All-Risk USAR Specialist in
California's Quake Zone

by Randall D. Larson

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  Moving into the
     21st Century

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Members of the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) at NASA's Ames Research Center, in Mountain View, California. DART is one of the most advanced Urban Search And Rescue teams in the country. NASA DART's Communications Team includes this sophisticated communications van, containing an incredible variety of satellite and communications equipment. NASA

This article can be found on
page 52 of the Jan/Feb 1998
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.

Ames is also the home to one of the most advanced Urban Search And Rescue teams in the country. NASA's Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (DART) was organized almost twelve years ago in the agency's attempts to comply with disaster preparedness regulations for federal facilities. Organized by Bob Dolci, now holding the dual role of NASA/Ames' Chief of Plant Engineering and Chief of Emergency Services, DART comprises nearly 90 personnel from the Research Center who have been trained and certified in a variety of emergency response and recovery systems and techniques.

The most advanced of only two USAR teams operating within NASA Facilities, Ames' DART team includes 36 Rescue Specialists (trained in most aspects of rescue), 24 Damage/Utility Control Specialists (each trained to Hazmat Technician), a 12-person Hazardous Materials Response Team (trained to the Hazmat Specialist level), a 6-person Structural Assessment Team (comprised of civil and structural engineers), a 4-person Emergency Communications Team.

Significantly, Ames' DART is not confined to the NASA facility. Most its members are also a part of California USAR Task Force 3, and have deployed with TF-3 to Hurricane Iniki, the Northridge Earthquake, and the Oklahoma City bombing. The Team also has agreements with the cities of Mountain View and San Jose to provide disaster support upon request, and can be deployed apart from TF-3 at the request of the state or federal government. Ames maintains a comprehensive collapsed structure training site, and has provided USAR training for various agencies over the last six years.

One of DART's earliest deployments was to render damage and structural assessment after California's Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Several of DART's rescue specialists had the equipment and technology to put "unsalvageable" houses back on their foundations and also provided damage assessment assistance for the buildings near the collapsed Cypress Structure in Oakland. Two years later DART was back in Oakland, this time coordinating photographic flyovers for the California Division of Forestry during the Oakland Firestorm. NASA's high-tech ER2 and C130 aircraft provided significant infra-red photographs showing the extent of the fire and pinpointing target areas still in need of attention.

"By law, if the community asks us for support, we have to provide support," said Dolci. "There's a federal law called the Stafford Act which says that, in the event of a declared disaster, any federal agency requested to support the community must to do, unless it has a significant adverse impact on their mission."

NASA's team is made up primarily of scientists, engineers, wind tunnel mechanics, aircraft mechanics, computer specialists, facility mechanics, and environmental technicians. "They each have a job here at the Center, which is their prime responsibility," Dolci said. "The government provides about 200 hours per year of training time, and we take it pretty seriously. We have some people who train 300 or 400 hours a year, many of the hours on their own time. A few of the folks on the team are volunteer firefighters in their communities, but for the most part we haven't had a direct involvement with emergency response prior to starting the team."

Being part of NASA gives the team a great advantage in terms of equipment and technology. The team's communications van is one of the most sophisticated communications vehicles in the world, containing satellite telephones and an incredible variety of satellite and communications equipment. "With that van, we can talk to Air Force One if necessary!" said Dolci. The team is also developing a self-contained hazmat response vehicle, created out of an armored personnel carrier and designed for response to a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) incident, and is using NASA space-suit technology to design a fully-encapsulated hazmat response suit.

"We get far more equipment to work with than the average fire department," said Dolci. "We have more equipment for Urban Search And Rescue than many of the FEMA USAR Teams."

The threat of urban terrorism has escalated USAR to a far more dangerous level than it's beginnings as a response to natural disaster. "Terrorism makes USAR far more complicated," said Dolci. "Now, when we have to respond to a collapsed structure, there are other hazards beyond the collapsed structure itself. For example, we may have to deal with biological or chemical hazards. It makes it far more difficult and far more hazardous - and far more costly because now we need a different type of equipment, and a much higher level of certification. Most USAR teams do not have chemists and industrial hygienists on their teams. While we do have professionals like structural engineers, hazmat specialists, and others, they're not trained in WMD, such as Nuclear, Biological, Chemical weapons. What we have to work on now are those other specialties."

The opportunity to train with high-tech equipment and governmental support has given NASA's DART an edge in the Urban Search And Rescue business. What has Dolci learned after twelve years of intensive USAR training and response?

"There's not enough people to respond if the Big One really hits, or if we have to deal with Weapons of Mass Destruction," said Dolci soberly. "There's not a city that's big enough to have enough people who can respond to those types of incidents. There's 27 USAR teams in this country, eight in this state. If the Hayward Fault lets go - eight won't cut it. 27 won't cut it. Probably more than half of the 27 don't have all the equipment or training they need to do the job. It's really hard to keep folks motivated to do the training, and especially when it takes so many people to make up the team and so few really get to deploy.

"I wish we weren't necessary - I really mean that," Dolci added. "It's great to be able to provide the service here at the Center, and we like the fact that we can support the community if asked to do so. But I think everybody on the team would feel much better off if the city or town they lived in had the opportunity to train as much as we do and had the equipment we have, because that's where it belongs - within the emergency responders in each community. That takes a commitment from department chiefs and city managers."