By: Christy Bormann, TX-TF1 Canine Coordinator

Team member safety during search operations is critical. To operate safely on a high-risk disaster search, we need a lot of information. What do you as a handler need to know before you start a search? The scene safety questions posed in the FEMA certification are a great starting place. For those that are not familiar with the FEMA USAR certification, handlers are required to ask the following questions listed before beginning the search on their Foundation Skills Assessment.

The answers to these questions are very important. When working on advanced training I find that many handlers don’t know what to do with actual answers to these questions. So, let’s talk through it.

What time did the collapse occur? What type of occupancy?

What time the collapse occurred in combination with the type of occupancy can tell you a lot. Was this a warehouse that is staffed 24/7? Or a church and the collapse occurred at 2 am on Tuesday? Both structures need to be searched, but we can prioritize searches based on the anticipated number of people inside. Prioritizing search areas typically falls to management on your team or the jurisdiction you are working for. It is rarely the job of a canine handler to decide what buildings should be searched first.

So why do you even need to know the answers to these questions? It helps you assess the risk you are about to take. Seriously. We risk a lot to save a lot. And we mean that. We will put ourselves and our canines into higher risk places if lives may be saved. If there is no chance of occupancy at the time of collapse, risk only a little. Remember that your dog is a critical search resource. They can get hurt at any time. Even just getting off the truck and walking across the parking lot. If they get hurt, we don’t have them to search any additional places. If something doesn’t really need to be searched by a dog, don’t get your dog out!

Has it been searched before?

The answer to this can tell the canine handler a lot. Were victims pulled out of the structure? How long had they been in the building? When were they removed from the structure? Could there be scent left in those places? If there were people clustered in one area, could more be nearby? Did the living people removed have any information to share about others in the building? This information can help direct your search so that you are successful faster and help you understand what you are seeing from your dog.

Has it been checked by a structural engineer?

When you are working on a large structure it’s important to have it assessed by a structural engineer. You as a handler should also have training on what to look for when doing basic building assessments. What things should set off alarm bells in your head when you arrive at a large-scale collapse? FEMA usar teams have a structural engineer on the team, but they’re not always with the search team in the field. When should you call them before going into a building? They would love to tell you. Almost as much as you would love to tell them about your dog. Call the engineers on your team and set up some training time with them.

Normally on large scale collapse, parts of a building will be safe to enter while others are too dangerous for one reason or another. You need to know where is safe for you to go and where you need to stay away. And you need to know why. If you walk on this floor, could it crumble underneath you? Are there concrete slabs hanging overhead that could fall on you? What happens if your dog goes in those areas? We often want to send our dogs into areas that are too dangerous for humans to enter. That’s part of why we use them. What happens if your dog goes into an area (especially if they are out of sight of you) and they don’t come back out? Did they get trapped? Are they injured? Do we need to stabilize things before we can go in and try to find them? Can we do an emergency extrication without shoring things? YOU MUST HAVE A PLAN FOR THIS! If you don’t really bad things will happen.

Has HAZMAT checked the building? What did they find?

You need to know about hazardous chemicals in the building. In fact, it’s more important for your canine than it is for the humans searching. Things like antifreeze on the floor won’t bother the human responders. They can just wash that stuff right off their boots, but it can be potentially deadly for your dog. And it’s leaking out of all those crushed radiators in the collapsed parking garage. Does that mean you can’t search the parking garage? Absolutely not, but you do need to be sure your dog isn’t going to lick the stuff and you need to have canine decon available as soon as you finish the search. You don’t want them to have antifreeze on their paws, then get back in the crate after the search and lick it off their own feet. Is there hazardous gas in the basement? What happens if your dog goes down there and is overcome by gas? You need to know what is in the building and have a plan in place to mitigate it before you start searching. Can you know about every single thing? No way. But having a good plan in place before you start searching greatly improves the odds that you will be ready for anything that happens.

Want to learn more about the current best practices in canine decon? Check out the Center for Forensic Training and Education’s new course. Yes, the course costs money. Your dog’s life is absolutely worth it.

