Georgia Search & Rescue (GSAR)

Georgia Search and Rescue - GSARInformation taken from the Georgia Emergency Management / Homeland Security website.

Mission Statement

The primary mission of Georgia Search and Rescue (GSAR) is the coordination, development and maintenance of the resources to locate, extricate and provide immediate medical treatment to victims trapped in collapsed structures; and to conduct other life-saving operations.

Georgia Search & Rescue Response System Overview

Following the federal responses to the Hurricane Hugo and Loma Prieta disasters, Congress, through the Fiscal Year (FY) 1990 National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program legislation, tasked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to develop a national civilian Urban Search & Rescue (US&R) capability. FEMA - with support from federal, state and local authorities, the nation's top technical specialists in the field, and other interested groups - developed the National Urban Search and Rescue Response System. This system coordinates the selection, training, equipping, mobilization and deployment of federal and civilian search-and-rescue resources to respond to those situations outlined in the FRP in which victims are savable, but inaccessible through other rescue techniques. These assets are used to augment state and local resources in disaster areas.

Task Force

The US&R task force is the fundamental unit of FEMA's National USAR Response System. Each task force is sponsored by a State or local government jurisdiction and comprises 70 technical specialists divided into management and operational elements (Figure I-1). Minimum criteria and standards have been established by FEMA as part of the National USAR Response System in such areas as equipment, management and coordination, communications, and training for all task forces. Other components of the National USAR Response System include an overhead team, called the Incident Management Team, developed to provide management, coordination, and support for the task forces, as well as rapid needs assessment teams and other technical personnel who respond to disasters as part of the FRP.

Preparation

Following the events on September 11, 2001, the State of Georgia realized that the state was not prepared for these types of events. Through funding handed down from the Federal government through GEMA, the GSAR teams were developed. There are three existing Type 2 teams located in the State of Georgia; Metro (Taskforce 7), Central (Taskforce 4), and Coastal (Taskforce 5). There are also four existing Type 3 teams located in the State; North West (Taskforce 6), West Central (Taskforce 4A), East Central (Taskforce 3), Southern (Taskforce 2), and North East (Taskforce 1). Each Type 2 team has a minimum of 140 members and each Type 3 team has a minimum of 70 members. 

Training

All members are trained in 5 disciplines of rescue and response. These disciplines are; Hazardous Materials, High angle, Confined Space, Trench Collapse, and Building Collapse. Taskforces 2, 4, 4A, 5, and 6 have added Wilderness search and rescue to their disciplines due to many remote areas in those response areas. Taskforce 3, 4A, 5, 7 has added Water Rescue to their disciplines.

In the event that a FEMA team is required to assist in any response by the GSAR system, all teams must be able to operate in unison with other USAR entities.

Resources

  • Georgia Emergency Management Agency
    P.O. Box 18055
    Atlanta, GA 30316

Photo Gallery

View our gallery of the GSAR.