Imagine standing in the doorway of a small, brightly-lit room without any furniture or debris inside.

If an adult were laying on the floor, how long would it take for you to detect them? Mere seconds, probably...

What if the room was dark, smoke-filled, and piled high with large pieces of furniture or debris?

To produce effective search results in variable conditions, an effective strategy must be used.

One strategy is to determine which level of coverage is needed to accomplish the objectives.

Furthermore, when communicating search coverage accurately, aligning the results with the relevant Search Type is useful.

The most common references used for search types are the standards defined by FEMA:

For searchers in the private sector or volunteer search community, using the FEMA definitions is recommended.  

Common references that are known and understood by the larger response community helps to maintain a Common Operating Picture (COP).

How Search Types Are Used

By using search types, coverage objectives can be directed before the search and can be reported after the search.

For example:

• Before a Search Assignment:  “Team Alpha, go conduct a Primary Search of the warehouse at 123 Main Street.”
• After a Search Assignment: “Team Alpha conducted a Primary Search of the warehouse at 123 Main Street.”

Using common terms with well-understood definitions greatly reduces the issue of wastefully searching an area again because the level of search coverage is unknown.

Let's look at each search type more closely.