Engineers Volunteer for Urban Search and Rescue Missions

Engineers Volunteer for Urban Search and Rescue Missions

by Bonnie Ashworth, Quincy, MA

 

A phone call summons an elite cadre of professionals to the site of a natural or man-made disaster at the drop of a hat. As first responders, members of the Massachusetts Task Force 1 Urban Search and Rescue Team (MATF-1 USAR) voluntarily put themselves in often dangerous situations. MATF-1 USAR is one of 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces that were created in 1992 to respond to catastrophic structural collapses. Task force members are highly trained experts that include rescue specialists, hazmat specialists, medical personnel, structural engineers, rigging specialists, communication specialists, logistics specialists, specially trained search dogs, and technical search specialists, all trained and equipped to perform search and rescue operations.

 

 

 

It was the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, that brought the dangerous and vital work carried out by the urban search and rescue teams to the undivided attention of the country and world. MATF-1, which deployed 74 people and five search dogs, was one of the first sent to New York City. They were greeted by a sign that read, “New York City, Closed” and a large dust cloud where the towers had stood. MATF-1 assisted FDNY with search, rescue, and retrieval efforts, working in 12-hour shifts for seven days.

 

Tim Lynch (MA Structural PE) is an engineering manager at the Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 company that performs engineering and construction around the world, in his “day job,” and when called on, a structural specialist with MATF-1. He joined in 1992 and has been deployed to many disasters over the past 20 years, including the Worcester fire, World Trade Center on 9/11, Braintree Fore River Shipyard building collapse, Danvers chemical explosion, and Hurricane Irene this past August. Generally, the structural specialists perform rapid structural assessment, make recommendations on how to minimize risk during search and rescue operations, recom-mend shoring to provide temporary support for damaged structures, help determine where victims may be located, and participate in lifting and rigging operations. They work closely with other first responders as well as a variety of local, state, and federal agencies.

 

Tim pointed out that while structural specialists use their engineering skills, the process is very different from everyday or ordinary engineering. Their structural assessments and recommen-dations are extremely time sensitive. Typically there is no time for studies or calculations. They must quickly assess the situation based on best available information and make a judgment based on their experience and training. At the World Trade Center, Tim was required to make an initial assessment of several of the structures and provide recommendations in twenty minutes.

 

Joel Lunger (MA Structural PE, past president of the BSCES) is president of JSL Engineering, which specializes in buildings, bridges, and infrastructure, and performs design, construction engineering, and forensic investigations. Two events prompted him to become a member of MATF-1. He’d watched the World Trade Towers being built when growing up in Brooklyn. Two weeks after the 9/11 attacks, he took his dog and emergency supplies on a self-appointed mission to help at Ground Zero. He felt frustrated at not being able to do more and searched for a way to serve. It was a BSCES younger member event at Wentworth, a presentation on MATF-1 by Alan Fisher and Tim Lynch that pointed the way. Joel joined MATF-1 in 2003 as a structural specialist. He was deployed to Vermont in the wake of the wind damage and flooding caused by Hurricane Irene last August.

 

Ivanna Almanzar (MA Structural PE) works for JML Engineering on commercial, institutional, and residential low to mid-rise buildings, new construction and renovation of varied systems and materials. She became interested in the search and rescue work when her boss arrived at the holiday office party with soot under his nails and smelling of smoke, just back from deployment to the 1999 Worcester fire with MATF-1. “He made it real for me,” Ivanna said. She joined the task force in 2004 and trained as a structural specialist, to evaluate structural conditions for the safety of rescue teams and the public in disaster environments. After comprehensive basic training, with significant travel and then monthly drills, Ivanna’s list of deployments includes: Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricanes Gustav, Hannah, and Ike (2008), a Connecticut power plant explosion and Hurricane Earl (both 2010), and in 2011, a roof collapse in Lynn, the Springfield tornado, and Hurricane Irene. She sees the work as a chance to help in a way that not many people can as well as give back and make a difference. Additionally, “You’re helping keep the team safe for the unique, risky, valuable work they do,” Ivanna concluded.

 

It’s when communities are overwhelmed by catastrophic events that the help of MATF-1 is requested by the local, state, and/or national level emergency organizations. A partial list of deployments for MATF-1 includes the Worcester fire in December 1999; a six-day fire in a six-story abandoned warehouse building that killed six firefighters. The task force responded to the 2005 collapse of a crane support structure that crushed an adjacent building at the Fore River Shipyard at the request of the Braintree Fire Department. Task force canine search specialists as well as technical search, rescue, and structural specialists assisted with the recovery of two dead workers. MATF-1 was on the scene after a gigantic 2006 chemical explosion and 10-alarm fire in the early morning at a printing plant in Danvers, which destroyed or damaged vehicles, boats, and 90 commercial and residential buildings within a one-mile radius of the plant.

 

June of this year saw MATF-1 deployed to the Springfield area in the wake of the deadly, destructive tornadoes, at the request of MEMA. The 80 responders worked as two teams around the clock, conducting search and rescue and structural assessments on 500 buildings, walking an estimated 15-street miles in the process. Two months later, the task force was again deployed, in response to Hurricane Irene. Although downgraded to a tropical storm, damage and flooding were particularly severe in Vermont and Western Massachusetts. Two MATF-1 teams were dispatched, a rare occurrence, to Vermont and Greenfield, MA, to aid with search and recovery and conduct structural assessments.

 

 

 

 

Training for task force members is rigorous and ongoing. Members commit to a minimum of 40 hours of training and 20 hours of service every 12 months and attend a three-day mobilization exercise at least once every three years after they have completed training for their position on the team. Training for structural specialists includes structural collapse, shoring techniques, hazardous materials, confined space, rope and water rescue techniques, various levels of personal protection, and WMD. Joel observed that it’s a hefty time commitment but well worth it. He added: “It’s a great way to give back in a way that only engineers are equipped to do. You work with some really great people, and get a great perspective (and humility!)...I highly recommend it!”

 

Being a member of an urban search and rescue team isn’t for everyone. The work can be grueling, challenging, and heartrending, but it is also rewarding and satisfying. Those who choose to volunteer, like these BSCES engineers, have made a commitment of selfless service to communities in great need that can be overwhelmed by emergencies or disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, dam failures, hazardous material incidents, fires, and terrorist attacks. Visit the task force website at http://matf.org for much more including a list of official missions and gripping photographs as well as information on training and submitting an application. You could be one of the new members welcomed to the ranks of MATF-1.