Security Rescue Measures

As a security measure, it is essential to have a portable oxygen and combustible gases indicator. There are certain models that signal, through optic and acoustic alarms, the amount of danger when they reach certain levels and that indicate a deficiency of oxygen and the presence of gases and or combustible vapors. These types of instruments are fundamental and very important especially when in confined small spaces. The search and rescue unit guide must know how to identify different types of collapses and must know how the structures of a building that supports it and let the their crew know. There are different types of collapses; some of the most common ones are those provoked by seismic movement, which causes the floors of the building to become crushed. A building can get knocked over and take along with it part of the foundation or crack the pillars of the lower floor causing it to crush the rest of the floors.

The seismic movements provoke a detachment or a break of the terrain over which the building was set. When this happens it can cause it to fall laterally, turning over completely and falling to its side, meaning that all of the elements and horizontal holes are left in vertical position and vice versa, this then means that the holes of the stairs and elevators turn into hallways. As of today, there are twelve different types of collapses, which are defined depending on how the debris has set. A collapse or cone of debris is when a building has fallen completely and leaves a mountain of debris in a cone shape. The victims inside can be anywhere and although this type of search usually starts from the top, there is sometimes a way to do it from the neighboring basements by opening holes or creating passages.

A layered collapse is when several floors have collapsed one over the other, creating in this way a formation of debris on each floor. The victims in this case would be found inside the layers, keeping in mind that the more inclined the position of these, the more probabilities there will be that the resistant objects will have formed holes in between the debris. Inclined level is a flat cover that has detached itself from the rest of the construction. This will be in somewhat of an inclined position over the rest of the debris or in between them. Another type is a free hole in between the debris comprised in between an inclined plane, a vertical parameter and the floor. Another is the tumbling of a ceiling over a precinct below, generally over a basement or lower floor, which becomes partially full of debris. When flooding occurs it is usually caused by broken pipes that is then added on to the debris that have fallen forming a consistent volume. There are also collapses in where the debris have accumulated and become compacted in the basement or lower floor where the walls still remain standing.

Another type is a blocked precinct, which could be the basement, or lower floor that will be covered in debris and all of the exits are blocked. When a building has suffered the effects of an explosion, it conserves its initial form somewhat but the solidity of the building becomes uncertain. Another thing that can happen to a building that has suffered from an explosion is that the floors resist the explosion but the vertical closings to the direction of the expansive ripple and the roof are destroyed. Semi attached debris on the exterior. A collapse causes the building to fall on the road next to a wall front. Dispersed debris on the exterior. When the debris fallen do not make contact with the building they came from.