FEMA USAR TASK FORCES

By Nancy J. Rigg

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When the Western Sugar Plant in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, exploded on July 22, 1996, six members of Nebraska's USAR Task Force were deployed to assist with technical search amid the debris. NE-TF1 Members of California's USAR Task Force-3, administered by the Menlo Park Fire Department, at work on the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City in April, 1996. This incident spotlighted the effectiveness of the FEMA USAR teams and gave them their first real national recognition. CA-TF3

This article can be found on
page 46 of the Jan/Feb 1998
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.

In 1989, Hurricane Hugo and the Loma Prieta earthquake further reinforced the need to improve response capability within the United States. Although the state of California had been developing its pioneering "Urban Search And Rescue" (USAR) program since 1988, according to Assistant Chief Michael Antonucci of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (OES), Fire and Rescue Branch, "Our USAR program was still in the developmental stage when the Loma Prieta earthquake caused widespread damage, including the Nimitz Freeway collapse," which trapped scores of victims.

In the aftermath of Loma Prieta, the California State legislature funded development of the state's innovative USAR Task Force program. "We were able to secure expensive equipment, including search cameras, listening devices, COBRA and Stanley tools," explained Antonucci, "and we started training our initial task forces." However, with a needed commitment of $1.5 million per task force, compounded by a declining state economy, Antonucci added, "We ran out of money."

In 1991, drawing on USAR program models in California and other progressive states, 25 USAR teams from 17 states were selected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to serve within a National Urban Search and Rescue Response System. Each task force is comprised of 62 members, who are specially trained and equipped to perform search, rescue, medical, and technical functions. Designed to be mobilized within 6 hours for missions anywhere in the United States, the task forces can be totally self-sufficient for the first 72-hours of operation, and capable of sustaining a 10-day mission.

Even as the new FEMA USAR program was gearing up, Hurricane Andrew decimated Florida and Louisiana in 1992. Lt. Peter Smalley, Coordinator of Florida's Task Force Two (FL-TF2), said, "Although the new FEMA program was still in the developmental stage, there were USAR teams which could have responded. Unfortunately, on the night before the hurricane hit, someone at the local level told FEMA that we would not be needing USAR resources."

The slow and disorganized response to Hurricane Andrew intensified demands to overhaul FEMA. While it boosted development of the new USAR Task Force program as a whole, it quickly became evident that task forces which had strong support from state and local governments had a better chance of thriving with the infusion of FEMA funding, training, and equipment, than task forces which lacked strong local support.

Paul Dillon, Task Force Coordinator for the Colorado Task Force (CO-TF1) explained that despite the fact that Colorado was one of the original teams, it took several years for them to get on-line. "Even though we're called `Colorado Task Force One'," Dillon said, "the state is not a sponsoring organization for the task force. We are sponsored by the West Metro Fire Protection District. Since Colorado is fortunate not to have as many routine threats as other states, perhaps we're not as well-versed in statewide emergency management as California is."

Tim England, CO-TF1 Task Force Leader, is more blunt in his assessment, "In Colorado, the state Office of Emergency Services will tell you that they are not in the business of deployment. It's really frustrating. Everything that California is experiencing, including the intrusion into wildland fire areas, is going to be a problem here, and we're just not ready. California has a model system, with an incredible inventory of resources. There's a reason that they support eight of the 27 FEMA task forces."

Concern about the deficiency of resources in the central United States prompted the U.S. Congress to ask FEMA to add two new USAR Task Force teams in 1996. According to FEMA USAR Task Force Program Manager Mark Russo, "When Congress asked us to expand the number of task forces, we explained that we still had some task forces which were not yet fully operational due to a lack of funding and equipment." Because the initial FEMA grants had been divided among the original twenty-five task forces, Russo explained, "this dragged the developmental process out over five or six years. We knew this was not the way to go with the new task forces." Appropriations were secured to gear up new task forces in Missouri and Ohio within a two-year period.

Of the current 27 task forces, only 24 are now "fully operational," according to Russo. "`Operational' means that they have the equipment, tools, people, and training to do the job as we've laid it out in the standards," he explained, "but as far as equipment goes, that doesn't mean that they're fully cached. `Fully cached' means that they have a complete, stand-alone equipment cache fully packed, loaded, and ready to go at all times."

Oklahoma City: USAR Task Forces In The Spotlight

Although FEMA USAR Task Force teams have served in a variety of situations, including Hurricane Iniki, the Northridge earthquake, and the Olympics in Atlanta, and have recently responded to smaller events, including flash floods in Colorado, and building collapses in Puerto Rico, Nebraska, and Missouri, it was the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City which brought the FEMA task forces into the public spotlight with powerful and poignant emotional intensity. Once it was clear that all survivors had been rescued, the task force mission turned to the grim task of recovery. To the relief of grieving families, the remains of all victims were recovered prior to the demolition of the building, setting a new national standard of compassion and respect.

Eleven FEMA USAR Task Forces were chosen to serve in Oklahoma City, and their efforts clearly demonstrated the value of the national USAR program. Nonetheless, there was some frustration among team members who were not deployed. "We've been in the program since the beginning," said Nebraska Task Force Coordinator John Huff. "We witnessed the Oklahoma disaster, but despite the fact that we were geographically closest, we didn't get a chance to participate in the operation. It frustrated our team to know that there were other teams flying over us to get to Oklahoma."

Although USAR teams serve on a rotational basis, location is a factor. Teams which are closest to an event are supposed to be deployed first, as long as this does not impact local service. According to Huff, "Because Oklahoma City was a highly visible event which gripped people across the nation emotionally, FEMA wanted to make sure that whoever they sent there did a good job. At that point in time, they had worked with only a few teams, and those were the ones that went to Oklahoma."

