Some of you may remember that I went to Joplin after the city got hit by an EF 5 Tornado and teamed up with a group of people who then decided to stay in contact and remain a volunteer USAR team. Since then we have been slowly buying kit and doing a bunch of jaw-jaw. Well we got handed the golden egg laying goose on a silver platter today.


I was at the local fire and rescue supply company to buy some extrication gloves and a nomex hood as well as price some USAR boots and made the acquaintance of one of Arkansas' fire chiefs, who also happens to be part of the group trying to get Arkansas a credible USAR capability. When he heard me tell the lady what I wanted and why he started asking questions about my kit, the team, how much I've spent personally, certifications, experience etc.

Basically I got told today that if everyone in the team who wants to be deployable gets properly certified, equipped and immunized he will get us added to the state disaster response plan for urban disaster search and rescue operations. The team is spread across three states but with an hours notice a can be assembled and deployed to a disaster scene before the 12 hour mark has passed- anywhere from El Dorado, Arkansas to Topeka, Kansas. Not exactly first responders for the entire team, but still early in the rescue operation. It will also let us tie in with FEMA along the gulf coast when hurricanes come in, and get similarly added to the Missouri and Kansas response plans.

Not bad for a bunch of self funding volunteers.

Turns out Arkansas' disaster response plan is- despite a multi-million dollar command bunker in Little Rock- a hodgepodge of agencies with different focus objectives than what might actually be needed. The result is a 9 legged headless chicken that doesn't know where its going or why. The chief described some of his frustrations- search and rescue is the bailiwick of fish and game. Great for 99% of the times when you need SAR assets for someone who is missing, totally useless when your racing the clock after a building collapse or tornado strike in a populated area. Wilderness search and rescue has almost nothing in common with urban search and rescue.

He also had unkind things to say about the police enthusiasm in rescue situations. He does a lot of water rescues after flash floods and he said its not uncommon to arrive on scene and the victim and the cop who tried to rescue them are now both standing on something or clinging to something and needing rescued. Which again points to bad communication between agencies.

Part of the problem is a FEMA certified USAR Task Force cost around $6 million dollars just for the kit $3 million each for the deployment kit and training kit. It requires a minimum of 130 specialized people which adds millions more in training. The fire departments just can't afford to spend $35 grand plus per member of the team. Little Rock and Conway are trying to create a task force but still haven't managed it, and the other departments either don't want too pitch into the kitty, or can't.

The result is a state with three metro areas in the middle of tornado alley, 1 along a major earthquake fault with no dedicated USAR capability.

He was straight up when he told me he wanted the team added to the disaster plan, small as we are, we actually add capability if the state knows about us and what we can actually bring to the table.

To become an honest to goodness asset at the state level rather than a bunch of enthusiastic amateurs, we are fine tuning a minimum deployment team now- 2 structural entry specialist, 2 area search specialist, 1 EMT and 1 communications specialist. 1 structural entry specialist will be the team leader and the communications specialist will be the assistant team leader. Each role will have different kit and specialized training. We hope to do a full on dry run in Joplin this spring.

Joplin's not only where we all met, but there should be a large number of active construction sites we can plead with for access for training both residential and commercial/industrial. We are also recruiting- seeking out other like minded souls so that we have a bigger pool to draw on and deploy with.

I am also developing the search protocols for the team and have some actual professionals back stopping me as proof readers, editors and final readers. we've already decided on the base 2 buddy system so that everyone has a partner and is never alone. Taking it up a notch to specialized training also increases our capabilities by lessening what each person has to know, and how much each person has to spend.

We won't be cutting concrete and rebar to get people or bodies out, but we can be sent into structures to search for victims and bodies in a much safer and more effective manner than other volunteers and even professional fire fighters who have no applicable skill sets or proper personal protective gear, so the professionals can concentrate on live rescues or cadaver recovery.

Structural entry kit is mind bogglingly expensive especially when you add in everything else needed to self support for 72 hours. I am guessing my kit will be in excess of $3100 when I am done purchasing here in a couple weeks. Just the minimum kit starts at over $1800, $300 more than it costs to equip a typical fire fighter and we have no government tax monies to draw on.

