Ohio Special Response Search and Rescue Team Announces a New Disaster Flood Rescue Resource for Volunteer First Responders

Mansfield, Ohio – The 100 year and 500 year floods have become a yearly occurrence yet, prior to now, there were simply not enough flood rescue responders to cover the scope of these disasters. The Ohio Special Response Team (OSRT), an ESF-9 search, rescue, and disaster response team, announces the publication of “Flood Rescue, Extraction, and Evacuation: A Resource for Non-Traditional Volunteer Disaster Responders”. The text, written by Captain Alan L. Plastow, the Ohio Special Response Team’s state-wide Operations Chief, Flood Rescue, is a comprehensive resource developed in cooperation with the National Association for Search and Rescue. This is the first book of its kind to deliver a front line discussion of specifically how volunteers should prepare to respond to a flood-related disaster.

A harsh example of reality orientation, according to Russel L. Honoré, Lieutenant General (Ret), who directed Joint Task Force Katrina and coordinated military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina:

“In reality, most people are saved by neighbors & volunteers than are saved by organized rescue people.”

Since Hurricane Katrina brought flood rescue response failures into the living rooms of the average Americans, there has been an ongoing disconnect regarding the viability of non-traditional volunteers who respond to the disaster incident compared to the traditional formally trained and well-funded task forces and swiftwater / flat water rescue teams. Not only is there a disconnect, but even with the availability of military resources, there are simply not enough of these formal teams available to address the sheer volume of survivor rescues. That volume has increased exponentially due to the growth of Shelter In Place (SIP) responses. In many cases, such as with the Cajun Navy, volunteer responders have been, and continue to be, turned away by Incident Command personnel, ignoring their potential as viable force multipliers.

The pattern requires a new paradigm, one that bridges the gap between highly trained task forces with tens of millions of dollars in equipment and what the author, Captain Alan Plastow, has dubbed, “A bunch of guys in boats”. What has been needed is a mid-level credential that demonstrates volunteers have taken the time and effort to fully understand their function and effectively prepare to serve in the hot zones of an incident. Flood Rescue provides volunteer responders at all levels of sophistication with core knowledge of mission critical competencies such as understanding the Incident Command authority structure, how to work within the diverse cultural aspects of survivor communities, animal rescue techniques, weather features and the behaviors of moving water, risks and hazards, basic equipment, rescue craft, where to find affordable training, and more.

Of additional importance, the reality of most volunteer responders is that they serve as water-based Ubers, ferrying people from one place of potential risk to a more formal place of safety. This bottom line service, in itself, frees up the more highly trained and equipped task forces to focus their efforts on more technical rescues and extractions.

The text also integrates a self-paced online training program and certificate to codify the knowledge delivered. Flood Rescue, Extraction, and Evacuation is available through Amazon and through the National Association for Search and Rescue.

Contacts:     The Ohio Special Response Team – http://ohiospecialresponseteam.org

Dale Thompson – Ohio Special Response Commander - steinerkennels1275@gmail.com

Alan Plastow – Ohio Special Response Operations Chief – alplastow@gmail.com