OVERVIEW: Wisconsin Emergency Management, through the Wisconsin Air Coordination Group and its participating agencies, along with the Jackson County Sheriff's Office will conduct a SAR (Search & Rescue) Exercise (SAREX) in conjunction with the PATRIOT North 21 Exercise and several of its participating agencies. This SAREX will be conducted on 15, 16 & 17 June 2021 in Jackson County, WI.

SCENARIO: (Proposed scenario - the specifics can be adjusted as necessary) Four UTV riders were reported missing "this morning" after failing to return home "last evening" from an excursion on the Oak Ridge Trail in Jackson County, WI. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office, after conducting an initial investigation and discovered the missing subjects' vehicle(s) parked near the trail with every indication that those subjects drove UTVs onto the trail but never returned, have assumed initial incident command and alerted the Wisconsin Emergency Management (WEM) duty officer and requested ground, drone and aviation SAR resources to search for these missing individuals.

The WEM Duty Officer convened a Wisconsin Air Coordination Group (ACG) call, the results of which, approved by the WEM Senior Duty Officer, resulted in the activation of some aviation and ground SAR resources as well as referral to the PATRIOT North Incident Management Team, which was already deployed in support of a large scale disaster and operating from nearby Volk Field ANGB.

The search for the missing UTV Riders will be prosecuted with the PATRIOT North IMT deploying additional resources to join those resources activated by the ACG to support Jackson County; for purposes of resource management and ensuring continued critical life safety operations in multiple areas, the Jackson County search incident will be incorporated into the larger PATRIOT North incident, with the Jackson County search being assigned as a new Branch to the overall PATRIOT North Incident.

The same scenario will be recycled each day (15, 16 & 17 June), with different agencies/personnel participating on each day and/or the individual targets reset to provide a fresh SAR problem for the participants.

PARTICIPATING AGENCIES/CAPABILITIES:  

Jackson County (WI) Sheriff's Office - command, coordination, possibly a comm vehicle & possibly drone team
Wisconsin Air Coordination Group (ACG IMAT) - oversight and Incident Air Operations Branch
Wisconsin Drone Network - drone teams
Wisconsin Trail Ambassadors - Ground team logistical support, ground support and assistance for SAR teams and live "victim" volunteers utilizing a mix of off-road vehicles  (ATV / UTV / 4WD)
Wisconsin Wing Civil Air Patrol - fixed wing SAR and support to ACG Air Operations Branch
Wisconsin K-9 tracking teams (Sorry, is there an official name?) - sight, scent and cadaver search K-9s
PATRIOT North 2021 Exercise, including
Mississippi Army National Guard Aviation - Rotary wing SAR and rotary wing MEDEVAC
Mississippi HERC - rotary wing MEDEVAC & cadaver search K-9 (with MS ARNG aviation)
181st IW INANG - mobile IAA PAD team - remote SAT comms & IAA support
Aspirus MedEvac (?) - Rotary wing MEDEVAC
 

CONCEPT OF OPERATIONS:  As indicated above, the SAR "problem" will be recycled each day (with the potential to change objective locations to allow the same resources, such as the K-9 teams, to effectively participate in the same search on multiple days.  

The PATRIOT North IMT/COM-L will incorporate this new branch into the incident communications plan, extending needed voice command network connectivity between the ICP and this branch.

DAY 1 (Tuesday, 15 JUN 21) will be the busiest day with the most resources (and most varied types of resources) participating and will require the most management & safety oversight.

The overall search area will be segmented into numerous areas to allow multiple search teams and platforms to conduct simultaneous operations; while the scenario calls for approximately four victims, there may be more than four total victim role-players and associated K-9 scent items.

NOTE: The search area is an active outdoor recreation trail; numerous unaffiliated civilians will likely also be in the area, adding both to the complexity and realism of the scenario.

The Wisconsin Drone Network will begin deploying drone teams in the AM to search for ~four missing persons, and will continue to cycle in new drone teams every 2-3 hours thereafter (to either continue the search or to begin the search again with "new eyes"); drone teams will land and secure any drones operating within "X" distance (distance TBD) of any helicopter landing zones (or points designated for lift operations) prior to any rotary wing aircraft being called in and cleared to operate/land in the area.

Simultaneously, K-9 SAR teams will operate, either in conjunction with or independently of, the drone teams to search for the missing persons. Likewise, K-9 cadaver search teams will be independently operating in the overall SAREX exercise area.

In the afternoon of 15 JUN, 2-4 victims will be discovered that will require MEDEVAC (each day thereafter, 2-4 additional victims will likewise require MEDEVAC). Each victim will exhibit different medical "problems" that will dictate the nature of the MEDEVAC operations and resulting treatment by the MEDEVAC aircraft. "Victim" role-players that are MEDEVACed out of the area will be flown to the Casualty Collection Point, currently designated to be at or near Young Army Air Field; their own agencies and/or the ACG or Jackson County will be responsible for transporting them from Ft McCoy back to the SAR staging area.

On 16 JUN 21, the SAREX will continue, without the participation of the Wisconsin Drone Network. The WI Trail Ambassadors will continue to provide live "victim" role-players for the K-9 SAR teams to search for, and the MS ARNG & HERC will continue to complete 2-4 MEDEVAC flights.
 
On 17 JUN 21, the SAREX will continue, without the participation of the K-9 SAR teams (though likely with the participation of the MS HERC K-9 cadaver team). The MS ARNG and possibly Aspirus MEDEVAC will complete 2-4 MEDEVAC flights. The SAREX will conclude on this day.