Line Search Techniques

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Line Search Techniques

• Developed as part of the National Emergency
  Services Curriculum Project

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Search Formations

• Hasty
• Line
• Wedge

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Hasty Team

• Used to check critical points of interest on site
• No set layout
• Normally specific, very-experienced personnel
  assigned
• Assistant Team Leader
• Communications
• Medic/First Aider
• A branch of a larger ground team in the field
• Usually sent out as the initial, quick search

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Search Formations Continued

• Ground Team Members
• Wilderness or Experienced Members (W)
• General or Inexperienced Members (X)
• Communications (C)
• Medic/First Aider ()
• Navigator (N)
• Assistant Team Leader (A)
• Ground Team Leader (L)

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Line Search

• Last Resort
• Detailed but Slow Search

Option 1 W X X X C L X X X W Option
2 W X X X C A X X X W
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Wedge

• More Common
• Follows trails and paths typically
• Takes less time than line search

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Wedge Continued
Option 1 Option 2
N
N X
X
X X X
X X
X X
X W C L W
W C A
W L
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Search Patterns

• Parallel Sweep
• Expanding Square or Circle
• Contour

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Parallel Sweep

• Used to search specific gridded areas typically
• Normally use a Line Search formation

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Expanding Square or Circle

• Search small areas for missing person or clue
• Normally use Hasty team

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Contour Search

• Searching by elevation
• top to bottom not normally very feasible
• statistically people get hurt climbing, not on
  the way back down
• Normally looking for hikers along trails or on
  side of trails
• Use the Wedge formation for this pattern

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Missing Person Search Clues

• Physical clues
• Clothing or equipment
• Smoke, by sight or smell
• Food wrappers, trash or cigarette butts
• Broken or disturbed brush or other signs of
  humans passing through an area
• Scavengers
• Decomposition Odors

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Missing Person Search Clues Continued

• Recorded Clues
• Trail registers
• Sign-in logs

• People
• Witnesses
• Trained personnel like other searchers or Forest
  Rangers
• Family and Friends

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Missing Aircraft Search Clues

• Terrain Changes
• Broken or disturbed trees and underbrush
• Landslides
• Horsetails caused by windblown snow or sand
• Breaks in terrain
• Blackened or discolored areas
• Smoke
• Presence of Scavengers

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Missing Aircraft Search Clues

• Smells
• Smoke
• Decomposition Odors
• Fuel, oil or Brake Fluid
• Aircraft Signs
• Pieces of wreckage (twisted metal, seats, etc.)
• Fuel, oil, or brake fluid
• Shiny metal in the distance

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Missing Aircraft Search Clues

• Signs of the Pilot/Passengers
• Bits of clothing or personal effects
• Trail markings
• Footprints
• Campfires
• Garbage
• Signals (Flares, Mirrors, etc.)

• Unusual events (Voices, creaking metal)

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Voice Commands

• Forward the Line
• Halt the Line

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Whistle Signals

• 1 short - Go
• 2 short - Stop
• 3 short - Danger, but keep moving unless you
  encounter a problem that you must stop for.
• 1 long - Assemble on the team leader

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What do you do when you find a clue or the target?

• Halt in Place
• Alert the Team Leader
• Look for hazards in your area
• Do not disturb anything
• Brief the Team Leader on what you found
• Mark the area if necessary to prevent damaging of
  this or other potential clues (covered in later
  slide)

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Marking a Route

• Mark area searched for future teams or return leg
• Determine color and type to use
• Surveyors tape (Recommended)
• Crepe Paper Streamers (Party supplies)
• Toilet paper for temporary marking
  (biodegradable)
• Place markings at eye level when possible
• Slow the team down as necessary to leave a good
  marking

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Suggested Route Markings

• 1 Strand temporary edge of search pattern
• 2 Strands outside edge of search pattern
• 3 Strands clue, marked with
• Time date
• Clue number
• Team ID

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Attraction Techniques

• Sound
• Shouting the victims names
• Honking vehicle horns
• Using a Public Address System

• Light
• Fires
• Flashlights
• Headlights

You can find a victim by helping them find you!
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Confinement Methods

• Road or Trail Blocks
• Look Outs
• Track Traps
• String Lines
• Line Markings or Trail Blazing

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Confinement Methods Continued
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Pros Cons

• Destroys clues
• Man intensive
• Time intensive
• Can be difficult to manage

• Hasty Search most successful initial search
• Line Search useful for finding very small objects

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Line Search Tasks

• Ground Team Member
• O-0403 Employ Scanning Techniques while on foot
• O-0404 Move as part of search line
• O-0405 Communicate to other members of a search
  line
• O-0406 Use Whistle Signals
• O-0407 Conduct Attraction Techniques
• O-0408 Identify Aircraft Search Clues
• O-0409 Identify Missing Person Search Clues

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Line Search Tasks Continued

• Ground Team Member
• O-0410 Mark a route
• O-0411 Conduct individual actions on Locating a
  Clue
• O-0412 Conduct Individual Actions on Find
• O-0413 Participate in a Hasty Search
• Ground Team Leader
• O-0415 Plan and Conduct Containment Operations
• O-0416 Plan Search Line Operations

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Line Search Tasks Continued

• Ground Team Leader
• O-0417 Organize a Search Line
• O-0418 Control a Search Line
• O-0419 Plan and Organize a Hasty Search
• O-0421 Direct Team Actions on Locating a Clue
• O-0422 Direct Team Actions on Find

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QUESTIONS?
THINK SAFETY!