Navigating the Search in Search & Rescue Presented by: - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Navigating the “Search” in Search & Rescue

Presented by:

Navigating the “Search” in Search & Rescue

• The class objective is to provide an opportunity

to practice, through repetition and field exercise, the skills necessary to maintain a continuous awareness of your team’s location during a search.

• For Navigation in areas without broad visibility of

landscape and requiring cross country grid travel.

• Using Foundational Tools: Map, Compass, Grid

Reader, Ruler, Fine point pen (colors?), watch

• Beyond Common Sense and Intuition

Yes, these are also useful

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Wilderness Navigation

Redundant Navigation Systems Reduce Errors Map & Compass

Search team stays on intended route 1. Foundational Tools: Map and Compass 2. Augmented and Backed Up By:

• Altimeter
• GPS

GPS Brains & Senses

Team members constantly compare navigation info and decisions

Eyes & Brain Natural Clues; Landmarks Maps; Compass GPS; Altimeter

Navigating the “Search” in Search & Rescue (cont.)

GPS?

• GPS On – Brain Off?
• Forget the Extra Batteries?
• You know you are in the North Cascades, but the GPS is

saying you are in San Francisco?

• Good for confirmation of what you believe to be true
• Good for retaining digital record of track travelled
• Brain faster than waiting for satellites? (when practiced,

and continuously and fully engaged) *** Would you rather back-up your map & compass with your GPS,

• r back-up your GPS with a map & compass you haven’t been

using?

“Satellite reception lost …”

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Active Location Awareness

“The best way to know where you are, in the forest, . . .

• is to know where you have been.
• The best way to know where you have been,
• is to have had a plan,
• . . . and followed it.”

A B C D

Search Tactics and Developing the Search Plan

• The best way to find a subject alive is to find them

quickly.

• Planning time is urgent (5-10 minutes max.) Needs

to be well practiced.

• Starting with a plan reduces delays & frequent

stops during the search.

• Develop a search plan that will reduce or simplify

navigational challenges.

• Initial Direction of Travel >
• Avoid, when possible, difficult terrain features

(cliffs, wetlands, rivers, steep climbs)

• Use roads & trails, minimize bushwhacks
• Develop a search plan that will optimize coverage appropriate

for the resource: ground teams, voice checks, K9s?

Search Planning - Navigation Tactics

• Think “hasty” search – generally, plan to

work hard boundaries that offer easier paths

• f travel first.

(“hard boundary”: any unmistakable, unavoidable feature, i.e. roads, trails, cliff band, watercourses, clear-cut, etc. that is also a boundary of the search area)

• Plan to begin by circumnavigating the

assigned search area,

• to understand the terrain
• to understand vegetation
• to locate easiest paths of travel through

interior of area

• “Backstop” cross country grids w/ hard

boundaries

• Avoid needing to be perfect
• Be willing to change the plan

…….By making a new one!

Navigational Imperative

Active mental navigation: Maintain a constant estimate of where you are at any given time.

• Don’t start navigating when you need to know where you are!
• Know where you are when you find the subject!!
• Reporting location to IC for “Status” & “Voice Checks”

“We have travelled approximately 1/8 of a mile cross country

• n a heading of 45Degrees from the SW Corner of our

assigned area, and we are going to do a voice check”

• Recognizing differences between what you are seeing on the

ground and what you see on the map (e.g., logging roads that disappear, or appear on the ground, but not on the map) Avoiding wrong turns!

• Returning to a known location
• NEED: to understand “Distance Traveled”

Navigation Challenges in the Field

“The best laid plans o’ mice and men gang aft agley” Active Navigation: Comparing your navigation plan to what you encounter in the real world. Maps don’t always keep up with the real world. “Distance” not the only important data – monitor both distance and direction

• f travel

Personal Navigation Record

• Data points – frame of reference to understand distance travelled
• Pacing vs. timing

– Paces more accurate than time over shorter distances (under ¼ mile, and if you don’t lose count) – Time more accurate than paces over longer distances and off-trail

What are your personal data points? (assumes mission pack 32-38 pounds):

Your speed walking on a flat paved road: mph or:

• ft. per hr.

Your speed walking on a moderate trail: mph or:

• ft. per hr.

Your speed on moderate bushwhack in relatively flat terrain: mph or:

• ft. per hr.

