Urban Search and Rescue professionals are like soldiers: They train and practice extensively to hone skills they hope they never have to use.
 
For example, Northwest Ohio’s search and rescue team has only deployed twice since its inception seven years ago, both times this summer. According to Tom Jaksetic, Battalion Chief with the Toledo Fire Department and special operations chief with the Region One Urban Search and Rescue Team, the first time was to assist victims of the June 5 tornado, the second time was at the July 7 partial collapse of the roof at a Fremont food processing plant.
 
The tornado deployment did not require the use of any rescue skills, Chief Jaksetic said. However, it was at the Fremont Company that the team successfully implemented its first collapse search and rescue mission. The team extricated a man trapped for four hours under concrete and stainless steel debris.
 
Harold Stanton, Jerusalem Township Fire Chief, was the supervisor of interior operations at the scene. His job was to coordinate the rescue in the immediate area where the survivor was pinned and buried. Chief Stanton said his crew carefully removed concrete debris piece by piece to create a tunnel to reach the man. Firefighters then used an Amkus hydraulic saw to cut away enough stainless steel and concrete to allow better access to the concrete slab that pinned the man’s right hip and leg.

The crew next slipped in air bags, which were inflated using the air cylinders firefighters use for breathing. The air is under 4,500 pounds of pressure per square inch and the bags are capable of lifting as much as 86 tons. Once the debris was lifted, firemen wedged in wood and fiberglass cribbing to shore it up. These steps were repeated until sufficient height was achieved to allow firefighters to pull the man out.
 
Toledo firefighter-paramedic Randy Roslin, a Northwood resident, helped pull the man, Todd Michael, from the debris. Roslin had suited up a physician in protective gear and accompanied him to evaluate the man’s condition. When the physician gave the okay, Roslin helped pull Michael free and place him on a stretcher. He had been trapped for four hours.
 
“When we slid him out from under the main thing he said, `I love you guys.’ He was in very good spirits,” Roslin told The Press two days later.  The extrication made worthwhile the long hours of training that Roslin and the other members of the team have undergone over the years. “It’s always a good feeling when you pull someone out alive,” he said.
 
Unfortunately, one man, Nate Kern, 35, of Gibsonburg, was killed in the collapse and another man incurred minor injuries.
 
Roslin, as well as other members of the team, which is represented by 23 area fire departments, have undergone 224 hours of training. Chief Jaksetic said rescue strategies covered included those for confined space, trench, water, heavy structure and hazardous materials situations. Certification is required to become a team member.
 
The specialized training is as crucial to a successful extrication as the specialized equipment. Chief Jaksetic said his unit has more than $600,000 worth of cool tools housed in a semi. There are hydraulic saws, drills and jackhammers, powerful air bags and wood and fiberglass cribbing. The saws and drills are more powerful than those used in residential construction and can cut through concrete, asphalt and stainless steel. There are also remote miniature cameras, sensitive microphones and two-way radios to locate and talk to those who are trapped.
 
“It’s a big rolling tool box,” Chief Stanton said. “Unless it gets there, you could have serious problems not having the right equipment.”
 
That was nearly the case in Fremont. Chief Stanton said some contractors had sent for a crane to lift the debris and that would have been a tragic mistake. “You have to be very cautious about what you do. I equate it to a house of cards. Pull the wrong card and everything crumbles. That’s what would have happened there. Contractors who work on buildings when they are standing upright don’t understand the significance when they fall down.”
 
While the region’s search and rescue team has only been called twice in seven years, Chief Stanton anticipates a busier schedule in the future given our aging buildings and the increase in violent weather.
 
The search and rescue team is administered by the Ohio Emergency Management Agency and funded through a grant from Ohio Homeland Security. Such teams are a direct response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the collapse of the World Trade Center.

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