The Canadian International Rescue Organization (C.I.R.O.) believes that in order to be properly prepared for the hazards associated with Urban Search and Rescue activities and to provide the best level of service to the victims of disaster, it is important to achieve and maintain the highest level of training possible.
During the summer of 2011 members of C.I.R.O. attended both the
Planning Officer and
Disaster Logistics Specialists courses in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the team’s overhead management. This fall C.I.R.O. members will be attending the following structural collapse rescue courses and an international exercise in order to increase the number of Structural Collapse Technicians and to bring greater depth to the rescue capability of the team.
The Structural Collapse Technician 2 course is 80 hours, eight days in length, ten hours of instruction each day, and is designed to provide participants with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform rescue at structural collapse scenes due to natural disasters or human forces.
This event is a realistic multi-day continuous US&R exercise at Disaster City® that provides teams the opportunity to deploy and immediately begin search and rescue operations in a realistic environment. The exercise provides teams the opportunity to work with others from around the world and to integrate into a realistic largescale disaster. The exercise is designed with multiple overlapping search and rescue scenarios at various levels of complexity that allow teams to identify, coordinate and solve a myriad of situations under realistic timeframes and logistical challenges.
The Advanced Structural Collapse 4 course is 50 hours and challenges the
Structural Collapse Technician even farther with advanced interior shoring problems. The student will become proficient in compound laced post, compound sloped floor shores, confined space shoring, as well as Tie backs. The use of crane support in shoring operations will be practiced. This course concludes with an intensive and realistic nighttime exercise in which the student will employ skills learned during the course. The students are provided multiple scenarios requiring a combination of advanced rescue and shoring techniques.
The Advanced Structural Collapse 3 course is 50 hours and challenges the
Structural Collapse Technician with advanced exterior shoring problems. The student will expand knowledge of wood shores with multiple insertion point shores, shoring of arches and breached openings. It concludes in an intensive and realistic daytime exercise in which the students employ skills learned during the course. The students are provided multiple scenarios requiring a combination of advanced rescue and shoring techniques.
The Advanced Structural Collapse 5 course is 50 hours and challenges the Structural Collapse Technician with advanced problems and takes his/her skills to the next level. The student will expand their knowledge of breaching reinforced concrete through multiple scenarios to include difficult breaches above ground level with fall protection, in Confined Spaces and below ground level. The class will also include steel cutting using petrogen torches. It concludes in an intensive and realistic daytime exercise in which the students employ skills learned during the course.
Following the courses, the team is sure to be tired but more prepared than ever to respond effectively to disasters anytime, anywhere!
CIRO Rescue Manager
