SSAR's Training Manual - Fourth Edition

Our training manual provides a wonderful introduction to SAR and contains the SAR operations plans for Houghton and Keweenaw County. The book is made to be used in the field -- from its cover to its organization of information.

I volunteered way too many hours (+200?) making this book to just keep it to myself. Thus the reason for it being the first online SAR book. I would like others to use the book as well. You are welcome to use/modify the entire book, or parts of it for your team, under two conditions first that I or my team would at least like to be recognized in some small way and secondly, note the disclaimer within the booklet. There is no cost for using the book's information. We are all volunteers, afterall.

The book comes in several formats. The webpage version ready to be printed out directly into a manual, if you add page breaks. The book is also available for downloading in Pagemaker 4.2 for Macintosh. You may also see if I have put up Windows, text, and .pdf versions of the booklet at the hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu ftp site. I plan to upload these versions shortly.

The first Table of Contents shows how the pages are divided in the hardcopy edition of the book. The second table of contents is a complete outline of topics. Click on the topic to see the manual's page.

This is probably going to be the last version of this book, since I'm leaving Tech soon. Have fun. - Kevin Sweere

• 0-00. . Subject Information Form
• 1. . . . . Packing List of what to bring along
• 2-5. . . Checklists What you should be doing on-scene
• 6. . . . . Organizational Tree the Chain of Command (30k gif)
• 6-10. . Operations Plan the soul of SSAR
• 11. . . . Introduction to SSAR
• 12-13. Position Responsibilities duties and tasks
• 14. . . . Teams the different teams during a search
• 15-18. Search Types different ways of finding a person
• 19-21. Additional Information all the misc. stuff
• 22-24. Communication whistle and radio information
• 25-26. After the Subject is Found extraction & CISM
• 27-30. Administration running the group day to day
• 31-32. First Aid brief review of basics
• 33. Land Navigation map and compass work
• 34. Wilderness Survival in case you get lost
• 35. About this Booklet and about the author
• 36. Common Traits typical actions of lost people

THE EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Packing List
• Checklists
  • Preparation
  • Staging Area
  • Command Post
  • Communications
• Operations Plan
• Introduction to SSAR
• Position Responsibilities
  • Search Manager
  • Support Leader
  • Communications Controller
  • Staging Area Director
  • Team Leader
  • Team Member
  • Non-Members
• Teams
  • Command Staff
  • Search Teams
  • Hasty Team
  • Support Team
  • Family Support Team
• Search Types
  • Wilderness Search
  • Trail Search
  • Tracking
  • Able and Logical Subject Search
  • Lake and River Searches
  • Dog Searches
  • Night Search
  • Air Search
  • Cold Weather Searches
  • Hot Weather Searches
  • Line Search
  • Sound Search
  • High Angle / Mine and Shaft Rescue
  • Populated Areas
  • ATV / Snowmobile Searches
• Additional Information
  • Interviewing
  • Search Probabilities
  • Immediate Area Search
  • Briefing
  • Command Post Operations
  • Site Safety
  • Staging Area
  • Attraction
  • Confinement
  • Survey Taping
  • Subject Communication
  • Dealing with the Subject's Relative / Friends
  • Dealing with the Media
  • Commericial Radio Announcments
  • Professional Ethics
• Communication
  • Communiation in General
  • Whistles and Sirens
  • Communicating Confidential and Medical Information
  • ARES (Amteur Radio Emergency Services)
  • Net Control
  • ARES Field Operator
  • Net Procedures
  • Types of Field Communications - ham, CB, celluar, packet, dedicated radios
• After the Subject is Found
  • Upon Finding the Lost Person
  • Rescuer Confronts Deceased
  • Litter Usage
  • Debriefing
  • Critical Incident Stress Management
• Administration
  • Training Booklet
  • Newsletter
  • Highway Cleanup
  • Preventative SAR Education
  • SSAR on the Internet
  • Maps
  • Group Equipment
  • Library
  • Mission Histories
  • Media Announcments
  • Business and Training Meetings
  • Mock Searches
  • Additional Resources
  • Callout Roster
  • Other SAR-related Groups (many WWW links)
• First Aid
  • Think Fast and Act!
  • Bleeding
  • Preventing Further Injury
  • Shock
  • Hypothermia
  • Frostbite
  • Burns
  • Heat Injuries
  • Blisters
  • First Aidf Kit
• Land Navigation
  • Compass
  • Maps
  • TRP (target reference points)
• Wilderness Survival
  • Attitude
  • Shelter
  • Water
  • Fire
  • Food
• About this Booklet
  • About this Edition
  • Disclaimer
  • About the Author
  • References and Resources
• Common Traits

GET THE ORGINAL PAGEMAKER 4.2 FILES

You can get them via ftp at hairball.ecst.csuchico.edu/pub/ems/sar/training/sarbook/. They are contained within "SSARbook4.sit.hqx" which is the entire Pagemaker 4.2 book compressed with StuffIt and coded in BinHeq. This is most readily opened with a Mac.