11/03/2025
PRESS RELEASE
November 3, 2025
With the ever-present threat of building collapse, and in the wake of the Surfside Condominium collapse in Florida, a cadre of specialists and instructors in Ohio stand poised to train a contingent of first responders in the use of cranes, heavy equipment, and specialized rigging techniques to rescue victims from a disaster environment.
Underway this morning, thirty-eight students representing (18) different DHS / FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces and (1) State sponsored US&R team are attending a DHS / FEMA sponsored Heavy Equipment Rigging Specialist (HERS) course at the Ohio Task Force 1 Training Center. The course runs from November 3 through November 6, 2025 and is a thirty-two-hour course delivered by FEMA/DHS Lead and Adjunct instructors from Ohio and California, and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 18.
The primary purpose of the HERS course is to provide functional training to US&R Task Force members in the utilization of, and communication with, contractors, trade union members, and heavy equipment operators. The course explains basic and advanced concepts regarding the use of heavy equipment and various types of rigging for hazard mitigation during urban search & rescue incidents. HERS students learn common rigging terminology, heavy equipment hand signals, how to safely and efficiently deploy mobile cranes and other heavy equipment during critical US&R operations, how demolition contractors and their equipment may be effectively used, and they identify the non-traditional uses of mobile cranes and other heavy equipment that might be employed during US&R operations. Additionally, the HERS students work with structural engineers, rescue specialists, riggers, and equipment operators to learn advanced rigging techniques, including how to mitigate special hazards with concrete and steel construction, and how to employ their rigging to stabilize buildings and building components.
The course is significantly supported by the IUOE Local 18, with the majority of the cranes utilized in class, the crane operators, and the instructors coming from Local 18’s Region IV Training Facility in Miamisburg, and the Operating Engineers’ Apprenticeship and Training Program. Ohio Task Force has a long-standing relationship with the IUOE Local 18 Training Facility in Miamisburg, holding their first training session at the site in the early 1990s, and sending Ohio Task Force 1’s HERS instructor cadre through an OSHA signal persons’ course and advanced riggers training in 2011.
IUOE Local 18 Regional Coordinator James Singleton continues to work in close coordination with Ohio Task Force 1 to ensure the successful delivery of the course for an eighth time.
The International Union of Operating Engineers is comprised of 119 local unions nationwide representing 360,000 members. Operating Engineers have repeatedly responded to disasters, as evidenced by their work after the L’Ambiance Building collapse in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1987; the San Francisco and Los Angeles earthquakes in 1989, 1991, 1992, and 1994; the Midwest Region Flood of the Mississippi River in 1993; the Alfred P. Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1995; the World Trade Center (WTC) and Pentagon disaster and cleanup in 2001; the Fresh Kills Reclamation site in 2001, the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster cleanup in 2003, and the Gulf Coast cleanup in 2005.
Michael Muhl, a Rescue Team Manager with Ohio Task Force 1, and Assistant Chief with the Huber Heights Fire Division, is the Course Coordinator, and one of the course’s Lead Instructors. Muhl has worked on the development of the HERS course at the national level since its inception, recently completing a rewrite of the entire program. Muhl stated that the course’s success was due in no small part to the support the Task Force receives from IUOE Local 18, and to the commitment and dedication of the Ohio Task Force 1 personnel involved with the logistics, coordination, preparation, and delivery of this course. “This Task Force is comprised of the best people in the business… at all levels… and the dedication, commitment, and time that our members pledge to make these types of efforts successful is unparalleled.” stated Muhl. “This Task Force is not only fully operational and capable of deploying immediately but simultaneously remains in-service for State and National responses and is recognized as a National Center of Excellence by FEMA for delivering the Heavy Equipment and Rigging Specialist course. That speaks volumes for our members and the support that we receive from the external agencies who have partnered with OH-TF1.”
Steve Shupert, a Rescue Team Manager with OH-TF1, and past Chair of the FEMA/DHS Rescue Working Group, serves as a Lead Instructor for the HERS course. Shupert, along with other national leaders in the field, pioneered the idea of using the trade unions to assist in training our disaster relief forces. “The marriage of industry experts with our nation’s first responders is likely to produce trained specialists that will be more efficient and better prepared to respond to our citizen’s when called upon,” stated Shupert.
OH-TF1 now has more than 30 personnel trained as Heavy Equipment Rigging Specialists and 13 recognized Federal Instructors for the HERS curriculum.
Media are welcome to visit during the class to better understand how OH-TF1 and Federal US&R teams across the nation train and prepare for disasters and emergencies. The class takes place at OH-TF1’s Training Center at 200 McFadden, Dayton, OH. Please contact our Public Information Officer, Chris O’Connor, at (614)774-5425 to make arrangements for interviews or for more information.
