The SAR Mission Briefing

“Every battle is won before it’s ever fought.” -Sun Tzu

Successful rescues require planning, teamwork & excellent communication. Just as guides would execute a trailhead briefing to their clients before heading into the backcountry, rescuers should conduct a pre-mission briefing before deploying into the field.  This will help assure

1. All members know what the mission profile is (the problem they are facing)
2. Members can hear the intended plan & the why behind the plan
3. Lastly, team members can all ask questions & clarify details so they can buy into the plan

The SAR briefing is critical to your team’s success.  Keep it as simple as possible. Rushing or skimping on pre-deployment briefings often results in misguided rescue attempts with lots of assumptions, miscommunication & poor results.  

Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

The SAR briefing is a fundamental strategy for any successful mission.  Remember to give team leaders and teams some freedom & flexibility on “how”  best to accomplish the overall mission goals. © Brian Taylor

Team Pre-deployment Checklist

After team members have been briefed on the overall mission goals and objectives and had any questions answered, teams and missions will be assigned.  Each team leader is responsible for the overall safety of their team members and should conduct a detailed Team Pre-Deployment Checklist before entering the field.

Set your team up for success by utilizing a checklist to ensure you have all the necessary logistics and equipment.  Once again, going over the details of a mission will give ownership, shared responsibility, and a better vision of the mission to the entire team.

Recommended team size is 4-6 members for a good span of control.

SAR Deployment Tactics:  Small Party Teams

SAR Deployment Tactics:  “LAST”

Many Search & Rescue (SAR) teams will initiate an Incident Command System (ICS) to manage the rescue. This ICS personnel requirement only requires the necessity to fill key positions & get the job done. Often on a SAR, it may be on a much smaller scale than a typical urban fire/ambulance unified command system (especially disasters seen on TV like wildfires, building collapses, train wrecks, etc.).  Often one or two rescuers will fill the position of command and operations/logistics since many SAR personnel that respond may be needed for the field operations.

Locate the patient.

A UTM or Lat/Long coordinate position is ideal for locating subjects although this is not always feasible. A thorough interviewing of witnesses and any parties with pertinent information can help confirm a likely search area or the Last Seen Area (LSA)for your initial search area.

Field teams should always confirm the LSA on the map before entering the field. I enter the patient’s coordinates or LSA in my GPS prior to field deployment. This is an important step not to forget as you may lose communication with command in the field due to the inherent difficulties of radio communication in mountainous environments. Detailed coordinates should be relayed to med-evac helicopters ASAP so they start to research the local weather, routes, and landing zones.

Utilize basic search theory practices to locate the subject: 

• Hasty team searches to LSA’s & other likely areas.
• All teams should be using audio & visual attraction techniques (yelling, whistle blasts, lights, etc…).
• Radio in all clues (tracks, equipment found, blood…) that you find on the search to discover if they are pertinent or not.

Access

When you have visual or audible contact with the subject ( considered “in the area”) it is time to plan an access route to the subject.  Advise command and all incoming teams of any important updates regarding access to the subject.

The site commander is responsible for relaying important information from the scene to the incident command.  Ideally, the rescue leader is “hands-off”.  It is their job to see the big picture of the rescue.

SAR team members arrive on the scene of an avalanche.  Before locating the buried victim they quickly survey the site establishing a plan.

The rescue leader is responsible for relaying important information from the site to incident command.  Ideally, the site commander is “hands-off”.  It is their job to see the big picture of the rescue.

Team members implement the search plan.  Rescuers should always have their backpacks on their backs at all times!

Stabilize

Once you contact the subject provide medical and technical stabilization if needed. Technically stabilizing the subject consists of getting them secure from any local environmental hazards (putting a helmet on to protect them from rock or ice fall or putting an improvisational harness and securing them to an anchor). Some perilous scenes may require the rescuer to do an emergency move to get the subject to a secure location where the rescuer can now safely perform medical interventions. 

Medically stabilizing the patient requires managing any life-threatening injuries then stabilizing orthopedic/soft tissue injuries, treating for hypothermia, & preparing the patient for evacuation. 

Transport

Bystanders and friends of the injured party help move the patient to a more secure location.  Often bystanders and friends may also need some support.  They may be exhausted, cold & hypothermic from the unexpected emergency.

Evacuating the patient is often the most arduous component of the rescue. Depending on your location, helicopter/motorized vehicle access, and the number of personnel on the scene this can range from minutes to many, many hours. SAR dogma of always being ready to spend the night out is very important here. That is why SAR teams call their personnel backpacks “24-hour packs”!