Utilities - who and how were they secured? Gas - Water - Electric

The answers to these questions can vary widely from one type of disaster to another. In a large-scale single site collapse (think one or two large collapsed buildings) you can reasonably get answers to these. You don’t want to get you or your canine electrocuted or overcome by gas or be in a situation where an explosion is in the making. So, you need to know. Are these on or off? Why is the water important? Is there a basement that could flood? Could my canine fall into the water and become trapped there?

Now let’s change the scenario. We are searching after a hurricane. You will NEVER reliably have all of the power and gas and water turned off after a hurricane. You just won’t. What do you need to know? Work with your team’s safety officer before you deploy! They can teach you how to look at a power pole and know if the fuse is blown – meaning power can’t flow through it. They can teach you about using a hot stick to see if the down lines are hot. You need to be looking for solar panels. Even if the fuse on a pole is blown a solar panel could be generating power and feeding it back toward the pole. You need to listen for generators running in the neighborhood. They can also back feed the down powerlines. Do you have a plan for what to do when you smell gas in an area? Where does that potentially become dangerous? What do you do if you encounter propane tanks that are leaking?

Is heavy rescue available?

If you are responding to a disaster with your whole USAR team, the answer to this is yes! You brought heavy rescue with you! The real value in asking this is to find out what happens next. If my dog alerts, who will be dealing with that? Will delayering come next? Who do I talk to about where I think the victim actually is? It’s also important for you and your canine. These will be the people that get you out if you or your dog are trapped.

Is medical support available?

Again, if you are responding with your USAR team, you brought medical support with you. However, those people need to have a plan on where to transport you if you are injured. And if you are injured, what happens to your dog? Who grabs the dog? Do they know where to put it? Do they know where to find things like food and water for the dog?

Is veterinary support available?

It is extremely rare to have an emergency vet deployed with you. Our USAR medical specialists get a few hours of training on handling canine emergency. You need to have a plan for emergency first aid for your canine. You need to have a plan on where you will transport your canine for emergency care. Most veterinary clinics are NOT SET UP FOR EMERGENCY CARE. Seriously. You wouldn’t take a person that’s bleeding profusely to a pediatrician’s office. You would take them to a trauma care center. Do the same for your dog. Know where you can find emergency trauma care. Be sure and share that information with your team. Who will drive you there? Which vehicle will you take? If you are in Texas, you can use our list of emergency clinics in Texas as a starting point for planning.

If you are responding in other places, look up clinics while you are enroute or ask a handler that did not deploy to help you from home and have them send you the information. Then call the clinic and make sure they are receiving patients and notify them that you plan to transport to them if you have a canine injury during your operation. If you have not spoken with them, you may find that they are not open or are not able to take on new clients. Then you must find somewhere else to go while you lose critical time when your canine needs care.

Learning to ask for and process all the information you need to take in before starting a disaster search takes practice. You should take advantage of the cue card (US&R Scene Safety Establishment Checklist) the FEMA Canine Search Team Certification Evaluation Handbook. You can find it in Appendix E here.

Having the cue card with you on scene will help ensure you ask about the right things. But you really need to practice this skill. It should feel like second nature to ask these questions, process the information, and come up with an effective search plan. This skill set is just as important as having a dog that will reliably sniff out their target odor and bark at it. We spend tons of time sending a dog up on a rubble pile to search. We should be willing to practice this too.

Get together with other members of your USAR team. Ask them to work through briefing exercises with you. You can ask them to mentally make up a “search site” for you or ask them to mentally use a response they have been on in the past. Use pictures if they have some available. Work with your search, safety, medical, rescue and hazmat personnel when you do it. Site assessments should be done as a team. Each specialty will notice different hazards and have different ideas about how the operation should proceed. Work together to come up with the best plan possible. When it is time to search at a real response you will be great at working as a team to perform safely and effectively so that you can help the people impacted by the disaster.

Disaster Scene Safety for Canine Handlers