The NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley, supports NASA's missions and the Vision for Space Exploration with advanced research and technology development.
The NASA Ames Research Center, located in California's Silicon Valley, supports NASA's missions and the Vision for Space Exploration with advanced research and technology development.
DART (Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team), formed in 1986 and based at the Ames Research Center, provides emergency response not only to the center itself, but also to off-site incidents. The team consists of scientists, engineers, computer programmers, and many others who are employed in the various sectors of the Ames Research Center and serve the team in a volunteer capacity. DART capabilities include specialized rescue, hazmat, structural assessment, medical response, and more.
DART boasts some of the most state-of-the-art training facilities, including a Collapsed Structure Rescue Training Site. According to their web page, "The Collapsed Structure Rescue Training Site has four major elements: a large concrete rubble pile with built-in voids and rooms, a simulated concrete collapsed structure, a 30-foot long twin-engine aircraft "crashed" into a portion of the collapsed structure, and large concrete loads for lifting and moving."
Since 1992, DART has offered a six-day 60+ hour collapsed structure rescue class annually, which is open to USAR specialists from around the country. Click HERE for more details about this course.
In April 2005, Captain Jon Brann and Chief Mark Haraway had the privilege of attending the collapsed structure rescue class. Tom Billig (Charlotte FD, Troutman FD), who has taught most of our USAR folks at some point, was one of the instructors. Jon provided me with these amazing photographs. Looks like they got lots of great hands-on experience alongside other USAR specialists from all over the country. Not only did they get to work on advanced shoring, breaking/breaching, etc. techniques - but this facility offered an extremely unique training tool - the capability to load shoring until it failed. Click the thumbnails to view a larger photo in a separate browser window.
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Copyright 2005 NCFirewolf