SARBC

Search and Rescue Society of British Columbia

By way of introduction, this section was taken from a manual by Ken Snider (by me, Mike Doyle). It is all his. Ken has been involved in SAR R&D regarding use of tools for advanced human detection. Some of the items here (UV, IR) have been ongoing for about three years now. Search patterns have been developed for use with this equipment. Without further adu then, here is Ken Snider!

Buckle your seat belt. SAR is a rough world. If you want a perfect world, get a lobotomy. If you're offended by morons and idiots get out of SAR. The people you have to work with [who will probably find the subject before you do] put a lot of effort into what they believe in. Besides without morons and idiots and the odd mishap, SAR wouldn't be necessary. Get to know the people on your team, not just their names. The only way a team can function is by understanding each other no matter how painful that may be. One thing I have noticed over the years is that when you really know someone the ego falls away, now is that not refreshing or what. When it is below zero on the side of a windy mountain you will want to know the people your searching with. Get to know them now, your life may be in their hands and surely someone else's life is.

We are all in SAR for different reasons, the least being because it's the thing to do. Why not find out what drives the others on your team. When you have an understanding of your own team, it's time to get to know other SAR teams. We all have the same problems and conflicts, share them, above all, if you need help. All of SAR functions on the same principle, above all we are there when shit happens. If you are in trouble as an individual, or as a team, put away the ego and call in more SAR. There is no other feeling in the world when you think all is lost and your guts are trying to leave your body and then back up arrives. Your senses return, power coarses through your veins, the evil is halted, the mist clears with each arriving team member's footstep. The red flashing light cutting the night horizon means you are not alone, no one person in SAR will ever take the responsibility of someone's life alone. The fundamental principles of SAR dictate that we are all SAR, boundaries aside. If you can not accept this, unbuckle your seatbelt and get out. I have felt the despair and called for help. The sight of that light is an overwhelming feeling - it is why I'm still in SAR.

To search is the backbone of SAR, it is what we do - we must do it well. If the other emergency services could search they would, but they can't, that is why we "SAR" exist. Throughout the world we are one - we are SAR, don't forget it [my team made me say it].

Advanced Human Detection Unit (AHDU)

Advanced Search starts off by reviewing some basics, then on to a philosophy of search.

That is, one must be an Observer!

Observation - ALL SEARCHERS SEE, FEW OBSERVE
COLOUR
PATTERNS
SHAPES
SHADOWS

After mastering how to observe one must master where to observe. In short, searching observation requires looking in every direction.

Ensure the greater portion of search time is spent observing, not down on the trail looking. The objective is to cover the search area [not just a few feet of the trail] and find sign, prior to the subject expiring. Let the trackers do the tracking, searchers do the searching!

SEARCH RULE : PEOPLE CAN'T FLY, IF THEY WERE THERE THEY HAVE LEFT SIGN

Take a few minutes and pick up your basic search manual, read it. No matter how advanced search techniques become, without a strong foundation of basic layout and procedures you'll be lost.

The following text is a guide, not gospel, for the wilderness SAR search member. The tactics and methods expressed are intended for the expansion of knowledge. A greater portion of the methods have been derived from research and the rest from failures. All too often new technology replaced sound search methods only to fail in real situations. It is from these failures, methods have been rethought to discover the essence of search.

Never put all your eggs in basket, no single search method can effectively find a lost subject in time. Multiple search methods and techniques must be used concurrently in the appropriate areas, to have the best chance of finding a missing subject alive. Ensuring all available methods and techniques of search are available and used appropriately will save lives.

The number one rule I pass on to new recruits of the SAR world is "people can't fly"; the passage of humans through a delicate wilderness is a clumsy process. Humans damage nature's surroundings; find that damage and you find the human. Be at one with the wilderness and the damage will stand out. Search is to find clues, for every subject there are thousands of clues but still only one subject. Search for the clues.

I wish I was an English major but I'm not so you will have to excuse the poor English and grammar. The only reason your able to read this is due to the fact of numerous people deciphering my language and attempting to makes sense of it; to them I am very grateful. If I have plagiarized someone's work in this book I apologize, it is not intentional. I have been taught by a lot of veteran SAR members and may quote something that has already been written.

I know I have rambled on but I must pass on one more thought prior to the start of the book. There is no ultimate SAR expert. I believe that SAR is such a vast accumulation of arts and technologies, no one single person can be an expert in SAR, take it for it's worth. Besides this page has been written while I'm half cut, you try and write this stuff sober.

The basic foundation of my beliefs surrounding SAR are of one basis, SAR is a team. I have the privilege of belonging to one the best SAR teams I know of, without that team I am nothing. You can have a hundred wana-be idiots running around "searching" or you can have two hundred hands, two hundred legs, two hundred eyes and one mind and you have a team! Live for it.

Part 2 - Technology

Advanced Electromagnetic Spectrum Technologies
Ultraviolet, Visible Light and Infrared

I am not saying that visual infrared technology does not have a place in the search world. Visual image infrared technology works well in open areas especially with snow as a back ground. This makes visual image infrared ideal for alpine [lost skier] search applications. What I am saying is; for rapid, closed canopy wilderness searches, non-visual temperature differential infrared detectors used at ground level give a higher probability of success at this time. For what ever it is worth, I believe in them.

Search patterns for the technology used are covered.

Confinement

Unmanned confinement devices have been around for along time. The primary usage of unmanned confinement devices is in the world of security. The military and border patrol units utilize everything from satellites to ground sound detection devices [geophones] to detect human movements. In the search world most of these high tech devices are out of our reach, but adaptation is one of SAR's strong points. The SAR world has utilized the principles and some of the military technology in remote monitoring of human movements. The basis of remote monitoring is a detection device and a radio transmitter. The type of detection device employed and operating characteristics varies as per each units design. SARBC utilizes three main remote unmanned confinement devices.

String Line Remote Unit
Short Range Trail Monitor
Long Range Infrared Remote Sensor

Attraction

Remote Hailer / Automated Attraction

Rapid Track search

Quick trail discrimination discipline

It is the goal of the rapid track team to identify a person's passage not to track them.
Recruit - Assign - Prioritize - Inform - Deploy
T - Toe Digs
R - Rock Rolls
A - Angles, shapes
C - Compression
K - Kick Marks [heel]

The research into, and use of, UV and IR technologies is ongoing. Our members are introduced to their use during this advanced course. The course is six days, spread over three weekends. - Mike D.