Wilderness Search and Rescue

Byline: Susan Boucher In my ninth-grade Earth science class, during the unit on topographic maps, students study all aspects of topographic maps including symbols, contour lines, intervals, latitude, longitude, northing and easting, along with map distance. As we study different map concepts, students continuously ask, Why do we need to know this information? and Who uses this information in their jobs? I answer their questions by introducing the Wilderness Search and Rescue activity. Creating a task force To begin the Wilderness Search and Rescue activity, I set up a fictional scenario for students by stating that a "dispatch" has just come in that a missing child has been reported by parents who are on a day hike on a nearby mountain. The child has Down Syndrome. It is a cool October afternoon and there are about three hours of daylight left. I inform students that they will be involved in a simulated exercise involving a wilderness search and rescue. When developing the fictional scenario, I collaborated with our school resource officer who is also a fire chief with extensive knowledge about setting up a scenario for a lost person. I divide students into groups of four and tell them that each group will serve as a task force responsible for mobilizing and saving the missing person. In each task force, students assume one of the following expert roles: incident commander, information officer, search commander, and assistant commander. The incident commander is responsible for the time log and summary of the incident; the search commander is responsible for the search plan (i.e., resources used, map coordinates); the information officer is responsible for the communication board and a press release; and the assistant commander is in charge of a final poster, brochure, or PowerPoint presentation to share the dangers of the particular incident and tips to avoid similar future incidents. (In my classroom, Officer Joseph Lorenzetti, a police officer from the local police department, provides assistance and expert advice throughout this activity; teachers can contact their local police department to see if someone could volunteer like Officer Lorenzetti does in my class.) Research techniques and evacuation procedures Students are given a research packet with information about research techniques and evacuation procedures (the information was provided by the local fire and police departments). Students are told to pay special attention to information that may pertain to their expert role. After reviewing the research packet, the next few days in class are spent reviewing information on different resources used in wilderness rescue: Using thermal imaging search techniques; Setting up a command post and staging area; Enlisting agencies in search efforts (e.g., restaurants and other facilities services to provide food, sleeping areas, and other needs for volunteers); and Using specific equipment depending on the type of rescue method (e.g., high angle rescue or water rescue). Students also learn about behavior associated with individuals with disabilities (e.g., how a victim with Down Syndrome or Alzheimer's disease might behave when lost and effective strategies for finding a victim with that disability); and how to develop press releases (in my class, a reporter from the local newspaper helps the information officers write press releases, reviewing techniques on what information to release and what not to release at specific times during a search). Mobilizing search and rescue Once students have all of this background information, it is time for them to mobilize and locate the lost individual. Each class period reflects two hours of search time. Students arrive to class with a dispatch call packet waiting at their command post-a designated group table. A topographic map marked with the quadrangle where the person is lost is set up near the command post. …