INTEGRATION OF ENGINEERS IN COLLAPSED STRUCTURE RESCUE RESPONSE

摘要

Whether due to earthquake, fire, or blast, rescue personnel often respond to incidents involving collapsed structures. These personnel are called upon to enter and effect rescue operations in buildings, which no longer have full structural integrity. In recent and past incidents, such as the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, the accidental gas explosion at the Umberto Vidal building in Puerto Rico, and the truck ramming of the State Capitol in Sacramento, California, engineers have been called upon to assist in rescue and recovery operations. The engineers' role has been to share their expertise in how buildings behave under abnormal loading conditions as well as ways to stabilize structures so that safe entry may be made. Engineers responding to these incidents have been members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Urban Search and Rescue Program. As with any successful team effort, participants at these incidents must respect each other, trust that all team members will exercise good judgment, and speak the same language. Building this type of trust between people from such different backgrounds as the fire service and engineering communities is not a trivial task. Both groups must be willing to put the time and effort necessary into building this type of working relationship.