Search and Rescue Services - Essay Example

Running Head: Search and Rescue Search and Rescue [Institute’s Search and Rescue All professions in the world are involved helping a person in need. Some of these needs are more urgent, and for these, it is inevitable to form a separate service, which can respond most urgently. These services use different equipment, machinery and methods to help people who are in trouble and need help immediately (Thomas, pp. 29-33, 2007). A community recognizes these as Search and Rescue services (SAR). The way an agency defines SAR varies from country to country, as each country has a separate SAR agency, which defines their services according to their own perspective. The United States Coast Guard will have a definition for SAR, which defers greatly from the definition found in Australia for search and rescue. The US coast guard for example, uses a broad definition, which includes any actions taken to help a person even in potential distress using available resources. The Australian National Search and Rescue Council (NATSAR Council) uses a narrower definition (Thomas, pp. 29-33, 2007). They define SAR as serving those people who seem to be in a life-threatening situation. Their definition also emphasizes more on the fact that they provide assistance in searching and rescuing these people, rather than which resources they use (Australian National Search and Rescue Council, pp. 2, 2010). Another differing definition is the one used by the Maritime and Aeronautics Search and Rescue team of Hong Kong, who simply consider this an activity aimed to save lives (Security Bureau, pp. 3, 2006). While all these definitions differ, all these different organizations have some basic characteristics in common. They all aim to save lives in emergencies and they do so by employing an ever-ready staff and available equipment. The importance of search and rescue is undeniable for any person. It is one field that a person living any lifestyle is bound to come across. Whether these people are present at home, in their workplaces, in the streets or in any sort of transport, they always face the risk of a life-threatening situation, during which they will need the help of a Search and Rescue agency involved. The importance of SAR is thus, imminent in the lives of every person. The importance of this issue also entails the fact that it is a social service that is often provided free of cost by the SAR volunteers, who wish for no more reward than to know that they are able to provide a valuable community service to people. Another factor (Thomas, pp. 35-41, 2007) that adds significance to the provision of this service is that it aims to provide help to people who would otherwise have no way out of the distress they are facing. This is especially true for SAR operations, which take place in regions that are inaccessible without proper equipment and professionals. An example of this is the situation where the people in distress are located in a mountainous area. This particular example refers to those situations when the only way to access the individual is through helicopter and sophisticated searching equipment. The lives of these people in distress are then dependent upon only a potential rescuer. Another example of such situations can be seen in the area of search and rescue operations at sea. This refers to when passengers of an aircraft or a sea vessel find themselves at the mercy of the waves when their transport malfunctions and leaves them in the water, in the extreme danger of drowning (Cooper, pp. 59-63, 2005). The only people who have the power to rescue them are then the SAR teams, who then employ their own sea vessels to rescue these people. In the absence of SAR, the people in trouble would have has no way out. It is these situations, which highlight the importance and the need for SAR in every part of the world. To examine the background and history of search and rescue, one must shed light on some of the major events that have happened in the past, which showed the world about the necessity of establishing contingency plans pertinent to every surface; land air or sea. These events were lessons for the world, and they were the reason for the eventual springing up of numerous SAR agencies and organizations in every country throughout the world. Such events can be traced back to as early as the 17th century, when a Dutch merchant ship became wrecked on the coast of Australia (Thomas, pp. 39-44, 2007). This was one of the earliest attempts to provide search and rescue services to people in distress, in history. Three separate SAR delegations attempted to help in this incident, but to no avail. Due to perhaps the lack of experience, or the lack of foresight about how many resources such a situation entails, this attempted SAR mission was unsuccessful in saving lives. It did however, teach the generations to follow, several valuable lessons concerning SAR, especially the importance of time management. Another prominent SAR attempt recorded in history occurred during the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. This event is also increasingly prominent as it was relevant to SAR at sea but did not involve the lives of human beings, but the lives of the wildlife. As a result, of an extremely organized and effective SAR attempt by the International Bird Rescue Research Center, the rescue team rescued a reported sixteen thousand and thirty five oiled birds and recovered thousands of dead birds and mammals from the affected area (International Bird Rescue Research Center, pp. 20-23, 2000). This example of SAR provides an important lesson for SAR teams, that even one single organization was enough to perform a very effective job and save several lives, all due to their organization, dedication, and commitment. There are several types of operations in the field of search and rescue. As can be expected, these sorts of life threatening situations can arise on any surface, be it land, water, or simply air (Evans, pp. 20-28, 2003). Search and rescue operations on sea are those operations, which are responsible for carrying out on-sea rescue. They include helping any person, property or being in a dangerous situation while on sea (International Convention, pp. 1-11, 2006). Examples of such individuals usually include people who were travelling on aircrafts, which stopped working and passengers of water-borne ships, which have drowned. Another type of search and rescue is combat search and rescue. This refers to the assistance of people injured in a battle at war. This type of SAR, unlike others, is differentiable by the situation in which it occurs, rather than the surface that it occurs on. More examples of SAR are urban SAR and ground search and rescue. Urban SAR refers to the rescue operations that take place in the case of an accident in a residential