New Kids On The Block

In 1996, following a nationwide search and review, Boone County, Missouri, and Miami Valley, Ohio, were added to the FEMA Task Force program. One factor, according to Mark Russo, was the New Madrid fault, which is centered in Missouri. "The New Madrid seismic zone produced the biggest earthquakes ever to hit the Continental United States," he said. Because of the geology of the region, the potential impact zone is "more widespread than in other earthquake-prone areas, like California." Improving response capability in this vulnerable region is a sensible precaution on the part of FEMA, which has steadily grown more "proactive" in its approach to disaster management, Russo added.

Within the fire-rescue community, selection of the two new USAR Task Force teams has stimulated tremendous debate, peppered with rumors of political favors and special compensations. Russo was quick to point out that the "most politically-connected applicant, with a letter of support signed by eighteen members of Congress, was not chosen, because they did not have the technical capability." Russo also noted that Boone County, which has been criticized in some fire-rescue publications, "has been building a serious capability during the past three or four years, taking our standards and implementing them with their own funds." The fact that Missouri pumped nearly a half-million dollars into the development of their statewide, multi-agency USAR team prior to applying for FEMA Task Force membership boosted Boone County's overall rating.

Task Force Leader Ken Hines of the Boone County Fire Protection District explained that in 1991 Missouri made a concerted effort to develop a USAR program. Jolted by the 1995 Oklahoma City tragedy, the state legislature rallied to have all government buildings fortified. "While that was fine and dandy," Hines said, "our Lieutenant Governor asked, `If someone gets through the barriers and blows up a building anyway, who's going to dig us out?'" Additional funding was quickly appropriated to create a statewide urban search and rescue task force, drawing on a multi-agency, volunteer force.

Dispelling criticism about politics playing a role in the selection process, Hines added, "All I can say is look at our FEMA evaluation. The fountain of all fire-rescue knowledge is not based solely on the East or West Coast. There's no one place that you die and go to rescue heaven. We didn't go to FEMA and say `we want to be a task force, please give us a million dollars.' Instead, we told FEMA, we've already bought the equipment and we've trained on our own, please let us show you what we can do.'"

Future Plans: Expanding The Mission?

In 1995, California implemented another pioneering program, adding swiftwater-flood rescue components to their eight OES/FEMA USAR task forces. Michael Antonucci explained that while earthquakes are a serious hazard, floods are a more frequent, and equally devastating, threat to life and property. In the past twenty years, there have been 30 major flood disasters in California and 14 significant earthquakes. Death statistics are imprecise, but Antonucci's research shows that more people have died in floods during this period of time than in earthquakes. Lack of preparedness among fire-rescue agencies, which have been slow to provide rescue personnel with proper swiftwater-flood rescue training and equipment, has been a factor in the high number of flood-related deaths nationwide.

"Although we had some good swiftwater rescue teams throughout the state," Antonucci explained, "we needed to develop better guidelines and tap our existing resources. We added swiftwater-flood rescue components to our OES USAR Task Forces in 1995." The effort paid off in 1997, when severe flooding inundated vast portions of Northern and Central California. Local and OES swiftwater rescue teams rescued nearly 400 victims, and helped manage thousands of evacuations during the floods of 1997.

Debate about expanding the mission of the FEMA USAR Task Forces to include flood, nuclear, biological, and other potential disasters has been lively. Funding has acted as the primary deterrent. Mark Russo explained, "While California has gotten into swiftwater-flood rescue, FEMA has not had the ability to expand into that. There needs to be a national forum to get the issues of flood response, terrorism, biological, and other threats on the table. We need to determine whether these problems should be handled at the local or national level, and whether the Federal government should be involved in setting standards only, funding, or creating some kind of national resource."

Arizona Task Force (AZ-TF1) Leader Ron Dykes views flood disasters as a natural mission for the USAR Task Forces. "Swiftwater and flood rescue should absolutely be added to the national task force model," Dykes said. "We're faced with flooding and swiftwater problems more often than earthquakes or something like the Oklahoma disaster."

John Huff (NE-TF1) supports the need to discuss how best to utilize the FEMA USAR task forces. "We've talked for years about sending smaller contingents to some events. For example, we deployed a search group to a small town in western Nebraska when a Western Sugar facility was leveled by an organic dust explosion. This is the kind of thing that could be done with these resources for floods or other events where you don't need the entire 62-member task force."

Several communities have discovered the benefit of calling on FEMA Task Force resources to assist with local and state emergencies. On July 28th, 1997, when a flash flood struck Ft. Collins, Colorado, CO-TF1 was brought in to relieve exhausted local fire-rescue personnel. Tim England, who began the event as a member of the Poudre Fire Authority and ended up wearing his Task Force Leader hat, recounted, "This incident caused the derailing of a train and the flooding and displacement of mobile homes, businesses, fixed residences, the local university, and other parts of the city. It also sparked fires, and caused a natural gas explosion in a strip mall. All this happened at the same time."

According to England, CO-TF1 "arrived at a time when the initial responders really needed a break. We were able to take the burden off of a system that was already over-taxed." Task force members made a thorough search of the most devastated areas, nearly losing a valuable search dog that got swept 1000' through an underground culvert with less than 4-inches of air space. "Flooding is a grossly underestimated hazard," England said, indicating that search and rescue teams performed more than 300 rescues, and helped recover the remains of the five individuals who lost their lives.

Peter Smalley (FL-TF2) agrees that more discussion is needed to clarify the goals of the FEMA USAR Task Force program, which he views as a valuable and expanding national asset. "We're always going to have tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, and other disasters," he said. "And there are predictions that we may be faced with more terrorist activities like we saw in New York and Oklahoma. Even though there's been a lull in deployments for about a year, these teams are ready to save lives."