Proposed Revisions to FEMA SAR Typing Documents March 2008

[sardak]

A SAR working group has proposed revisions to the FEMA SAR Resource Typing and Credentialing (Job Titles) documents. The group began reviewing the documents last summer.  In February, FEMA's contractor sent the revised documents to other organizations and agencies for a 30 day review. I was the point of contact for one of the organizations. CAP NHQ personnel say that CAP was not asked to review the documents.

The review period closed ten days ago. The plan is that the SAR working group will review the comments, incorporate the comments they agree with, and send the revised drafts out for public comment, probably in April (I can't get the contractor to confirm when this will be).

In the proposed revision, Radio Direction Finding Team, Air SAR Team (fixed-wing) and Air Reconnaissance (fixed-wing) have been dropped as typed resources. Perhaps why CAP wasn't asked to review the documents.

Wilderness SAR Team has become Land SAR Team at the recommendation of the National SAR Committee (NSARC). International SAR is divided into Aeronautical, Maritime and Terrestrial-Land. NSARC has adopted Land SAR and this is now defined in the National Response Framework ESF #9-SAR. It also makes sense because most land SAR doesn't occur in wilderness.

In the proposed revision, all Land SAR teams consist of as many squads as needed.  A squad is one squad officer and five land SAR technicians, one of whom must be a medical specialist. The medical specialist must be First Responder or higher. A Land SAR Technician must have, in addition to land SAR training, awareness level training in hazmat, swift and still water operations, animal rescue considerations and respirator training. NASAR SARTech is not listed as a requirement nor recommendation. For every 2 or 3 squads, the team must add one Land SAR Strike Team/Task Force Leader and one SAR Logistics Specialist.

Land SAR teams can perform low-angle, non-technical rescue. The discriminator between the team types is the terrain in which they can function. A Type IV team operates in Yosemite Decimal System (YDS) Class 1 terrain, Type III in YDS Class 2, Types II and I in YDS Class 3.  Class 4 and 5 terrain operations require Mountain SAR Teams, another FEMA typed resource, also revised in the latest proposal. Here are comments on the YDS Classes:
Class 1: you fall, you're stupid.
Class 2: you fall, you break your arm.
Class 3: you fall, you break your leg.
Class 4: you fall, you are almost dead (i.e., you can't breathe and move your arms, legs, and head).
Class 5: you fall, you are dead.

Another difference between Land SAR Teams and Mountain SAR Teams is that the latter operate in higher altitude environments, generally considered to be above 6,000 ft MSL (per the document). To answer the immediate question, 18 wings, in seven CAP regions have terrain above 6,000 ft. Great Lakes Region is completely below that, but three others barely punch through it.

I'll just say that I had 22 pages of less than favorable comments on the  proposals (on more than just land and mountain SAR).  I've attached the proposed documents and the letter FEMA sent me. Here is a news article about what a sheriff thought of all this.

The original-current FEMA documents are at:
SAR Credentialing (Job Titles)
SAR Resource Typing

Mike

[isuhawkeye]

I have been working on several committees referencing this development. 


I am happy with the progress that has been made, but the reversal on certifications concerns me.  In the previous drat there was reference to specific program and credentials.  Today there is only this vague statement

"Develop a uniform national certification course for this position"

I think there will need to be a little more meet to it

[arajca]

One issue I see is the requirement for Type III and IV teams to have 3-season (SP, SU, FA) capability and right below that, the team is this:

The incident's management team shall require a team whose AHJ will attest that they have additional capabilities for incidents involving extreme heat, wet, cold or snow

Extreme heat sounds like high summer. Wet sounds like SP/FA. Cold or snow - that's winter.

If they want these teams to be 4 season capable, why not just say so?

[isuhawkeye]

because not every part of the country recieves the same impact from seasons.  this allows locals to provide appropriate emphesis based upon need

[Dragoon]

As expected - this stuff is locked in Jello.  The arguing will continue for some time.  In the end, they're gonna have to find a balance between quality and the needed quantity.

[RiverAux]

Frankly, I wasn't all that happy with the way they had originally defined their air sar/damage assessment teams.  But, I'm not sure it is good for CAP for those categories to be dropped either. 

