ON TRAIL OF TEAMWORK IN RESCUE OPERATIONS

All right, so the Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue Team doesn't have a single dog to help sniff out a missing person. And so what if instead its members plan to incorporate two, less exotic horses into their rescue routine, forgetting about dogs altogether?

They have Garrett Derr, the human tracker.

Trained by the Leni Lenape Indians, the 33-year-old Downingtown resident has made a lifelong study of broken twigs and tamped-down pebbles. He's an expert at finding missing children and volunteers for rescue operations all over the Northeast.

"He's the human equivalent of a good dog," said the Chief of the local search and rescue team. "Nose for nose, I'd put my money on him."

But yesterday, Derr - always the hunter - became the hunted. At a demonstration of search and rescue operations using dogs at Philadelphia International Airport, Derr used his woodsman's skills to hide in tall grass, behind muddy hillocks and in empty oil drums to test the sniffing abilities of about 20 dogs with the International Canine Search and Rescue Team.

The dogs - including German shepherds, Rottweilers, Newfoundlands and even an errant giant schnauzer - were brought together from all along the East Coast in an effort to coordinate search and rescue operations among the many local and regional teams.

Caroline Hebard, a New Jersey resident who, along with her German shepherd, Aly, was sent to Mexico City in 1985 to search for earthquake survivors, said the State Department organizes efforts to help foreign countries during hurricanes and earthquakes. But at home, she said, assistance and organization are scant.

As a result, the international team is working around the country to train local and regional groups to work with the canine corps, and also is formulating training guidelines so that all groups will operate in the same manner. That way, whenever there's an emergency or a disaster, all the groups will be able to work together from the start instead of losing precious hours milling around or waiting to be called in to help with a rescue.

Things do not yet operate so smoothly.

"Usually, in the case of a missing person, we don't get a phone call to come in and help until the search has been under way for eight or 10 hours," said Lichtenstein.

In the meantime, would-be rescuers undoubtedly have organized a sweep of the area, sending armies of people marching shoulder-to-shoulder through the rescue area. More often than not they fail, Lichtenstein said, and in the process trample clues and litter the fields with a confusing blend of human smells. That makes a successful search by Derr or by canine all but impossible.

By training together, they said, members of the search and rescue teams also hope to publicize their work so that they will be the first to be called, not, as usually happens, the last.

Yesterday, at a landfilled swamp and former dump within view of an airport runway, about 10 members of the team from the Philadelphia area gathered to learn how the dogs work.

"Jawohl!" cried Hebard, as her German shepherd - who was born in Germany and trained to respond only to German - set off to find Derr. Within a matter of minutes, the dog found him and returned with his red bandanna, oblivious to the group that had gathered to watch and to the sound of the airplanes screaming overhead.

"He has only one thing on his mind when he is out here," said a proud Hebard. "The scent of a human."

Members of the Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue Team, most of whom are trained firefighters or emergency medical technicians, watched the field trials with wonder and a little envy.

"We'd love to have a dog," said the Chief. "But who's going to train it, and where would we put it? Right now, our whole organization operates out of a garage in Erdenheim. We're just not ready for dogs."

Horses are a different matter. One member already owns some and has volunteered them for the group.

"We'll be mounted by spring," the Chief said said.

Except for Derr, who said he planned to stick to the trail of a missing person by foot.