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Leicestershire’s ISAR Deployments

Chris Pritchard

Firefighter, Technical Rescue, Southern Fire and Rescue Station

Chris PritchardChris has trained and worked with dogs for the past 26 years, serving in the Armed Forces (Infantry) in a number of operational theatres around the world, before being transferred to the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, where he became an instructor. This role consisted of training both handlers and dogs for the different types of roles the UK forces carried out at that time, including guard, security, drugs, arms explosive, tracker and police dogs.

Chris joined Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service in 2000, where he served as a retained (part time) firefighter, and as a wholetime firefighter since 2004. Since joining ISAR in 2000, one of his main achievements has been the implementation and coordination of Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) dog teams into the programme; these are made up from a number of different UK Fire and Rescue Services and funded centrally by the UK government. Chris was instrumental in deploying one of the first disaster search and rescue dogs from the UK to a major earthquake (Colombia, 1999) with the charity RAPID UK. Since then, he has deployed USAR dogs to Turkey in 1999, and to the Algerian earthquake of 2003, where he also coordinated other dog teams in carrying out these roles. He has also participated in the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) IEC for UK ISAR’s initial classification in 2006 and the first INSARAG reclassification which took place in 2009.

Chris has project managed a number of USAR dog projects abroad and currently supports the International Rescue Dog Organisation in a number of areas, one of these being an evaluator for Mission Readiness tests.

Ian Holden

District Manager and ISAR Coordinator for Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service, Central Fire and Rescue Station

Ian HoldenIan joined Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service in 1986 as a retained (part time) firefighter. At this time Ian was also working as a coal face electrician for the National Coal Board (later British Coal), a role which gained him 14 years’ underground service working at Ellistown and Nailstone Collieries. In 1991, upon the closure of the pits, Ian moved to wholetime duties, serving at Loughborough, Coalville, Western, Eastern and Central stations and at the training department.

In October 2003, Ian was seconded onto the New Dimension project for USAR implementation, where he sat on national working groups for the USAR national risk assessment process, personal protective equipment selection, and module equipment selection. He was also chair of the national working group on confined spaces, and set up the Technical Rescue team at Southern Fire and Rescue Station.

Ian's experiences with ISAR include refugee camp planning in Cumbria in 1998, a European joint rescue exercise in Finland in 1999, and attending the A&M University USAR school in Texas, USA, both as a student in 2003, and later in 2004 and 2005 as an instructor. Ian has also attended as Sector Commander, Command Support Officer, and as Operations Commander for a number of national ISAR exercises and heavy rescue team assessments at Fort Widley, Hampshire, between 2004 and 2010, and was EU Civil Protection Liaison Officer at the European Civil Protection Mechanism training in Hamburg, Germany, in 2009.

Ian has been deployed to a number of national and international incidents, including an open area night search for a missing person in the Gumley area of Leicestershire in 1996, an earthquake in Izmit, Turkey in 1999, a major building explosion in Glasgow in 2004, and the Indonesian earthquake in 2009, where he led the Leicestershire team.

Earthquake: Pakistan 2005

by Chris Pritchard, Firefighter, Technical Rescue, Southern Fire and Rescue Station

Pakistan 2005 When I first found out that Pakistan had been hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake, my first thoughts were if any specialist search teams were to be deployed to it. This was soon confirmed, and I was asked to find out how many Fire Service dog teams were available for deployment to this incident. One team was available, consisting of Neil Woodmansey and his dog Holly (Lincolnshire UKFSSART). This would be the first time that Neil and Holly would be deployed overseas, and due to my expert­ise and knowledge, Neil asked me if I was able to go out and support the team. I was not on call at this time, and had to get clearance from Leicestershire UKFSSART (Andy Dermott and Ian Holden).

As soon as I got the go-ahead, things moved along at a frantic pace: I packed my personal kit, picked up equipment from Southern Station to support me on the ground for ten days, made my way to Lincolnshire to join up with the team, and from there we were on our way to the airport, and flying out to Pakistan.

Ours was one of the first international teams into Islamabad. Landslides had made the roads impassable, and helicopters were called upon. The first wave flew out that evening to Muzaffarabad, close to the epicentre of the earthquake, and the area which had been hardest hit. We had to wait until first light to fly out, as the pilots would not fly over such difficult mountainous terrain in the dark. As we approached Muzaffarabad, the helicopter circled over the town, and we could see the full extent of the devastation. Roads had disappeared, 35% of the buildings were completely flattened, and of the remainder, all were damaged to some degree. I made note of potential areas to search if we had the means and opportunity to reach them.

I thought back to previous deployments - I knew what to expect, knew that the pressure was on, particularly as we were one of the first teams into the area, and looking at the extent of the devastation knew that we had our work cut out.

The role of the dog team is to search large areas where it is believed there may be survivors. This would then give the main search and rescue team targets to focus on. We worked for about 18 hours a day. Neil and Holly worked extremely well, with Holly giving several good indications during the searches. I monitored the team throughout: checking that the searches were carried out correctly, that Neil was carrying out the correct procedures for the dog’s welfare, and offering technical advice when needed.

Pakistan 2005Once Holly had indicated, the rest of the team went in for the rescue, using technical search cameras to pinpoint the casualty and using mainly hand tools to breach and break, and then extri­cate. This was time consuming as in many cases the floors were right on top of the casualties with limited or non-existent voids. The weather was also against us. Due to its mountainous position in Kashmir, the weather in this area changed rapidly from very hot and sunny, to extreme cold following major downpours and thunderstorms, and frequent flooding. Conditions were arduous, but we kept up the momentum.

In total we helped to rescue 13 people, which is a fantastic amount, and I believe we were so successful because we got in there quickly and were able to make a big difference. People were relieved and overjoyed to find loved ones alive in the midst of such devastation. It was great for morale.

Search and rescue normally takes place in the first week after a disaster, after which time efforts switch to humanitarian aid. Leaving Muzaffarabad to go back to the capital, there was only one single-track, mountain road for the first 15 miles. The scenery was phenomenal in these high mountains, with small villages springing up out of nowhere, numerous hairpin bends and sheer drops off the side. I couldn't comprehend that this was the major route to the capital. It took us ten hours to complete the 80 mile journey as there were so many vehicles trying to get in as we were leaving.

After being away for ten days, it was good to get back home and reflect on what I had seen and done. It is a great feeling knowing that you have been able to directly help desperate people in desperate circumstances.

I'd like to thank Leicestershire and Lincolnshire team members who supported me during my deployment, and more importantly the support that they gave to my family. I would also like to thank Keith Hampton for exercising my own search dogs during my absence.