– A mission like this is at the heart of what USAR does, says Pål Kolbenstvedt to Dagbladet.

A urban search and rescue (USAR)team was sent to the Melhustorget shopping center south of Trondheim, after the building has a crane on it. Two people were found slightly injured and an employee of the center was not found this morning.

Cartography

USAR is located under the local fire and rescue agency in selected larger locations in Norway. The teams have been deployed to several major incidents in recent years, including the mudslide in Gjerdrum, and the landslide accident in Heim, where a house was taken. Kolbenstvedt himself was on the move in Gjerdrum.

He specifies that the work begins with a mapping of the situation.

– What happened, and can it happen again? Is it one or more cranes? says the former rescue manager – who emphasizes that he is speaking in general terms.

– Once this has been clarified, we must focus on the possible missing persons: where are they, where are they? If there are several: Which is easier and safer to get out? You have to consider time and risk – if you can manage it, he explains and continues:

– If there is no danger, you must first work with the most injured. The USAR often intervenes if there are people who cannot be found. Next, you need to determine where the large cavities are and where it is safest to enter them. You can also use other aids, such as mobile tracking, to see how many people are in the area.

Risk assessments

The former rescue manager explains that there are a number of ongoing risk assessments that need to be carried out when the team enters a search area.

– If someone is trapped, it is up to them to assess how far the building can collapse – the most important thing is to secure the rescuers, so that no one else dies. You need to make sure it doesn’t get worse and secure the site from damage, says Kolbenstvedt.

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The central element of the assessment is to find out about the construction of the building – for example, whether it is cast-in-place or concrete.

– It can become uncertain if it burns, compare the parking lot that burned on Sola [flyplass i 2020]. It can be dangerous here when a crane is overhead, says the former rescue manager.

Often the USAR team has to reckon with the possibility that it could get worse at locations, such as in Gjerdrum, where there was an imminent danger of new, larger landslides.

– In Gjerdrum, the crews exposed themselves to extreme danger. Fortunately, there was no new massive landslide, says Kolbenstvedt.