08/14/2026
This past Friday, Saturday and Sunday some members of Elkland Sar traveled to the Clearfield County Office of Emergency Services to participate in a Wide Area Search Class. This class focused on natural disaster response and terrorism incidents. Members of various Emergency Services traveled from both the local areas and some members from the US Border Patrol from Vermont traveled in to participate in the class.
The Instructors are members of the National Urban Search and Rescue Teams. They brought years of their skills, knowledge, lessons learned and experience into the classroom from responding to incidents like tornados, flooding incidents, hurricanes and terroristic incidents.
Some of the discussions included organizing, mobilizing and best use of resources for diseasters. Proper techniques for searching for victims and proper documentation practices for damaged homes and buildings were discussed and practiced in the class. Hands on Search Techniques and proper building and land coverage after a disaster were also part of the class.
The information learned is something Elkland Members hope they never need to use. But if requested, have a better understanding and have learned the proper skills needed to initiate a response to a disaster in our response area.
