| This past weekend, 18 members of Fame completed the final module of the FEMA 80 hour Structural Collapse Technician training at the West Chester Fire Department Training Center. This class was taught by FEMA USAR Instructors from Harrisburg Area Community College and was funded by the Chester County Department of Emergency Services. Saturday was concrete breaching and breaking and Sunday was exam day. All members taking the class took the FEMA USAR SCT written exam and nearly a dozen also had the opportunity to take the ProBoard NFPA 1006 Structural Collapse Technician Level 1 and 2 written test. Following the written exam, the Squads operated at a simulated earthquake that resulted in wide-spread devastation of the greater Southeastern PA region. Squads deployed to conduct a HASTY search for victims and also conduct building triage assessment. Squad leaders then met and assigned priority areas of operation.
In large disasters like an earthquake, tornado, hurricane or flooding urban search and rescue (USAR) assets need to deploy to do the most good for the most number of victims. This may go against the grain for routine firefighting where we will risk alot to save alot. Similar to medical TRIAGE, in disasters we may not be able to initially deploy a large rescue effort to rescue one person who is heavily entombed or entrapped. Instead we will initially operate in areas that will provide the most opportunity to rescue the largest number of victims. A great deal of training and discipline is necessary for these types of operations and Fame, along with others in the Chester County Rescue Task Force, can provide invaluable assistance with highly skilled, trained and equipped rescue technicians, when called upon to assist.
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