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Urban Search and Rescue or USAR, is a team of 186 members that is qualified and equipped to respond to search and rescue victims that are trapped or entombed in collapsed reinforced concrete and steel structures.A USAR Task Force responds as a 62 member team that  is a highly sophisticated, personnel intensive, equipment intensive, and training intensive program. Missouri Task Force One {MO-TF1} is the only team in the state of Missouri. MO-TF1 is based out of the Boone County Fire Protection in Colombia, MO. The task force operates as a state disaster resource under the State Emergency Management Agency. In addition the task force is also a resource for FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, available for response throughout the United States and it's territories.

When the task force is deployed to a disaster by SEMA or FEMA we respond with a strictly structured set of Federal organizational guidelines. The task force responds with 62 members, two each in all positions that work around the clock for up to ten days, 31 members working 12 hour shift's. Those members are divided into five areas, either Administrative {Task Force Leader, Safety, or Planning}, Search Team {Canine and Technical Search}, Rescue Team { Rescue Specialists}, Medical Team {Physicians, Nurses, and Paramedics}, or Technical Team {Structural Engineers, Heavy Riggers, Hazardous Materials Specialists, Technical Information, Logisticians and communications}. When the task force is deployed it is completely self-sufficient, so when deployed, no strain is placed on the affected community. Over 16,400 pieces of low and high tech equipment are part of the disaster response. Everything from search cameras and borescopes to locate trapped victims to portable toilets, toothpaste and sleeping bags are sent with the task force.

 The Eureka Fire Protection District has twelve members on MO-TF1, two full rescue squads. When the task force is deployed notification is made to the Task Force Leader in Boone County who makes contact with Assistant Chief Donald Tomnitz or in his absence contacts the district Duty Officer Assistant Chief Tomnitz is a Rescue Team Manager for MO-TF1 and our liason to Boone County. Then we assemble our pre-packed bags of clothing and other personal gear and be on the road enroute to either the scene if the incident is local or Columbia for deployment to Whiteman Air Force Base in western Missouri, where we get on an air force plane and head for the disaster site.

Missouri Task Force One went on their first deployment on the morning of September 11th, 2001. They were deployed to the World Trade Center in New York City. For additional information, visit FEMA's USAR Page, the USAR page for the events of September 11th, or MO-TF1's page at Boone County Fire District.