The medic requirement for land sar is going to kill us one way or another. 

[sarmed1]

The medic requirement for land sar is going to kill us one way or another.

I think not;

The medical specialist must be First Responder or higher.

FR or its state equivilent is a 40 hour course.  Its basically an advanced first aid course.
If you look around hard enough I bet there is somewhere that even offers it on line.

Not to plug anyone in particular but, there is a company out there called ECSI (http://www.ecsinstitute.org/).  Its the same company we use at HMRS for our baseline certifications for CPR, first aid and wilderness first aid.  If you have some kind of instructor ability (preferably medical) you can be granted reciprocity as an instructor.  Set up a training center (You have to purchase the instructor resource kit for each course you teach)  the student cost is limited to the cost of the book (which the teching center gets a discount on), suprisinly First Responder is one of the courses they offer (and there is no age restriction on the class)

ASHI (http://www.ashinstitute.org/) is another company that runs similar (admitedly I am not as familiar with their costs, but I hear its similar to ECSI) but they offer the same gambit of training options includiung a Wilderness First Responder specific course.

I see the awareness level training in hazmat, swift and still water operations, animal rescue considerations and respirator training being a bigger PITA to acquire.  (basically that includes everyone where the FR training is limited to 1 in 6)  Not to mention that ability to provide for low angle evacuation (ie that includes ropes, knots rigging and near rappel ability) something that has gone out of the GTM curriculum and is overally frowned upon by most CAP personnel.

Hazmat and animal rescue you can get via FEMA's EMI online programs.  Swift water is usually a 4 hour awareness course.  I am not sure what kind of respirator training they are refering to.  To meet a competent level of training for low angle evac its usually a 16 hour basic ropes and rigging class (at least thats the one that PA Fire Commision putrs out; its everything but actually rappeling)

mk

[isuhawkeye]

the vast majority of those skills that I have needed even as a part of a CAP ground team

[RiverAux]

Seeing as how I can become an IC with less classroom time (even under the draft revision to 60-3) than it takes to become a first responder, I think CAP will find it quite difficult to meet that standard.  Yes, it can be done and classes are available, but having been First Responder qualified not too long ago I see it as a major drag on our ground team program.

[isuhawkeye]

Drag?

[RiverAux]

If you need to have a First Responder on your ground team, that means if you don't have a First Responder, you don't actually have a Ground Team.  Getting senior members involved in ground team is hard already, but finding those few motivated enough to also do First Responder will be difficult.  Plus, keeping First Responder certified isn't all that easy either and is why I ended up letting it drop. 

[RiverAux]

A while back our Wing had a first responder class and while we had a bunch of cadets attend, none passed and only a handful of adults were even interested.  A few of the hard-core GT types wanted to do it, but that was it. 

Now, maybe if CAP actually started developing and paying attention to our GT program and we had more GT missions, perhaps the excitement level would be high enough that some people would think it was worth it to go that extra step. 

[sarmed1]

...well then until team members can complete the training they won't deploy their ground teams.  (at least on multi jurisiction al incidents that require NIMS compliance) Its not a hard concept to grasp.  The idea of "...this training requiremnt is to complicated for a volunteer to meet..." is BS.  The majority of SAR teams in the US are volunteer.  If they can meet the training requirements than so can we. 

Plus, keeping First Responder certified isn't all that easy either and is why I ended up letting it drop

What exactly does it involve where you live?  Here in PA it requires 16 hours of Con-ed and CPR recertification every 3 years.  Most other places I have seen you can re-take the written & practical test every 3 years.  If we can come up with the apparatus to initialy certify members, me thinks its not so hard to do the same to re-certify them.

Also we need to rember we are looking at this from a oraganizational deployment stand point.  Qualified members show up at a mission base, if you dont show up as a "qualified" team", you are an additional single resource that can be combined with other resources to make a "qualified team" (and this includes those that are first responders)  We dont turn pilots and observers away at a misison base just because they didnt show up with an airplane do we?

mk

[cnitas]

Are there any specific training requirements for 'Squad Officers'?

