Introduction to Urban Search and Rescue Operations

The Introduction to Urban Search and Rescue Operations course will familiarize participants with the federal and state level emergency responses to urban search and rescue incidents. It will explain how individual rescue programs fit into this model and what to expect from incoming resources. This coursework provides the strong foundation for all the rescue disciplines.

Incident Command System

The incident command system course introduces rescuers to the command system used by virtually all rescue agencies nationwide. This course will expose participants to the Firescope ICS-120, The Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) organizational module. This module is designed to provide supervision and control of essential functions at incidents where technical rescue expertise and equipment are required for safe and effective rescue operations. This curriculum follows all guidelines established by Firescope.

Urban Search and Rescue Medical Considerations

The US&R Medical Considerations module is meant to give participants the knowledge of expected injuries in a disaster scenario. Members of this class will have an understanding of how rescue operations can negatively affect victims. This curriculum follows applicable medical treatment modalities and is intended to be an exercise in critical thinking, not emergency medical treatment.

Low Angle Rope Rescue

The low angle rope rescue course is designed to provide training for rescuers in low angle rope rescue operations. This course also provides training in a subject element required for the California Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Basic and Light Operational levels which involve response to and mitigation of incidents resulting from earthquakes, terrorist attacks, weapons of mass destruction (WMD) events, or other catastrophe. This course follows the guidelines set forth by NFPA and the curriculum developed by California State Fire Training.

High Angle Rope Rescue

The high angle rope rescue course is intended to pick up where low angle rope rescue course ended. It covers the skills necessary to rescue ambulatory and non-ambulatory victims from vertical and near-vertical elevations where customary means of egress are no longer available. This course follows the guidelines set forth by NFPA and the curriculum developed by California State Fire Training.

Confined Space Rescue

The purpose of the confined space rescue course is to support recognition of confined spaces and the hazards associated with them. Emphasis is placed upon rescuer safety and entry and non-entry rescue of victims. This course follows the guidelines set forth by NFPA and the curriculum developed by California State Fire Training.

FEMA Emergency Building Shoring

The FEMA emergency building shoring course is designed to teach participants the skills needed to evaluate a building with a partial collapse and construct temporary building supports (shores) to protect rescuers and victims during search and rescue operations of that collapsed structure. This curriculum follows all applicable NFPA guidelines and the FEMA Shoring Operations Guide.

Lifting, Moving and Stabilizing Heavy Objects

The lifting, moving and stabilizing heavy objects course teaches participants to size-up, estimate the weight, and safely lift, roll, move and stabilize heavy objects constructed from various materials and of various sizes and shapes. This course follows the guidelines set forth by NFPA and the curriculum developed by California State Fire Training .

Ladder Rescue Systems

The purpose of the ladder rescue systems module is to give participants the skills to move victims up from an excavation, down from an elevation or across uneven terrain. Participants will use fire service ladders and rope rescue equipment to accomplish this movement safely and efficiently. This course follows the guidelines set forth by NFPA and the curriculum developed by California State Fire Training.

Breaking and Breaching

The breaking and breaching course is designed to provide participants with the skills needed at a structural collapse incident that requires breaking and breaching operations to gain access, remove debris or rescue an entrapped victim from light-frame construction, un-reinforced and reinforce masonry, and concrete structures. This course follows the guidelines set forth by NFPA and the curriculum developed by California State Fire Training.

Technical Search Techniques

The purpose of the technical search techniques course is to provide participants with the skills necessary to obtain reconnaissance of an area, properly asses and mark buildings, search for, locate and properly mark victim locations. This also allows for seamless integration of responding rescue teams as they arrive to assist in rescue efforts. This curriculum follows all applicable NFPA guidelines and the FEMA Technical Search Specialist Curriculum.

Trench Rescue

Participants learn through classroom and hands-on training the techniques necessary to safely effect a rescue from an excavation or trenching cave-in. Topics include: Critical considerations while responding to trenching emergencies, evaluation of trench cave-in scenes, temporary protection for victims, specialized tool usage, shoring techniques and below grade rescue procedures.

Advanced Rope Rescue

The advanced rope rescue course is designed to pick up where high-angle rope rescue operations left off. Emphasis is placed upon re-enforcing operations level skills such as, mechanical advantage, belay operations and rope rescue change-overs. NFPA 1670 Technician level rope rescue includes: Physics of rope rescue, high angle supported and unsupported victim rescue, high-angle litter scoops, off-sets and highlines.

Active Shooter Defense and Survival

Taught by H & S Rescue’s Law Enforcement Division, the Active Shooter Defense and Survival course gives participants the ability to increase the survivability profile of themselves and their co-workers should they ever find themselves in a workplace shooter situation.