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History of SUSAR
After discussion, representatives from 19 states and Puerto Rico met in Columbia, SC in July 2005 to discuss commonalities and their vision for an alliance to share information and other resources. Much of the concern revolved around the perception that the state US&R programs were not being served very well by the existing status quo. In some cases, state teams deliberately equipped and staffed identically to the FEMA-sponsored task forces were simply being told that there was no way that they would ever be welcomed into the US&R fraternity. In September 2005, after the Columbia conference, the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina reinforced the concerns of these team leaders. Despite the belief that after 9/11, available state assets would be used to reinforce the federal response, many state assets sat unused while federalized teams literally drove past them, which was one public criticism of the response plan. Since an amount of the resulting funds allocated after 9/11 were being utilized to fill the gap between local and federal response, and despite the language of Homeland Security Presidential Directive 8 (HPSD-8) and a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report calling for the Department of Homeland Security and the supporting state agencies to take a more “all hazards” approach to the management of disasters, there was a reluctance to use these available state assets. Despite the failure of the federal response to utilize them, state US&R task forces from South Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, and Georgia were mobilized through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC) and were the first American teams to arrive in hard-hit St. Tammany and St. Bernard Parishes after the storm.
The State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance was formally adopted in August 2006 in Charlotte, NC. According to the participants, aside from unifying the nation’s US&R programs to provide better interoperability at “The Big One”, some of the most important initial agreements that evolved from that meeting included an insistence that typing and credentialing were of utmost importance and that differences between programs made using state assets problematic for emergency managers through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact. The first official Board of Trustees was elected at the Charlotte meeting:
The new members of the organization also agreed on a unifying purpose:
SUSAR has working groups to develop standardized typing and credentialing agreements, training recommendations, as well as discipline-specific groups and administrative working groups. The Alliance aids US&R managers in working closer with their state emergency management representatives and with FEMA US&R program leaders. Since establishing the organization, member teams have collaborated on training, sending personnel to other states to fill in classes and trading classes to insure team needs are met. These efforts have translated into taxpayer savings as teams have been able to coordinate their efforts and the resulting dialogue also provided the context for swapping model procedures and specifications, as well as creating relationships between the state assets. How do rescuers and teams benefit? The SUSAR Alliance provides some benefits that aren’t available to non-federalized teams, like the e-group that all member teams have access to, which results in the major amount of networking. The e-group provides immediate feedback from industry leaders that isn’t available anywhere else. Members of the NFPA 1006 and 1670 Committees are available in the group, as well as writers, educators, state EMD officials, FEMA US&R leaders, and members of NASAR, and many others sharing in the vision of a professional and effective US&R response nationwide. SUSAR provides a national voice to state teams. There are currently 35 states and Puerto Rico represented. SUSAR’s members work with elected representatives and industry leaders to educate them on US&R issues. By participating in the State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance, member US&R programs have become part of an innovative and forward thinking organization that demonstrates cooperation and proves that agencies can work together. Membership in SUSAR is open to any person, team, or company that supports the purpose of the organization. SUSAR is quickly becoming a force in the industry and community and if you are interested, now is the time. |
In August 2006, the State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance, or SUSAR, was formally created. SUSAR represents state, commonwealth, and territorial urban search and rescue teams; however, any team or individual is invited to participate provided they support the purpose statement of the organization. The grass-roots movement began with rescue leaders from around the country who had difficulty in securing specific training for their personnel. As a result of talking together, these leaders found that in addition to experiencing the training problems, many of the other difficulties they encountered were shared as well.
The conclusion was that there was an obvious disconnect between preparedness and actual service delivery, and that the state teams needed a voice. By working together, the directors of these state teams found shared vision and common concerns that could not continue to be overlooked. There was a serious need to communicate information and not reinvent the wheel, especially in the aspect of maximizing taxpayer-supported funding.| Copyright © 2006 State Urban Search and Rescue Alliance. All Rights Reserved |