Rescue
Origin
Middle English rescouen, rescuen, from Anglo-French rescure, from re- + escure to shake off, from Latin excutere, from ex- + quatere to shake
Definitions
- 1: to free from confinement, danger, or evil : save, deliver: as a : to take (as a prisoner) forcibly from custody
Description
Rescue refers to operations that usually involve the saving of life, or prevention of injury.
Tools used might include search dogs, search and rescue horses, helicopters, the "Jaws of Life", and other hydraulic cutting and spreading tools used to extricate individuals from wrecked vehicles. Rescue operations are sometimes supported by special vehicles such as fire department's or EMS Heavy rescue vehicle.
Rescue operations require a high degree of training and are performed by Rescue Squads, either independent or part of larger organizations like a fire, police, military, first aid squad, or ambulance services. In The U.S., they are usually staffed by medically trained personnel as NFPA regulations require it.
In former centuries the word "rescue" had other meanings: for example, there is an old record of a countryman living where Wythenshawe is now, being prosecuted in a local law court for "making rescue" of a pig which had been seized as a distress for non-payment of money owed.
