Light Urban Search and Rescue
CVGSAR, in partnership with Campbell River Search and Rescue and Oyster River Fire Rescue are pioneering and establishing the first Ground SAR teams in the province to hold Light Urban Search and Rescue skills and capabilities. CVGSAR saw the need to ensure its teams were knowledgeable and skilled in in this area to ensure our ability to support our community and to keep our members safe following a significant natural disaster such as an earthquake.
Light Urban SAR teams are often the first teams on the ground following a natural disaster. Based at home, these teams support the work that neighbours and citizens would immediately begin if a major earthquake struck our Valley. Trained to assess structural damage and to conduct systematic room by room search of wood frame and light steel structures, CVGSAR members would work alongside other first responders to locate and rescue citizens in the early hours post disaster and to establish the foundation to support national and international efforts that would follow.
CVGSAR has conducted a number of significant training events to exercise and build and sharpen these skills over the past four years.
Skills include:
- Incident Command
- Rapid Damage Assessment and Risk Assessment
- Hazmat Awareness
- Confined Space Awareness
- Building Marking to meet International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) standards
- Systematic Building Search
- Triage
- First Aid
- Rescue
