Exercises/Drills

2013 Wilderness Search

Command Scenarios

1. Arrive without Officers
   1. No radios
      1. “You have arrived at the scene of the search but no officers are present yet and they cannot be reached by cell phone”
   2. Radios
      1. “The town has dropped off some radios for you to use, but the Officers are still not present and are still not reachable”
      2. Radios are FRS
2. Form a perimeter to await NJSAR
   1. Message from the Town: “NJSAR is responding to the incident with a full search team. They will arrive in approximately 30 minutes.”
      1. Should decide to form a perimeter in the area of the missing person
3. Form a perimeter to await NJSAR
   1. Officers and Director arrive
4. Extend that perimeter in a way that requires buddy splitting
   1. Message from the Town: “The person now reports they are closer to the … then they originally thought”
      1. Should extend the perimeter to cover the additional area, splitting the buddy teams in the process
         1. Ensure that line of sight between team members is maintained.
         2. Ensure that breaking of buddy teams is clearly indicated on the radio and to all parties
5. Perform a Search
   1. Message from the Town: “NJSAR’s vehicle has become disabled. They have no ETA to arrive at the scene. If you feel you have the necessary resources you should break down the perimeter and begin a more structured search of the area.”
      1. Should bring teams back to Command Post for a new Briefing
6. Message from the Town: “2 of the missing persons just called in. They heard the search party and advised that they are now trying to walk toward the sounds.”
   1. Should tell the search teams to wait where they are
   2. Should tell the Hikers to stop
      1. Message from the Town: “They can’t hear the team any more and they haven’t found the trail. They finally stopped walking and are waiting for the team to find them”
      2. If not told to stop:
         1. Message from the Town: “One of the missing persons fell down and a large tree branch fell and trapped their leg”
7. Ask a search team for their current GPS coordinates
8. Town pings cell phone and has GPS coordinates for the missing person

Leader Scenarios

1. CERT member disappears
2. CERT member injured
3. Loss of radio communication with Command Post
   1. Still have team communication
   2. And lost team communication
   3. No cell coverage