[sardak]

^^A squad officer is a land SAR tech with these additional training requirements:
- ICS-200 and IS-800 (ho-hum)
- Knowledge of state, federal and EMAC disaster response criteria and procedures (because of all the self-dispatching on Katrina, and to a lesser extent on other incidents)
- Squad officer training such as NWCG L-280, Followership to Leadership, or a discipline specific equivalent. (There is no SAR discipline equivalent).

Here is the course description for L-280
This training course is designed as a self-assessment opportunity for individuals preparing to step into a leadership role. The course combines one day of classroom instruction followed by a second day in the field with students working through a series of problem solving events in small teams (Field Leadership Assessment Course). Topics include: leadership values and principles, transition challenges for new leaders, situational leadership, team cohesion factors, and ethical decision-making.
There is a pre-course assignment to read the book "Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun" by Wess Roberts and answer three essay questions on your goals as a leader.
For all the details, and the full series of Leadership courses, go here:
http://www.fireleadership.gov/courses/courses.html

Mike

[cnitas]

Does not sound too bad.  Wonder if someone is getting a kickback on the book deal though. 

Disipline specific equivilent- GTL rating in CAP perhaps?

[SARMedTech]

If you need to have a First Responder on your ground team, that means if you don't have a First Responder, you don't actually have a Ground Team.  Getting senior members involved in ground team is hard already, but finding those few motivated enough to also do First Responder will be difficult.  Plus, keeping First Responder certified isn't all that easy either and is why I ended up letting it drop. 

Basically, keeping MFR cert up to date involves renewing CPR (including new and ever changing requirements...no big deal, especially since the AHA is talking about ratios of 30:2 for all patients since there has been no clinical evidence that the varying compression to breath ratios make any significant difference in the long run, ie the outcome for your patient. If you think that keeping MFR certs up is too difficult, that worries me. MFR is CPR and in some places AED. Usually in involves splinting, bleeding control and treatment for environmental shock. In most states, this can be done in less than a 20 hour refresher. How frigging hard is this? It can take longer to take some ICS courses on line than it can to keep your MFR cert up to date. Come on, River Aux....lazy is as lazy does.

Now...keeping up paramedic certs can be a royal pain in the butt, which is why more than just a few paramedics spend 2 or 3 years as medics and then drop to EMT.

[davedove]

Does not sound too bad.  Wonder if someone is getting a kickback on the book deal though. 

Disipline specific equivilent- GTL rating in CAP perhaps?

Reading through the roles, it does indeed seem like the Squad Officer is roughly equivalent to GTL and the Leader is similar to GBD in that it directs a number of squads.

[SJFedor]

If you need to have a First Responder on your ground team, that means if you don't have a First Responder, you don't actually have a Ground Team.  Getting senior members involved in ground team is hard already, but finding those few motivated enough to also do First Responder will be difficult.  Plus, keeping First Responder certified isn't all that easy either and is why I ended up letting it drop. 

Basically, keeping MFR cert up to date involves renewing CPR (including new and ever changing requirements...no big deal, especially since the AHA is talking about ratios of 30:2 for all patients since there has been no clinical evidence that the varying compression to breath ratios make any significant difference in the long run, ie the outcome for your patient. If you think that keeping MFR certs up is too difficult, that worries me. MFR is CPR and in some places AED. Usually in involves splinting, bleeding control and treatment for environmental shock. In most states, this can be done in less than a 20 hour refresher. How frigging hard is this? It can take longer to take some ICS courses on line than it can to keep your MFR cert up to date. Come on, River Aux....lazy is as lazy does.

Now...keeping up paramedic certs can be a royal pain in the butt, which is why more than just a few paramedics spend 2 or 3 years as medics and then drop to EMT.

As an aside, you mentioned the ever-changing AHA standards. Saw this story online yesterday:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/31/moh.cpr/index.html?iref=24hours

Some interesting stuff there.

[davedove]

In the proposed revision, Radio Direction Finding Team, Air SAR Team (fixed-wing) and Air Reconnaissance (fixed-wing) have been dropped as typed resources. Perhaps why CAP wasn't asked to review the documents.

Frankly, I wasn't all that happy with the way they had originally defined their air sar/damage assessment teams.  But, I'm not sure it is good for CAP for those categories to be dropped either.

Are there many others doing these functions?  Maybe the committee figured if the situation arises, they can just go to CAP and say "handle this."