OSRT Search and Rescue Team Members Certified in Lost Person Behavior/Reflex Tasking Search Methods

Mansfield, Ohio – More than 30 members of the Ohio Special Response Search and Rescue Team have qualified for the internationally recognized Lost Person Behavior Credential. OSRT is the premier Ohio search and rescue (SAR) team to have achieved this distinction.

Lost person behavior competency is arguably the most often overlooked cornerstone of search and rescue efforts – a qualification obtained by fewer than 10% of Ohio teams. Based on a landmark study of more than 50,000 actual SAR incidents, this book is the definitive guide to solving the puzzle of where a lost person might be found. Using the concept of “reflex tasking” it presents new and updated subject categories, behavioral profiles, current statistics, suggested initial tasks, and specialized investigative questions. Whether the subject is underground, underwater, under collapsed rubble, on land or has fallen from the sky, this book delivers what search managers need. (Database referenced: International Search & Rescue Incident Database [ISRID] )

The Ohio Special Response Search and Rescue Team, a 501(c)3 headquartered in Mansfield with 7 units around the state, is the single non-profit volunteer Ohio SAR team credentialed in the Federal Emergency Management Administration's (FEMA) Emergency Support Function 9, Job Type 35, Wilderness Search and Rescue.

Ohio Special Response Team would like to thank the author of this resource: Robert J. Koester, who first joined the Appalachian Search & Rescue Conference in 1981. He holds an MS in neurobiology from the University of Virginia and has contributed seminal research on lost person behavior (beginning with an initial emphasis on dementia) while also creating the International Search and Rescue Incident Database (ISRID). An incident commander and instructor for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, and president of the Virginia Search and Rescue Council, Robert has also worked for the United States Coast Guard, National Park Service, and Federal Emergency Management Agency. He is the author of numerous books and articles on search and rescue and an international presenter/trainer.