Cape May County Regional Urban Search and Rescue Team
The Cape May County Regional Urban Search and Rescue Team (R.U.S.T) held a training at the Cape May County Public Safety Training Academy on Monday. It was the final evaluation for students to complete a 40-hour training course “structural collapse operations.” This course is designed to give rescue personnel the knowledge, skills, and abilities to safely operate at the scene of a building collapse. Students in this class represented Wildwood City Fire Department, Ocean City Fire Department, North Wildwood Fire Department, Mount Laurel Fire Department., Green Creek Fire Company, and Strathmere Fire Company
The R.U.S.T is the County’s primary response team to technical rescue incident. The team is made up of 35 men and women trained to respond to building collapses, high angle rope rescue, confined space rescue, trench rescue and water rescue.
Training like this helps keep the team members proficient in the many aspects of technical rescue. While technical rescue incidents are low frequency, they are high hazard, and the team needs to be on top of their game.
