One more Tom Symonds piece of information.
My title for this posting sums up my thoughts about what is recorded below. The people variable is what the issue is I think.
Future of US&R: Joe Sorrentino, FL-TF2; Ernie Rhodes, MO-TF1.
Speakers discussed local, regional, state, and federal US&R teams. Speakers noted the following challenges state, regional, and local teams: team typing varies by state; organizational charts vary by team; equipment caches are different; operational experience is all over the chart. Unlike the FEMA teams where FEMA manages their deployment status, there is no authority overseeing the other teams. Oklahoma City Fire Chief noted that some of these challenges are true with the FEMA teams even though FEMA has worked to standardize the teams. He noted that during the response to OKC, he had 11 "different" teams; not just from different states but different in how they were managed. Team leadership/management was noted as the single biggest problem for the effective operation of the teams. According to the speakers, while "rock breakers" are routinely trained, TFLs are not. The speakers also noted that smaller (local, regional, state) teams, although well-meaning, are often too "needy" in longer-term deployments and suffer from poor leadership. Both speakers would like to see the UASIs come together to establish standards for UASI regional US&R teams.
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My title for this posting sums up my thoughts about what is recorded below. The people variable is what the issue is I think.
Future of US&R: Joe Sorrentino, FL-TF2; Ernie Rhodes, MO-TF1.
Speakers discussed local, regional, state, and federal US&R teams. Speakers noted the following challenges state, regional, and local teams: team typing varies by state; organizational charts vary by team; equipment caches are different; operational experience is all over the chart. Unlike the FEMA teams where FEMA manages their deployment status, there is no authority overseeing the other teams. Oklahoma City Fire Chief noted that some of these challenges are true with the FEMA teams even though FEMA has worked to standardize the teams. He noted that during the response to OKC, he had 11 "different" teams; not just from different states but different in how they were managed. Team leadership/management was noted as the single biggest problem for the effective operation of the teams. According to the speakers, while "rock breakers" are routinely trained, TFLs are not. The speakers also noted that smaller (local, regional, state) teams, although well-meaning, are often too "needy" in longer-term deployments and suffer from poor leadership. Both speakers would like to see the UASIs come together to establish standards for UASI regional US&R teams.
