The meeting was called to order by
Dr. Keith Conover, somewhat past 1000, at the state fire academy in Lewistown.
(There was some delay in arrival of many people because of the Penn State
homecoming football game traffic, which seemed to fill the entire middle of the
state.) A list of those present is attached.
Dr. Conover gave a brief spiel on
search and rescue and on his experience with the Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference
(ASRC), Civil Air Patrol, and Emergency Medical Services. He discussed the
nationally-renowned success of the Virginia Search and Rescue Council, which
has improved the quality of search and rescue in Virginia since he and a few
others started it several years ago. He told about rivalries and
misunderstandings among both state agencies and volunteer groups, and how the
Virginia SAR Council has tempered these. He noted the great number of volunteer
SAR groups in Pennsylvania, and he concluded with his hopes for a Pennsylvania
SAR Council that could be as good or better than Virginia's.
Dr. Gary Mechtel, of the
Appalachian Search and Rescue Conference's Shenandoah Mountain Rescue Group,
gave a presentation on "Search and Rescue in the Mid-Appalachian
Region," which was also presented as one of the formal papers at the
National Association for Search and Rescue's (NASAR) annual conference the
preceding September. The presentation discussed the distribution of search and
rescue incidents in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, and
the current status of search and rescue in each state. (Gary gave out copies of
the paper at the meeting. Additional copies are available from him: Gary
Mechtel, 7153 Peace Chimes Rd., Columbia, MD 21045.)
Ken Boyles, of the Pennsylvania
Department- of Environmental Resources (DER), Bureau of Parks, and James Lipko,
of the DER Bureau of Forestry, are the SAR Coordinators for their respective
Bureaus. They gave a presentation on the DER's role in search and rescue in the
state, which is primarily to provide overhead teams and searchers for SAR
incidents on state lands, although they also provide overhead teams for SAR
incidents off state lands as well. In 1983, they began using National
Association for Search and Rescue (NASAR) Managing the Search Function (MSF)
course as training for DER personnel managing searches on state lands, and now
they have 70 "Search Managers" who have MSF or equivalent training,
35 other "Search Responders" with search initiation training, and
personnel to form hasty teams.
Representatives at the meeting
briefly described themselves, their organizations, and their interest in the
SAR Council. (I cannot accurately reproduce all the information about each SAR
organization, but will note that written information about most of the
organizations was brought for distribution.)
All present agreed that the SAR
Council was a good idea, and that it was acceptable for the ASRC to continue
SAR Council coordination for now. After brief discussion, the topic of SAR
Council structure was tabled, and those present agreed that simply continuing
with quarterly meetings was enough for now. The next meeting was set for
January 10th, in Altoona, hosted by Keystone Search and Rescue.
All meeting participants
participated in a discussion of the question: who has authority and
responsibility for search and rescue in Pennsylvania? The overwhelming
consensus was that there is no statutory authority or responsibility for search
and rescue in Pennsylvania, although local jurisdictions have some claim to it.
A general though not universal consensus wished to give this authority to the
DER.
A discussion of establishing a
single statewide alerting number reached no conclusion, but touched on a DER
number (the DER is, however, probably not eager to take on this responsibility)
or a SAR Council number (several volunteer groups offered their numbers for
this use). - Ken Boyles and Jim Lipko noted that DER has a 24-hour hotline
(717-787-4343); although trained dispatchers are not always available, and thus
it is not suitable for a 24-hour statewide SAR alerting network, search and
rescue was recently added to the list of emergencies it would handle.
Everyone agreed that a statewide
SAR Resource list would be useful, and the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group's
Contact List (see most recent version, attached) would serve as a starting
point. Greater Philadelphia SAR distributed Mutual Aid Questionnaires and was
to gather all this information for a later meeting.
