The regular Spring quarter meeting
of the Pennsylvania Search and Rescue Council was convened at 1024 hours on
Saturday, March 31, 1990 at the State Fire Academy. Dr. Keith Connover agreed
to take minutes at the remaining meetings of PSARC this year.
The minutes of the
previous meeting were approved as published. The Treasurer's report was read
into the record and is on file. Dues reminders will be mailed to those who have
not yet paid their 1990 dues.
The Legislative
Committee's report was read by President Lichtenstein on behalf of Chairman Ron
Wisbith. Conversations are continuing with the staff of Representative veon concerning
the proposed bill and a meeting is again to be attempted. The proposed dates
are during the last week in April or the second week in May. Discussion
followed. The actions taken by members of the Council, specifically the DER,
and other organizations (PEMA, State Fire Academy), etc. have reduced the projected budget impact of the bill to
almost nil. One major cost factor, training, has been essentially reduced to
zero as the Fire Academy accepts the initial training courses formerly taught
by the DER as Academy local level courses. When instructors are qualified to
teach Managing Search Operations, Search First Responder, and Grid Search I and
II, these courses will be available at the local level through county and
regional fire academies. Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue, in conjunction
with Penn State, MCFTA, and MCCC, recently completed the first offering of MSO
at the local level under State Fire Academy auspices. Other activities, such as
data collection, resource surveys, planning, are already under way.
Dr. Keith Connover
reported that the wilderness EMT program had moved from the pilot stage to a regular
program with offerings in March and November each year. Discussions of the
effects of medical command practices across the state followed. It was noted
that ASTM F30 standards call for BLS personnel to be supervised by a command
physician. This physician should be based in their "home" area and
his (or the "home" regional EMS council's) standing orders should
prevail. Liaison with PaEHSC will be restablished through Dr. Connover.
Members were
reminded to monitor the actions of ASTM F30 (EMS) and F32 (Search and Rescue), particularly
since the volunteer community has limited participation due to resource
constraints.
Training was discussed and the
following open sessions were noted:
NCRC Cave Rescue Orientation:
Allentown, April 21,22 (Rick Fogel 412-793-5104) W. Va., May
12,13 Lewistown June, 19,20 Lewistown Aug., 23,24
Potomac 50K Walk Wash., DC April 27-29 (SMRG/ASRC)
A multi-agency simulation will be
held on October 28, 1990 under PSARC auspices. The
tentative schedule is for Saturday, the 27th to be travel day with a briefing
that night. The simulation is to
commence not later than 0800 on Sunday and end approximately 2 hours before
sundown to allow for debriefing and packing up in daylight. A site in the south central tier will be
selected in the near future. Participants must indicate their attendance NOT
LATER THAN October 1 by contacting GPSR.
An ad hoc committee was formed to
negotiate with the various aeromedical transportation units that maintain 800
telephone numbers to provide referral (not dispatch) services based upon the
PSARC resource survey to local responsible authorities in need of SAR resources
and/or planning assistance. Actual dispatch will remain each member
organization's responsibility. This will insure that the chain of authority is
directly from the LRA to the SAR unit responding to the call. An agreement should be available
for discussion and ratification by the next meeting.
The Council adjourned until the
next regular meeting, June 30, 1990.