Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mick Mayers on September 7, 2008 at 8:42pm

Now I see why you posted that other-

I would say that getting involved in a special operations program really depends on how committed your organization is to funding and staffing it. This kind of stuff takes a decent amount of money and a lot of time.

My "expertise" is actually in team development, so I can shed some light on this subject for you. I would do a few things first- do a good risk assessment of your response area and find out what your most pressing emergencies are expected to be. Then compare that to what resources you have available in your region. You may find that trench emergencies are a high priority, but there are already five trench teams in your immediate area, so maybe either you should work to develop a mutual aid agreement, or create a regional team, or maybe do both and concentrate on meeting a need that isn't currently being met.

The biggest mistake I see with small and medium sized departmental teams is failing to have a good plan, establishing a sound training strategy, and meeting those needs before launching into everything and anything that comes along.

My home department has partnered with our next door neighbor department to establish both a successful HAZMAT and a US&R program. As far as US&R goes, between the two of us, we can easily field a NIMS-equivalent Type 2 Collapse Rescue Team (the team members already meet the training needs for the proposed Type 1 requirements and soon we plan to also gear up the same as well).

Good luck with your program.

Permalink Reply by Damon Dyer on September 10, 2008 at 6:11pm

This would be a team from 6 departments with more people interested .