or commercial area. Examples of this are rescuing people from a collapsed building or any related industrial area malfunctioning (Evans, pp. 51-57, 2003). These people are usually well aware of these services, as they include firefighters, the police, and ambulances providing emergency medical care. Another type of land-based SAR is locating people who find themselves lost and unsure about their location. People who suffer diseases involving memory loss, like dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, often render this type of service (Thomas, pp. 51-58, 2007). They also occur in areas, which are considerably part of wilderness, with no proper routes or familiar areas. Another type of SAR is mountain rescue, which can refer to as air-based, as it takes place using aircrafts. This includes the rescue operations which are undertaken using helicopters usually, to save the people who are trapped or in an unsafe position in the mountainous areas (Cooper, pp. 19-27, 2005). All these types of search and rescue operations vary in several different aspects, but they are similar in their aim to save lives of people who are helpless in emergencies regarding life and death. Search and rescue operations which are undertaken at sea are particularly interesting, from amongst these various types. Society recognizes and appreciates land-based rescues since paramedics and firefighters are generally well recognized and known by society. Air-based SAR operations are also very popular and known about since they have been glorified so intensely by several adventurous movies. Water-based rescues, however, have not received due attention. This is despite the fact that their need has arisen frequently with time, due to oil spills and airplane malfunctions and ships drowning (Security Bureau, pp. 3, 2006). It is important to give this area the importance it holds, and to examine its procedures as thoroughly as the others are. The procedures that SAR at sea follows are similar to the procedures followed by all the other types. The first step for any team is to find adequate funding. After this step, the team adequately equips itself with willing and dedicated workers, as well as needed equipment. With all these necessary resources, the SAR team is ready to serve. The workers it recruits need to be healthy and fit, and trained adequately in medical services as well as operating the machinery used in the operations (International Convention, pp. 1-11, 2006). The operations of this team work in the following way: the boat in distress, or any boats nearby it that happen to see it drowning, immediately communicates the drowning boat’s location to the SAR organization. This especially includes their geographical location, in terms of longitude and longitude. As soon as the organization receives this message, they send out a team to help the party in distress. They decide which vehicles and equipment will be appropriate according to the situation and then send out the relevant equipment with their rescue team. This is the standard procedure for this type of operation, and is followed by all sorts of water-based rescue. The coast guard also keeps watch over the sea for any people in trouble, as the people in need may not always be equipped or able to send out emergency messages to the relevant authorities. The Coast Guard is a large part of water-based search and rescue operations, and is responsible for saving thousands of lives every year. Technology has a major role to play in the operations of sea-based SAR operations. These operations employ several different equipments and machines, and are continuously trying to engineer a newer, more efficient piece of technology that will help them carry out their operations faster. One of the equipments, which water-based operations of SAR employ most frequently are lifeboats. SAR at sea procedures use these conveniently sized boats since the start, and are even employed as a sort of safety net by large ships travelling through the deep end of the ocean. One very special sort of craft used for air-sea rescues are seaplanes. These planes are designed in a way that they function on both land and water (Evans, pp. 63-69, 2003). They are able to keep functioning and flying on the surface of the water, without drowning. These were extremely helpful years ago, although their use has declined since the use of helicopters became more common. Helicopters are a very common and extremely helpful in SAR operations at sea. They are used mostly in the face of air-sea search and rescue incidents, which is when passengers of a downed airplane need to be rescued from the ocean into which they have fallen. These helicopters use cables and ladders to lift people out of the water and take them to land (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, pp. 1-20, 2005). These helicopters also assist the team in employing rescue swimmers in their rescue operations. These rescue swimmers are people who the helicopter hoists down into the water so that they can help the people in the water who are in danger (“Helicopter Operations – Basic Course”). This is an example of a recently developed technique that has made the operations more efficient and helpful, and has provided SAR with an additional use for their equipment used. While search and rescue operations continue to advance and accelerate in rate of development and efficiency, one should not forget the amount of human effort that goes into the rescue missions themselves. One should always remember to venerate the rescuers who put their own lives at risk to help others, often without receiving any payment for it (Noble, pp. 3, 2007). The importance of search and rescue can truly be seen when one considers the dangerous situations these rescuers are willing to put themselves through without so much as monetary compensation. References Australian National Search and Rescue Council. 2010. National Search and Rescue Manual. Australian Federal Police. Cooper, D. 2005. Fundamentals of Search and Rescue. Jones & Bartlett Learning. Evans, Clayton. 2003. Rescue at Sea. Naval Institute Press. HELICOPTER OPERATIONS - BASIC COURSE. Peninsula Mounted Search And Rescue. International Bird Rescue Research Center. 2000. Overview of Bird Search and Rescue. IBRRC. International convention on maritime search and rescue. 2006. 1979: as amended by resolution msc.70 (69) and msc.155 (78). International Maritime Organization. Noble, D. A. Legacy. 2007. The United States Lifesaving Service. Bicentannial Publication. Security Bureau, Emergency Support Unit. 2006. Contingency plan for maritime and aeronautic Search and Rescue. Hong Kong Government Secretariat. Thomas, Isabel. 2007. Search and Rescue. Raintree. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 2005. Search and Rescue Resources. Federal Emergency Management Agency. Read More