Search-rescue team keeps low profile
It’s one of the most specialized, expensive and well-equipped rescue teams in the province, but chances are you’ve never heard of it.
That is, until it was called to a house explosion here last week.
Toronto’s HUSAR (Heavy Urban Search and Rescue) has only been used a handful of times since it was created in 2002 from post-9/11 provincial funding. The team of specially-trained firefighters, paramedics and police is always on standby, ready to be called in when there is a building collapse in Ontario.
The highly-specialized search and rescue unit was activated last Tuesday after a natural gas explosion levelled a home on Gibson Avenue. The homeowner, Murdoch (Murdie) Campbell, was trapped in the basement. The 76-year-old is blind and hard of hearing.
HUSAR had one search member on site, and nine others were getting ready to head to the scene when they were called off — Hamilton firefighters had rescued Campbell.
Hamilton police have since charged Campbell with arson. He remains under medical care and will have a bail hearing when he’s cleared by doctors.
He had lived in the house for many years with his wife, Grace, who died in August after a long battle with a liver disorder.
An Ontario Fire Marshal’s office investigation into the explosion, which originated in the basement where the utilities are connected, is continuing.
HUSAR co-ordinator John Davidson is the only member who works full-time on the team; the rest, numbering more than 100, work across the emergency services in Toronto and would be called in if HUSAR is deployed. The team also includes four emergency department doctors from Sunnybrook Hospital.
Davidson says that at any given time he has four, 16-metre trailers ready to go. They are equipped for 10 days of survival — food, shelter, heating, Wi-Fi. They have every kind of tool you can think of to break through rubble, and travel with a full medical suite that has access to ultrasound and ventilation systems.
Davidson said they have to be prepared to handle two separate incidents in a 24-hour period, including 10 critically injured patients, 15 moderately injured patients and 25 mildly injured patients at one time.
On the team, there are about 18 paramedics who are trained as advanced care paramedics, with specific training around structural collapse. There are about 20 police officers specially trained for search, including managing the three search dogs owned by HUSAR. And also on the team are 65-75 firefighters with a variety of expertise, including high-angle rope rescue training, confined-spaces training and extrication.
Everyone retrains at least three times a year.
While the unit was still being established, it responded to a fatal gas explosion and theatre collapse in Toronto.
Since then it’s only been called three times (four if you count Hamilton).
In 2011, the team was called in to assist after a tornado in Goderich.
In 2012, it responded to a mall collapse in Elliot Lake in which two women died. Emergency responders, including HUSAR, were criticized for the length of time it took to get to the trapped women. A provincial inquiry was called and the commission ultimately found HUSAR could have been deployed more rapidly, and more members should have been deployed.
At the time the federal government had revoked funding, but that has since been reinstated. Among the inquiry commission’s recommendations was that HUSAR be adequately funded.
Now the team has a $1.2-million annual budget that is jointly funded by the city of Toronto, province of Ontario and federal government.
In 2016, HUSAR responded to a Mississauga house explosion where two people died.
There are other HUSAR teams in Canada, including in Vancouver, Calgary, and Manitoba. Another is under development in Montreal.
Davidson said part of the challenge in not getting deployed often is that some municipal emergency service agencies simply don’t know the team exists. He’s trying to reach out and build relationships with fire departments so HUSAR expertise can be more readily used.