It is also much different from normal bunker/turnout gear. A professional firefighter in regular turnout gear would be a heat casualty in short order. Our gear like all USAR gear has its roots in wild land fire gear. Its lighter, cooler and allows us to carry more equipment.

That $1800 is the minimum kit, certifications and immunizations for a structural entry specialist. I carry a lot more than that, as do the other members gearing up for that role. Area specialists will have the cheapest kit. They don't even have to have USAR certified kit but can get by with anything that would work on a construction site. Since they won't be entering structures they can get buy with steel toed boots, hard hats and leather gloves.

The EMT's come in the middle of the pack, they need some USAR certified gear since they will enter structures on occasion, plus they need their. medical go-kit. But they don't need to be as well protected as the structural entry specialist.

The only upside is that we are a tax deductible charity according to the IRS falling under both the volunteer fire service and civilian civil defense categories.

Here is what I have spent or am spending within the next couple of weeks. When you see a price range, low end is what I spent and high end is what you can spend (for little effective gain in most cases) "what I bought/ am buying"

USAR rated helmet (either NFPA 1951 or EN 12492/EN85/EN387) $120-350 "Petzl vertex best 2"

USAR rated boots $335 (ceramic toe, heel sole protection, moisture wisking, water proof, BPP protection cut and puncture resistant, wild-land and structure fire rated. "Globe 10" USAR lace up boot"

USAR rated extrication gloves $35 kevlar reenforced fingers and palm, knuckle protection, elastic wrist to keep out debris, BPP protected, cut and puncture resistant "Shelby kevlar extrication gloves"

Hex armor half sleeves $60

hard shell knee and elbow pads $60

Nomex IIIA coveralls with non-sparking zippers, zippered or Velcro wrist and ankles x3 $50 each $150 total "US military flyers suit sage green/ summer"

Nomex hood "long" (worn outside the coveralls to block debris entry) $30 "white"

head lamp white and red (white and red front and red with strobe setting back) $35

ESS goggles $60

rescue harness or 25' climb rated rope $100

x 2 climb rated carabiners (prefer 2 each D ring and pear shaped) $40

internally framed backpack with hydration system $50 "Coleman 3200ci"

load bearing vest, harness or equipment $30-150 "US military surplus LBE"

IF rescue tool or IF rescue tool 2 $50 (combination hatchet, spanner wrench, pry bar, chisel, hammer, crows foot, nail claw, electrically insulated)

folding multi-tool $25-100

50' paracord $10

FRS radio w/ extra batts $40 "cobra"

smart phone w/ extra batts $150-500 "Huawai Ascend"

orange marker paint x2 cans $15

sheeps foot knife $70 "spyderco rescue"

LED flashlight $20

glow sticks x 4 $5

personal emergency strobe $15

ear plugs $5

window breaker/ belt cutter $10

first aid kit $20

decals, tabs, title bars, patches $25

dust masks or respirator $5-50

First Aid Certified $75

CPR/AED certified $75

minimum FEMA ICS certifications $0

OSHA confined space and lockout certification $60

Tetanus immunization $30

Hep A and B immunization $30

Rabis immunization $100

tent $40

sleeping bag $100 "US army 3 stage mummy bag system"
ground mat $25

9000 calories high density food $30

9 gallons of water $15

8x glow sticks $9

3x khaki pants $60

3x T shirts $20

3x denim long sleeve shirts $60

baseball hat $25

Pillow $15

Hygiene items $30

rain gear $20

6x8' tarp $15

emergency/space blanket $7

bug spray $10

sun screen $8

lip balm, hand sanitizer, vicks rub, vicks inhaler $20

safety mirror $5

camp matches, plumbers candle, compass $35

marker/barrier tape $10

LED snake light $30

zip ties $15

Duct tape $5

super glue $5

Israeli dressings $5

dry pouch $10

water purification tabs $10

flash drive (for certifications, immunizations, licenses, medical information, persons to contact, and other info) $15

notebook and pens $8

Sharpy pens green black and blue $6

snake bite kit $15

Motrin $5
extra medical tape, gauze, gloves $10

double radio harness chest $60

portable triple trunked digital scanner $350-650

hand held GPS $120-350

USAR field operations guide $15

18" bolt cutters $30

Utility shut off tool $20