, parks, and care facilities
  • Identifying likely hazards, access points, and search resources
  • Building relationships with regional mutual aid partners

Initial Search Planning and Strategy

  • Establishing the search area
  • Using subject behavior and lost-person statistics
  • Scenario analysis
  • Determining probable travel routes and destinations
  • Selecting appropriate maps and mapping systems
  • Identifying high-probability search areas
  • Matching resources and tactics to the environment
  • Developing an initial Incident Action Plan

Initial Field Operations

  • Rapid searches of structures and surrounding areas
  • Hasty searches of roads, trails, waterways, and likely destinations
  • Containment and confinement
  • Road, trail, and access-point assignments
  • Door-to-door canvassing
  • Be-on-the-Lookout notifications
  • Immediate neighborhood and attraction searches
  • Managing spontaneous volunteers
  • Operating safely near roads, waterways, steep terrain, and other hazards

Incident Command and Search Management

  • Establishing a search base
  • Applying the Incident Command System to missing-person incidents
  • Defining command and general staff responsibilities
  • Maintaining responder accountability
  • Developing communications plans
  • Conducting operational briefings
  • Documenting assignments and actions
  • Coordinating fire, EMS, law enforcement, emergency management, and SAR resources

Investigation and Information Management

  • Supporting interviews and information gathering
  • Identifying information needed from family members and witnesses
  • Developing and evaluating search scenarios
  • Preserving potential evidence
  • Establishing a clue-management process
  • Communicating investigative information to field personnel
  • Understanding the respective roles of fire, law enforcement, and search management personnel

Specialized Resources and Capabilities

  • Trained search and rescue personnel
  • Ground search teams
  • Search dogs
  • Drones and aerial imagery
  • Water rescue and swiftwater resources
  • Boats and shoreline search teams
  • Helicopters and aviation resources
  • Cell-phone location and analytics
  • Mapping and team-tracking technology
  • Regional mutual aid organizations

Managing an Extended Search

  • Planning for multiple operational periods
  • Establishing staging, rehabilitation, and logistical support
  • Feeding, sheltering, and supporting responders
  • Conducting shift changes and operational briefings
  • Maintaining accurate documentation
  • Expanding the incident command structure
  • Requesting regional and specialized mutual aid
  • Transitioning from an initial response to a managed search operation
  • Understanding decisions to limit, suspend, or transition search operations