We talked about SAR legislation,
including bills to provide Workman's Compensation to volunteers, and to provide
DER or some other agency with authority for SAR. Joe Weyrich of Juniata SAR
agreed to chair a SAR Council Legislation Committee, and to present some
information at the January meeting, including copies of current bills and
suggestions on how Council members could support SAR legislation.
The generally-agreed need for
cross-training resulted in tentative plans for statewide SAR educational conferences
and simulated missions.
The membership agreed to ask all
agencies and organizations to fill out standard NASAR mission reports for all
missions, and to send them to: Ken Boyles, R.D. #3, Box 2250, Newville, PA
17241. Ken has extra copies of the report form if you need some.
We established the focus of the SAR
Council as wilderness search and rescue, even though some organizations are
involved in other related activities (e.g. forest fire suppression, urban
search and rescue, tracking of criminals, or law enforcement). Some
representatives suggested widening the scope of the SAR Council to include all
types of emergency response, but others thought this would dilute the
effectiveness of the organization. The representatives' consensus was to let
interest and attendance determine the initial makeup.
Since the fire rescue service has
gone from using manila rope to adopting more modern climbing and caving
equipment, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has belatedly set up
safety standards for rescue equipment that are based on the type of equipment
long used by mountain and cave rescue teams. However, in some areas, the NFPA
standards may require use of equipment which is more heavy or bulky than
appropriate or -needful for wilderness rescue (where every ounce must be
carried for long distances up mountainsides and through caves). The Appalachian
Search and Rescue Conference has a committee investigating these standards and
deriving recommendations for the SAR community. Dave Vint, of the ASRC's
Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group, is heading this committee and will coordinate
with other interested SAR Council organizations (Dave Vint, RD 1 Box 171A,
Greensburg, PA 15601; 412-832-2687)
The Appalachian Search and Rescue
Conference and the Center for Emergency Medicine of Southwest Pennsylvania,
with the cooperation of many other organizations, is planning a curriculum of
Wilderness EMT, Wilderness Paramedic, and Wilderness Command Physician training
for July. Dr. Conover will make a report at the January meeting.
Irv Lichtenstein, of Greater
Philadelphia SAR, was appointed to chair a Communications Committee, with
assistance from John Kihl (ASRC) and Bruce Barton (NorthEast SAR). Our
Communications Committee will coordinate closely with ASRC and NASAR in
identifying SAR communications needs, and pursuing the technical and regulatory
goals needed to 'meet these needs, including the development of new radio
systems and dealings with the Federal Communications Commission and other
regulatory bodies.
At the January meeting, Irv will
propose an inifial SAR Council Communications System Plan for review and
approval. This initial Plan is to include only tactical (mission-oriented)
communications, i.e. between Field Teams and Base Camp. Current Plans are to
use the primary frequencies 155.235, 155.265, and 155.295. (The reason for
requesting these "splinter" frequencies is because of FCC-mandated
frequency coordination with other users of the VHF radio band.)
Everyone agreed that we needed to
widen the representation at the next meeting, and we made up the following list
of potential contacts:
·
State Fire Association State Police
·
State Assn. of Sheriff's Departments Fish and Game Commission
·
(The DER SAR coordinators were to write letters to each of these
agencies, tell them about the SAR Council, and obtain mailing addresses.)
·
Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council Civil Air Patrol
·
Allegheny National Forest National Park Service Military,
especially the USAF National Guard
·
US Coast Guard
·
US Army Corps of Engineers DAN (Diver Alert Network) Deep Mine
Safety Agency Pennsylvania chapter, ASHBEAMS (American Society of
Hospital-Based Emergency AeroMedical Services) Greensburg, PA Volunteer Fire
Department's "Rescue East"
·
Cave Rescue Team, Nittany Grotto, National Speleological Society
Members were to obtain addresses for as many as possible of these agencies, and
to make informal contact if possible.
The meeting was adjourned until
January 10th. 12/25/86
Respectfully submitted,
Keith Conover, M.D.
(p.s. does anyone else want to be
secretary?)