USAR is the abbre­vi­a­tion of “Urban Search and Rescue” and includes the search, loca­tion, rescue and (medical) care of people after build­ing collapses. The need for USAR oper­a­tions often follows earth­quakes or explo­sions. In partic­u­lar, @fire special­izes in inter­na­tional USAR oper­a­tions follow­ing earth­quakes. As a member of INSARAG (Inter­na­tional Search and Rescue Advi­sory Group), the @fire USAR team oper­ates accord­ing to United Nations standards.

The survival time of buried victims after earth­quakes is severely limited, result­ing in the need for rapid initi­a­tion of search and rescue activ­i­ties. There­fore, the @fire USAR team is able to reach any coun­try in the world within 24 h after an earth­quake event - provided that a corre­spond­ingly fast trans­port option can be used.

The @fire team has the capac­ity to set up a base of oper­a­tion in the affected coun­try and to be self-suffi­cient for 10 days during search and rescue oper­a­tions. This includes cater­ing and sani­tary facil­i­ties as well as accom­mo­da­tion, commu­ni­ca­tion and lead­er­ship. During the deploy­ment, contact is main­tained with the oper­a­tions staff in Germany via vari­ous commu­ni­ca­tion chan­nels. From this staff, the team is provided with back­ground infor­ma­tion and supported in many areas.