‘Urban search and rescue' (USAR)

Roadside vehicle breakdown, high rise building emergency, stranded by rising flood waters, casualty of a structural collapse or adrift in a boat you need to alert rescuers to where you are, as your life and maybe those of others depends on it! Rescuer’s, whether dismounted on foot, mounted, mobile, in aircraft or boat are trying to cover as much ground as possible, to rescue all that they can find. You need to be seen or heard so you can be successfully located and rescued.

When you are laying out the plan for your emergency signaling devices you need to consider where you’ll be and what type of rescue operation might be organized? Do not rely on just one type of signal and make sure you have visual, audible and nighttime methods to signal rescuers. Are you in an urban, suburban, rural, wilderness or marine environment? Traveling by vehicle or RV? At home? We focus on emergency and disaster response.

In natural disasters, the goal of a search and rescue operation is to rescue the largest number of people in the shortest time, while minimizing risk to rescuers.