A recent missing child alert prompted Columbus Fire and Rescue to carry out search and rescue training for three days this week.

Firefighters conducted mock search and rescue training exercises Tuesday through Thursday at Propst Park.

Michael Miller, an engineer and search and rescue coordinator for the department, said CFR responded to an alert for Xzavier Westbrook, a 6-year-old who was reported missing on Feb. 20. Westbrook was ultimately found safe with his aunt in Monroe County, after being left alone in a room at the Budget Inn on Highway 182 across from Propst Park.

“Because it was right here at home, we felt like we could do a little extra training,” Miller said.

The week’s training included the mock search and rescue exercises at the park in the morning, with afternoon classroom training where firefighters reviewed using maps, reading compasses and other skills.

At night, they conducted more field training to simulate searching for a missing person in the dark. Billy Clark, an engineer and 26-year veteran with the department, said that training is particularly important because night searches are significantly more difficult than day ones.

“You get out there and everything’s dark, you can spin around three times and you don’t even know which way you came in,” Clark said. “It comes into play with knowing where you are and how you got there so you can get yourself back out.”

Practical exercise

Wednesday’s scenario saw firefighters searching Propst Park for a grandfather and grandson who had been walking to school but never made it. Both “victims” were played by fire hose dummies that were shaped like human beings.

Firefighters found the first dummy — representing the grandfather — near a ditch east of the baseball fields. Because the dummy was “injured,” firefighters loaded it onto a Sked rescue system to safely pull it up the bank.

CFR’s firefighters are also emergency medical technicians, Clark explained, and could provide care for a wounded victim while waiting for an ambulance crew to arrive.

Firefighters located the other dummy, this one representing the child, a few minutes later, near Luxapalila Creek on the park’s far eastern side.

Deonte Jethroe, a firefighter who’s been with CFR for about four weeks, said Wednesday was his first time participating in search and rescue training.

“Going in, I thought it would be easier than it was,” he said. “As we got toward the river, it seemed like there was just a lot of stuff down in the trenches, and you had to really get in there and search and communicate with each other.”

CFR is part of Task Force II, one of three divisions in the state created by the Department of Homeland Security for crises response situations. The region stretches from Chickasaw County in the north, to Claiborne County in the southwest. CFR has responded across the region, including to Yazoo City and Smithville after devastating tornadoes in 2010 and 2011, respectively.

Capt. Steve Loden said the department responds to at least eight to 10 search and rescue calls each year.

“Sometimes they turn out to be nothing,” he said. “Sometimes they’re something like a child got mad and ran away, or didn’t want to get in trouble at home.”

Staying together

Part of the point of the training, Clark said, was to illustrate the systems and methods needed to properly conduct a search and rescue operation. That included focuses on how to move through the search area, use maps, communicate and other aspects.

For example, he said responders move in groups that advance in straight lines through the search area. However, it’s important to keep that line together, and how far apart each member might be depends on how clear the terrain is. He said it’s also vital to make sure the group is moving in a straight line instead of drifting in different directions.

In a place like Propst Park, which has walkways and a road alongside, it’s easy to maintain proper heading. Clark said that gets harder away from heavily-populated areas

“You can take 50 people and spread them out through the woods,” Clark said. “But if you don’t have a systemized method, you can miss things.

“When you’re out in the country away from town and don’t have the landmarks, you have to have a system in place,” he later added.

Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.

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