SEMCARES 1999 Search and Rescue Drill Report

Search and Rescue Drill Review...

16 people participated in the SEMCARES/South Shore Fox Hunters
Association Search and Rescue Drill. A hearty thank you to Gil Follett,
WA1GDJ for getting his group involved in the drill and adding quite a
bit of support to the drill including their fox box to act as a ELF
which would typically go off if a plane was downed.

Here is the list of amateurs that participated in this drill:

WA1GDJ-Gil	KD1CY-Rob		KC1FZ-George	N1XJK-Myron
N1FYZ-Carl	N1NTZ-Ed		N1WWI-Chris	Roger (No Call)
N1VUF-Brad	N1ZZN-Jeff		N1VQZ-Charlotte	Jason (Fox/Victim)
N1XRS-Tony	KB1CYV-Roy		KB1EAJ-Ritchy	W1JOE-Joe		 

A brief scenario was discussed. Brad, N1VUF, gave pointers to all
involved regarding what to do in an actual search and rescue and what
to do if a victim is wounded and how to handle the situation. Brad
designated a special call in frequency for when the victim is found so
that in a real situation there would be less of a chance of having that
information broadcasted to the media. He also made mention that
the victim's name should not be stated over the radio and that only the
pertinent generic information (white male, age, injury etc.) should be
mentioned.

Gil, WA1GDJ, had sectioned off the map into various quadrants so that
people could conduct the search in an organized manner and do their
best to triangulate on where the signal from their fox box or ELF was
coming from. Carl, N1FYZ, was NCS for the drill operations, and setup a
base station on battery power running from the parking lot that was
away from the forestry headquarters and was located near the center of
the Miles Standish State Forest in Plymouth.

After the moving of central command to that other parking area and the
brief scenario, the Fox Box and 'victims' were placed in their area and
the search was on.

Within 2-2.5 hours all teams had found the victims/fox box and relayed
the appropriate information regarding injuries and prefaced that
information with this is a drill. It was a great experience combining
fox-hunting with the actual 'missing' person aspect for this drill. The
fox-box acting as a ELF is a very real possibility in a real search
and rescue and its excellent to have practiced this drill in this
manner. It can make finding the 'victims' much easier.

A great time was had by all. Special thanks again to Gil, WA1GDJ, and
Brad, N1VUF for their efforts and also special thanks to Jason, and
KB1EAJ-Ritchy for being the 'victims' in the Search and Rescue drill
for 1999.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert Macedo (KD1CY)
ARES SKYWARN Coordinator
SEMCARES Emergency Coordinator
Home Phone #: (508) 994-1875 (After 6 PM)
Home/Data #: (508) 997-4503  (After 6 PM)
Work Phone #: 1-800-445-2588 Ext.: 72929  (8 AM-5 PM)
Email Address: rmacedo@pop.ma.ultranet.com
Packet Address: KD1CY @ AA1FS
http://www.ultranet.com/~rmacedo