03-27-2014. In talking with a Washington State Senator today, I learned that the initial first responders, firefighters refused local volunteer citizens offering their help to try to rescue victims trapped in the their homes in the mud slide in Oso, Wa. And, that an investigation is being started on this matter as it most likely cost the lives of several victims that could have been saved. My following comments are to not deter in any way from the heroic actions of all the volunteers, search and rescue teams, k9 teams, and fire fighters that have and still are risking their lives to try and bring closure to families of the victims of the OSO, Wa. disaster. When a SAR Coordinator is called in to coordinate a disaster, it doesn’t matter if he / she is a fire chief, K9 SAR Coordinator, Sheriff’s office SAR Coordinator, it’s their responsibility to oversee that no more lives are lost. Safety first. That being said, in all major disasters, 90% of the victims are rescued by neighbors, and strangers. Whether the disaster is from an earthquake, tsunami, flood, tornado, hurricane, fire, avalanche, or other event. Those are the truthful facts. So what does this mean for the Oso, coordinator? It means that each state agency must develop an active plan to be able to coordinator and use civilians during a large event. The civilians bring in skills such as planning, supply, medical, plumbing, electrical, geology, mapping, transportation, logging, etc. So in the OSO case where victims were heard pounding on the structures from the inside of collapsed structures and later found dead due to lack of rescue. I would strongly suggest that the state reevaluate the use of civilians. Why not allow 6 civilians to work alongside one trained first responder? The comment was made by fire officials,” The area was unstable and wasn’t safe”. OK. Then why were your own rescuers in the unstable areas? What would it have taken to make the area stable, safe for civilians, search dogs, ground search teams to respond the first night? This isn’t a question about what was or wasn’t done right. It’s an observation and a concern that needs to be addressed by the legislature and EMS, Law enforcement, and SAR officials for huge events.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 04:13:33 +0000
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