Your speed on moderate bushwhack in ‘steep’ terrain (125’-150’ gain per 1/4mi): mph or: ft./hr. Your speed on hard bushwhack relatively flat terrain: mph or: ft./hr. Your speed on hard bushwhack in ‘steep’ terrain (125’-150’ gain per 1/4mi): mph or: _____ ft./hr. Your speed on trail with 1000 feet elevation gain per mile: mph or:

• ft. per hr.

Your pace length* on flat surface: feet Your pace length* going up hill (125’-150’ gain per 1/4mi) : feet Your pace length* going down hill (125’-150’ loss per 1/4mi) : feet

• one pace is two ‘steps’ or ‘strides’

Personal Navigation Record – Metric Version

Estimated Travel Time per Distance // Paces per Distance (assumes mission pack 32-38 pounds)

ROAD // TRAIL X-COUNTRY BUSHWHACK (Enter Minutes)

(Enter Paces* for short segments, 100-200m; use minutes for 400+ m)

EASY TO MODERATE BRUSH HEAVY BRUSH DIFFICULT TRAVEL METERS MILES FEET FLAT STEEP DOWN FLAT STEEP FLAT STEEP

100 .06 328 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 200 .12 656 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 400 .24 1312 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 500 .31 1640 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 600 .37 1967 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 800 .50 2625 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 1000 .62 3280 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

Your speed on trail with 1000 feet elevation gain (quite steep) per mile: __miles per hr. // _____kilometers per hr. Your pace length* on flat surface: feet // ______meters Your pace length* going up hill (125’-150’ gain per 1/4mi) : feet // ______meters Your pace length* going down hill (125’-150’ loss per 1/4mi) : feet // ______meters

• ne “pace” is two ‘steps’ or ‘strides’ // “steep” is 125’-150’ gain or loss per 1/4mi

Personal Navigation Record – Metric Version

Estimated Travel Time per Distance // Paces per Distance (assumes mission pack 32-38 pounds)

ROAD // TRAIL X-COUNTRY BUSHWHACK (Enter Minutes)

(Enter Paces* for short segments, 100-200m; use minutes for 400+ m)

EASY TO MODERATE BRUSH HEAVY BRUSH DIFFICULT TRAVEL METERS MILES FEET FLAT STEEP DOWN FLAT STEEP FLAT STEEP

100 .06 328

60 paces 120 paces 110 paces

4 min 5+ min 8 min min 200 .12 656

120 paces 240 paces 220 paces

8 min 10+ min 16 min min 400 .24 1312

4 ¾ min 13 min 8 min

16 min 21 min 32 min min 500 .31 1640

6 min 17 min 10 min

20 min 26 min 40 min min 600 .37 1967

7 ¼ min 20 min 12 min

24 min 31+ min 48 min min 800 .50 2625

9 ¾ min 26 min 16 min

32 min 42 min 64 min min 1000 .62 3280

12 min 33 min 20 min

40 min 52+ min 80 min min

**Steep / down = 215’ / ¼ mi **Steep = 360’ / ¼ mi **Steep = ‘ / ¼ mi

 My speed on trail with 1000 feet elevation gain (quite steep) per mile:

miles per hr. // ____ kilometers per hr.

 My pace length* on flat surface: 5-1/2 feet // 1.7 meters  My pace length* going up hill (215’ gain per 1/4mi) : 3 feet // .9 meters  My pace length* going down hill (215’ loss per 1/4mi) : 2- 3/4 feet // .8 meters

Example of calculating a personal data point

Estimated Travel Time per Distance // Paces per Distance (assumes mission pack 32-38 pounds)

ROAD // TRAIL X-COUNTRY BUSHWHACK (Enter Minutes)

(Enter Paces* for short segments, 100-200m; use minutes for 400+ m)

EASY TO MODERATE BRUSH HEAVY BRUSH DIFFICULT TRAVEL METERS MILES FEET FLAT STEEP DOWN FLAT STEEP FLAT STEEP

100 .06 328 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 200 .12 656 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 400 .24 1312 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 500 .31 1640 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 600 .37 1967 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 800 .50 2625 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 1000 .62 3280 ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘

It took me 12 minutes to travel 325 meters through easy brush 325 divided by 12 = 27 (meters per minute) So . . . How long would it take me to travel 100 meters? 100 meters divided by 27 meters/min = 3.7 minutes (so, about 4 minutes) – for this type of terrain.

