PART 3:
ESTABLISHING THE RESCUE SCENE

 

ASSESS THE SCENE

A quick assessment of the incident scene should attempt to identify:

* Cause of collapse - why did the building fall down?
* Building material and type of construction
* Building use and occupancy at the time
* Interior layout
* Signs and risk of secondary collapse
* Void size, location and access

The REPEAT acronym should be followed during operations:

R Reconnaissance
E Eliminate utilities
P Primary surface search
E Exploration of voids (Cat 2 only)
A Access by selected debris removal
T Terminate by general debris removal

The safety of the rescuer should always take precedence over the operation!