"Great job on the new Fundamentals of Search and Rescue manual. As a NASAR SARTECH Exam Coordinator, I recently tested several Arkansas State Parks Rangers and Interpreters who used this manual to prepare for the SARTECH II exam. They all did well on the exam and I heard several positive comments about the quality of the new book and how the organization and thoroughness of the materials helped them to prepare for the exam. The collaborative efforts of NASAR and Jones and Bartlett Publishers have produced a high quality manual with up-to-date methods and techniques for Search and Rescue Responders."

Allen Lawrence

Arkansas ESAR

The following appeared in Issue 43 of Technical Rescue magazine:

"Yet another fine publication from Jones & Bartlett mimicking the style and design we’ve seen in most books in rescue in recent years. This one has quite a pedigree of contributors and reads like a who’s who of  NASAR presenters, though ultimately it’s Don Cooper who’s driven the book home. It is extremely well illustrated throughout with color photos, diagrams and charts. SAR Tip boxes litter the pages with some useful safety and general info.  SAR terms (glossary) are detailed at the end of each chapter.

This is definitely a Search techniques book despite the term being search and RESCUE. SAR is more the application of a range of disciplines than a discipline in itself but this book hasn’t tried to unsuccessfully duplicate the fine work of technical publications like High Angle Rescue. The opening chapter details the interesting concept of community responding to disasters - a U.S. government program that seeks to give the community the training necessary to make a difference at a disaster without becoming victims themselves.  This is because they’ve identified that in the event of a major disaster the local residents will save far more lives than all statutory rescue agency put together! The second chapter deals with the organizations and resources available for SAR and how the various rescue plans are implemented. Much of this is U.S. oriented, but since FEMA system is widely copied it is applicable worldwide.  On a more local scale Chapter Three looks at a SAR incident with emphasis on Incident Command System(s) or ICS. Be prepared for more TLA’s (three letter abbreviations) than you will be able to remember in this book. It has become a norm these days and this book uses (and explains) hundreds of TLA’s!  Chapter Four looks at more legal and ethical issues than you realized were a problem – excellent pause for thought on everything from negligence and racial abuse to Good Samaritan laws and trespassing. After stupidly brushing past the fitness and physiology chapter, the Survival chapter imparts much information and hints on emergency shelters, fire craft, finding and treating water, signaling and direction-finding. The chapter concludes with personal hygiene and all of these subjects are covered in excellent detail with good diagrams. At 30 pages this, together with Navigation, represents the longest chapter in the book. Clothing is often skimmed over but in this day of technical materials and design in footwear, outer and under-clothing this chapter is a little overdue. It includes discussion of the main brands like Polartec and Thinsulate. Safety issues are mostly environmental detailing with cold-water immersion, hot/cold/ inclement weather and avalanche safety in particular. There are also a few pages on snakes and plants – obviously this is most appropriate to the U.S. The SAR Ready Pack details every component you require for sustained SAR incidents. At a more technical level the Resources and Technology chapter provides good detail on everything from Thermal Imaging cameras and Side Scan Sonar to radio beacons and comms systems. Travel Skills is a little unusual though invaluable and includes ice axe arrest and negotiating a range of terrains. Tracking is self-explanatory and adequately dealt with through far more exhaustive because that is another area that requires an entire book. ‘Search Background and Related Issues’ is a rather cryptic title for an area that is also a book in itself – how to actually search for the missing person. The chapter and the subsequent Search Operations include many peripheral concerns as well as POD (Probability of Detection) and lost person behavior. Crash scenes are uncomfortably frequent occurrence and is dealt with as part of the evidence handling section while grids and specific search patterns cover several pages. Anatomy of Search Incident gives a useful guide to the evolution of a typical rescue from callout to debrief. In the appendix, very detailed Resource Typing sheets (16 in total) are invaluable and a sadly underused facility in many areas of the world outside the U.S. where perceived ‘operational territories’ tends to limit response to a single statutory recourse or sometimes just military responses. These resource sheets cover Canine, Mountain, USAR and Wilderness assets.

CONCLUSION
The  Fundamentals of Search and Rescue is every bit as good as we would expect. It is well illustrated, written in a style that is reasonably formal but concise enough to maintain your attention and interest. A number of more unusual sections provide information we don’t see much in rescue texts, certainly not with any meaningful amount of detail. Don Cooper has helped produce an invaluable reference that will have become a standard text the minute it rolled off the press."