The general field of search and rescue determined by the type of terrain the search is conducted over.
Mountain Search and Rescue
We refer to the process of searching, locating, accessing, providing immediate assistance, stabilizing, and extricating people who are missing or trapped outside of an urban environment (e.g. missing hunter, trapped hiker on the mountain etc.).
Urban Search and Rescue – USAR
USAR refers to search and rescue operations that take place within populated areas and specifically concerns the process of searching, locating, accessing, providing immediate assistance and extricating people who are missing or trapped in an urban environment (e.g. trapped after a building collapse).
Maritime Search and Rescue (or Aeronautical Search and Rescue)
The name is given to the process of searching, finding and providing assistance to people who are missing at sea (e.g. shipwrecked).
Similar operations but the search is mostly carried out from the air using helicopters and airplanes are called Air Sea Rescue (ASR) and aim to search and locate and rescue crews of downed aircraft at sea.
Combat Search and Rescue – CSAR
Combat search and rescue is the activity of special military units during war to rescue and transport wounded military personnel.
Underwater search and rescue
Refers to the underwater detection and rescue of trapped persons in air pockets or lost scuba divers, divers, or frogmen, both at sea and in lakes or underwater caves
Swift water Rescue
It refers to the process of immediate rescue of people who are adrift in an aquatic environment of rushing water (e.g. a rushing river) or are trapped in such an environment. Part of this training includes Safe River crossing techniques as well as Non-Swimming Rescue techniques.
Cave rescue
Cave or cavern rescue is the process of searching, locating, accessing, assisting, and extricating people who are missing or trapped in caves, chasms or natural confined spaces.
Κ9 Search and Rescue
The three basic research practices in which dogs are trained, taking advantage of their very great olfactory ability, are:
Tracking
Research method where the dog detects and follows step by step the tracks left by a specific person on the ground. The dog receives the initial stimulus from an object (e.g. clothing) left behind by the missing person and the Rescuers should know the most recent place where the missing person was in the last hours (PLS) or his path so that the dog can find and follow his footsteps on the ground.
The Handler is guided by the Guide Dog for a short distance and the speed is relatively slow.
Prerequisites: start an investigation within 24 hours of the disappearance and Favorable conditions for the preservation of traces in the soil (vegetation, relative humidity, temperature, etc.)
Trailing or Man trailing
Research method where the dog is trained to locate, separate and follow the tracks and odors of a specific person, starting with PLS, having initially received the stimulus either from uncontaminated objects (e.g. clothes) of the missing person, or from biological material that has collected by the Search and Rescue Team and is a combination of human cell particles, bacteria and other odors that together create an invisible odor trail, as do odor sources in the environment (not just the ground).
In Trailing research, the handler is guided by the dog with a lead (10-20 meter long leash), trained to observe the dog’s actions and interpret its reactions, while a very important aspect is the handler’s ability to control the direction of the wind and to know topographically the research area (morphology of the ground, natural or artificial boundaries, extent of the area, climatic conditions, etc.).
Air Scenting
With the method of Air Scenting, the dog is not looking for the specific missing person, but for the most recent human scents and tracks in the area indicated to him.
The dog follows the scent of the millions of cells and bacteria left behind by the missing person and which form a continuous flow of ΄΄odor΄΄ in the environment, not only with the nose on the ground but also higher in the air and in this way can rule out very large areas of land and to gain valuable time for the missing person’s life.
In the Air Scenting search the dog is free and will usually alert its handler if it discovers the missing person by persistent and continuous barking or will return to it to then lead it back to the missing person.
In the Air Scenting survey, more than anything else, the operator should know the survey area topographically (topography, natural or artificial boundaries, extent of the area) and have a basic knowledge of meteorology and physics to he can direct his dog depending on the direction of the wind and the effects it can have on tracking, depending on the temperature and humidity in the environment. area, climatic conditions, etc.).
