New Version of ESF #9 - SAR Annex to the NRF Released

[sardak]

DHS/FEMA has released a new version of Emergency Support Function (ESF) #9 – Search and Rescue Annex to the National Response Framework (NRF).  The National Search and Rescue Committee (NSARC) undertook the rewrite on its own. This caught FEMA/DHS completely off-guard and it took them a over a year to figure out what to do – publish it.

This new version makes much more sense and fits in with the National SAR Plan.  The biggest changes:

- Inland/Wilderness SAR is now called Land SAR.

- Aeronautical SAR has been dropped as a separate category of SAR. The three categories are now Structural Collapse SAR (US&R), Maritime/Coastal/Waterborne SAR and Land SAR.

- DOD/USAF/AFRCC was the primary agency for Aeronautical SAR. The Department of Interior (DOI)/National Park Service (NPS) was the primary agency for Inland/Wilderness SAR.

- The primary agencies for Land SAR are now DOD and DOI/NPS.  One of the reasons for dropping USAF/AFRCC  is that the Inland SAR Coordinator function was moved up a level from AFNORTH to NORTHCOM. AFRCC still handles the day-to-day SAR coordinator function.

- References were added listing federal statutes and policies which provide SAR guidance at the federal level.

- There is much more, and clearer, explanation given to how SAR at the federal level  is activated under the NRF, ESF-9 and integrated with local SAR.

In addition to the rewrite of ESF-9, NSARC, under the leadership of DOI/NPS, has written a Land SAR Supplement to the National SAR Supplement to the International  SAR (IAMSAR) Manual. This is still in review and the draft I was sent is over 250 pages long. The US Coast Guard has already written and published the US maritime supplement to the IAMSAR Manual.

Mike