4 min

NAVIGATION RESOURCES

Useful ‘Equivalency’ Formulas:

• ‘Large’ area searches:
• ¼ mile(1320 feet) x ¼ mile (1320 feet) = 40 acres

– Formula: 1320 ft x 1320 ft.: 1,742,400 sq. ft. = 40 acres

• ½ mile x ½ mile = about 160 acres
• 1 mile x 1 mile = about 640 acres
• 1 km x 1 km = about 246 acres
• 1 km = 1000 meters = .62 miles
• 1 mile = 1760 yards = 5280 feet
• Intermediate Area Searches:

– 500 ft x 500 ft. = 250,000 sq. ft. = 5.74 acres – 1000 ft x 1000 ft. = 1,000,000 sq. ft. = 23 acres

• Small area searches:

– 209 feet x 209 ft. = 43,681 sq. ft. = 1 +acre – 300 feet x 300 ft. = 90,000 sq. ft. = 2 acres

• A standard football field is 120 yards by 53.3 yards

(or about about 1. 3 acres)

• 1 acre = 43,560 square feet

40 acres

On a 1:24,000 topo map, a 40 acre area is about the size of an average person’s thumb nail.

Plotting the Search

Start with your unmarked map Sketch the search area boundaries

A 1 2 3 E D C

Add guide points and planned travel segments

Technique: Using both the map and a separate sketch of your search plan

A 1 2 3 E D C

A 1 2 3 E D C B

B

The map is used to relate your search plan to the real world. The sketch diagrams your search tactics and records what you encountered during the search.

(and keeps your map uncluttered)

Sketching your search plan

A 1 2 3 E D C

A 1 2 3 E D C B

B

1. First, sketch the boundaries

• f your assigned search area

(add in key points, such as junctions)

A 1 2 3 E D C

A A – 1, est.

• t. = ? Ft

B Est dist. Bearing:

?

• 2. Then PENCIL in segments and direction of travel
• 3. Then record estimated distance

Plotting the Search

A 1 2 3 E D C

• 3. Use compass (or protractor) to

determine and record bearings.

xxo xxo xxo xxo

• 2. Extend the bearing

lines in BOTH directions. (So you can determine back bearing)

• 1. Draw bearing lines on
• map. (Be as accurate as

possible)

?

Example of Completed Search Plan Sketch

xxo xxo xxo xxo

A 1 2 3 E D C B

A > 1: 1000 ft. / .19 mi. D > E: 1250 ft. / .24 mi. 3 > 2: 500 ft. / .09 mi. 2 > 1: 750 ft. / .14 mi.

A 1 2 3 E D C

Segmen ents s 1 t to C C to 2 2: wind from the NW

B

?

• 4. Record search conditions and notes for debrief

Example: Voice checks, (C)hange (O)f (B)ehavior, prevailing wind

Segmen ments s 2 t to D t to E: wind from the SE Covera rage ge in this area ea very poor due to w wind shifts

VC VC VC

COB: dog alert rts s and checks to the west

VC

Voice check C.O.B.

Remember, you will need to de-brief !!

? ? ? ?

Your (plan-sketch-notes) will support your de-brief

A Team consisting of Handler Jim Jones, Team Leader, K9 Gruff, and Max Factor, Field Support, departed the Northernmost point

• f the assigned area @ 0800 travelling on the trail on the E

boundary, counting 200 paces, or approx. 1000’. Then, travelling West at a bearing of 244 degrees, encountered a light wind from the NW and, upon intersecting with the Westside trail, performed a Voice Check(VC) with no detectable response. Then began another traverse on a 98 degree bearing to the East boundary trail, performed another (VC) at that location with no

• result. On a return grid @ 237 degrees and another VC w/o result,

noted that the wind had shifted coming out of the SE, meaning that, if the subject was between these last two grids, and unresponsive to (VC), they likely would not have been detected. Traveling East on the West side trail from there, the team noted that the trail to the S point of the area was not discernable in the dark and elected to travel on a bearing of approx. 160 degrees to that point and from there on a bearing of 29 degrees cross country, encountering the East boundary trail after about 10 minutes or approx. 1125 feet. Returning to the point of beginning

• n that trail, it was noted that K9 Gruff had a strong Change of

Behavior (COB) after about 250'. The K9 did not follow-up this indication after briefly inspecting an area of forest nearby. The subject was not located.

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The End