Harrison County SAR Search for Possible Drowning Victim

Incident of Choice:

Harrison County SAR Search for Possible Drowning Victim

Jeremiah Palmer (4145412)

American Public University

EDMG230 – Spring 2011

George J. Munkenbeck

05/04/2011

On May 12, 2010, a person on Snakelick Road in Harrison county dialed 911 to report a possible drowning. The person reported that they had seen what appeared to be a body with black hair lashing about in the swollen Richland Creek. Harrison County 911 dispatchers notified the local fire, emergency management, and police agencies of the incident. Harrison County Fire unit 403 arrived on scene first and established Incident Command (HCEMA, 2010). Shortly thereafter, other units en route responded.

Once on scene, SAR coordinator, unit 807 took IC and dispatched responding SAR & Fire units to the last point where the unknown body was seen and a bridge downstream. SO unit 374 took report from the witness for submission to the Sherriff’s Office records, and to brief the IC. (M. Palmer, personal communication, May 13, 2010). Search efforts continued for approximately two hours until a decision was made that the area was unsafe due to the continuing rain and ever-rising waters (HCEMA, 2010). EMA unit 806 and SAR unit 807 requested that 374 and dispatch keep them notified of any further related reports and possible missing persons reports. All units left the scene to report back the following morning.

On May 13, 2010, SAR teams arrived back to the scene and continued search efforts. Approximately two and a half hours into the continued search a witness came forward to say that they had seen the remains of a cow floating downstream matching the vague description given by the initial witness. As no reports of a missing person had been filed, decision was made by 807 to discontinue the search and close the incident. (HCSAR, 2010)

Throughout the search operations, an Incident Command System had been in place. Beginning with arrival of 403, a point of operations and central command was established. Upon arrival of senior/more qualified units IC was turned over. Unit 807 acted as incident command at the top of the chain, EMA unit 806 as logistics. Units 403 and 374 acted as liaisons for their respective agencies; additionally, EMA/SAR unit 812 assumed the role of PIO liaison. All other units were general staff performing the necessary footwork on scene.

This incident was small and did not require all of the possible functions mapped out in larger ICS structures. Though it may seem that in smaller incidents like this there is some ease in operations, there can be found even more confusion. Who, exactly, would a straggling SAR/Fire unit report to upon arrival to the scene? In Harrison County, many of our SAR members are volunteer fireman, understandably. Our EMA director and SAR coordinator are also volunteer fireman. Our SAR coordinator is also an EMA deputy (this stems from local SARs being under guidance of EM). A green fireman could easily become lost in trying to find where they should report.

Naturally, law enforcement on scene took report from the initial witness, so it would be safe to assume that he would fill a role in gathering information on the incident. But who, then, is to continue gathering information? Units 806, 807, and 403 continued to gather information, which is beneficial in the respect to having multiple accounts being taken; however having multiple accounts being gathered from such a small number of involved individuals is seemingly wasteful.

Assigning the role of PIO/liaison to unit 812 is a smart move in many situations as she is more comfortable with the public and fills the administrative positions for the SAR most of the time. In this incident she could have easily been assigned the duties of gathering information as well since the incident was small. Doing so could have enabled her to give a quicker report of the situation to the public.

In this instance, ICS failed overall due to the small scale of the incident. The incident, however, was still managed well and as quickly as possible without any grand complications. To improve this situation, more meetings and table-top exercise need to be conducted in order to iron out these wrinkles and emphasize who acts in which capacity when they are members of multiple agencies.

References

Harrison County Emergency Management Agency. (2010, May 13). 2010 Situation Report File. Incident # 2010-00007809. Cynthiana, KY

Harrison County Search & Rescue. (2010, May 12). SAR team was called.. [Online Forum Comment]. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/hcsar/posts/121758231182521

Mirrored from Being Jeremiah Palmer.