Category: Uncategorized

Posted by Michael R Bussell Sat Jun 18 15:07:32 2011.
Message: When facing the IED threat, we know that the device builder may use a variety of means to function the device. In Iraq, the use of jamming equipment was useful, while back in Afghanistan, jamming equipment has less of an impact because the enemy quickly adapted to counter some of our protocols. What can we learn from this?

We can learn that we should never underestimate the capabilities of our foes or the elements which we are in. We can learn that thrests are everchanging, and that we must, too, be everchanging. Though the methods used in one place at one time may pay off, we must realize that these efforts will inevitably be thwarted in some way, if not by our foe, then by the shear nature of the elements. This is true, not only in facing IEDs in the mid-east, but everywhere in our lives in any given situation. To combat this, we must work harder, better, faster and stronger through the adoption of better tactics, furthering our knowledge and simply “thinking outside of the box”.

Mirrored from Being Jeremiah Palmer.

Question 16 (Worth 20 points)

For the last question set up and diagram an Incident Command System for the following scenario. Define all the roles and responsibilities for each function area that would be included in this scenario.

SCENARIO: At 10:05a.m. today, a hurricane/earthquake/tornado/flood hit the community of Edenton. The downtown area was hardest hit. People have reported damage to homes, and businesses have been affected as well. No fatalities have been reported. Three people with injuries have been taken to the Edenton Community Hospital, which is also reporting some damage. As many as 10 people are missing.

The downtown fire station is destroyed/inoperable. Two other fire stations are operational.

Other posssible effects:

A large fire has broken out in downtown
Water mains are cut
10 percent of the population has sustained injuries
Utility lines are down
Animals in the zoo have escaped from their cages
Looters are rampaging downtown
Sewers have backed up, endangering public health
Many houses are destroyed/inhabitable and shleters will be needed
A hazardous spill has occured
A major road has been affected.

ESSAY SUBMISSION

In this incident there would be a unified command (UC) established at the designated EOC–unless it was downtown, in which case the designated secondary-EOC would be used. At the UC level would be the EM director and the community’s top-level elected official(s). Branching off of the UC would be the PIO, safety, and liaison. Below the UC would be the Operations (OPS), Planning (PLAN), Logistics (LOG), and Finance/Administration (ADMIN) levels.

OPS would be represented by a head of each agency or department; or represented by an EM staff member, council-member/magistrate. Each OPS member would be charged with collecting/supplying information to/from in-field OICs. Recommended OPS structure would be as follows:

• OPS Chief (representative of all OPS branches)
• FIRE branch
• LAW enforcement branch
• HEALTH branch
• ANIMAL control branch
• public WORKS branch
• UTILITIES branch

PLAN would be represented by either an EM staff member or council-member/magistrate. PLAN would work close with UC, LOG and OPS in gathering information and redistributing SITREPs for all levels. Would also work closely with PIO and top-level liaison.

LOG would be represented by EM staff or council/magistrates. LOG would work with UC, OPS, and PLAN in locating/supplying needs. LOG would work with PLAN to locate the additional support for OPS branches that do not already have MOAs/MUAs with outside agencies; otherwise requests to other agencies are under respective OPS branches. Once LOG/PLAN has gotten an outside agency to agree to assist, the outside agency is forwarded to

ADMIN for filing of MOU/MOA for incident and attached to the respective OPS branch.
ADMIN would be represented by EM staff, council/magistrate. Another possible candidate for this position would be the governing body’s attorney(-ies). ADMIN would work closely with UC, LOG, and PLAN in keeping records on operations, filling/filing/forwarding other necessary documentation, and giving estimates on costs/damages.

In this incident, I would recommend the following actions (not necessarily in this order):

• All available fire units be dispatched to downtown fire. As looting/rioting is taking place and could potentially spread—and as additional fires may occur outside the focal area—I would recommended that at least one engine and it’s minimal accompaniment (unless this is a small community) remain at the outer-lying stations. FIRE should contact outside community departments with agreements for assistance.

• WORKS needs to be contacted with regard to main supply lines to downtown area. As a large fire has broken out, this area is a priority. If sections of town can be separated or routed to use other sources, then that switch should be made. Other priorities for water will be care facilities.

• HEALTH needs to get report of hospital situation. Recommend setting up local health department as triage for non- life-threatening injuries. An ambulance needs to be at health department for additional support/supplies and to provide transport to hospital if a life-threatening injury happens to arrive.

• UTILITIES need to be contacted for status. Electric to EOC, dispatch & repeater sites, and hospital are a priority. Other care facilities and emergency services are secondary [making assumption that these facilities have backup generators and can wait, if not will be covered by LOG]

• ANIMAL control will work with zoo officials in locating/capture/holding of lost animals.

• LOG will contact Fish & Wildlife for additional ANIMAL control.

• LAW will respond to downtown area with sufficient officers to make presence known. LAW will not stop active looting until additional support arrives—no need to become a martyr. LAW will safeguard buildings that have not been looted.

• LOG will request National Guard for additional LAW, FIRE, HEALTH, WORKS support.

• WORKS will need to gather more information on damage to sewers. LOG may be able to locate supply of emergency above ground lines and pumps for sewage, storm water.

• FIRE should dispatch one qualified unit (or one of the aforementioned engines on standby) to HAZMAT area for spill/release identification. Use ERG and CAMEO/ALOHA for recommended evacuation area and evacuate. Contact area HAZMAT team.

• LOG/PLAN should contact highway department for status and forward them to WORKS. Highway should be closed at junctions nearest the damage and surveyed. If possible, the highway should be opened for emergency vehicle traffic only until proper clearing/repair efforts are made.

• LOG should contact local schools, churches, civic buildings for sheltering possibilities. LOG should contact Red Cross for shelter opening. LOG should locate/supply any needs for sheltering (food, water, cots, blankets, portable toilets, etc.). LOG/PLAN should have/designate a representative at shelter for updates.

Points earned on this question: 20

The following scenario would, to my knowledge, be one of the largest table-top exercises conducted in Harrison County. In attempting to think of a disaster scenario, I couldn’t help but think of something on a larger scale than what was requested. The reason behind my thoughts of a larger disaster lies with my beliefs of how ill-prepared the community actually is. To my knowledge, there has never been a disaster scenario played to this scale, nor do I believe that there had ever been a good review of the incidents that had taken place in 1997.

I do know that much has changed since that time, and that there are many unwritten plans of action; however I do not believe that everyone is truly aware of what each other has in mind. I also do not believe that our agencies know how to function if a key member in their organization is absent—a point which would be inserted into sub-scenarios of this larger scenario.

Another hole that I know exists in our community’s plans involve what to do should our dispatch center lose communication. Granted, if the phone lines go down, there isn’t much that can be done; however, what is to be done when there isn’t any CAD ability? All of the radios are routed through a computer based system, and, to my knowledge, there still aren’t any “physical” radios on site—what then?

I believe that I may develop this plan further, and turn it into my EM director and see if it becomes one of the next exercises. I worry, though, that by the end it may turn into something resembling a game of Dungeons and Dragons…

DATE: 		IRRELEVANT
TIME: 		IRRELEVANT
LOCATION: 	MUCH OF CYNTHIANA AND PORTIONS OF HARRISON COUNTY
EVENT: 		“100-YEAR” FLOODING

NARRATIVE:      A large powerful storm system has moved across the US,
                pulling moisture from the gulf, and has stalled over the
                area, releasing copius amounts of rain in a fashion
                similar to that experienced in March of 1997. Cynthiana
                and Harrison County is experiencing flooding akin to that
                of 1997. The main highways are inaccessible once again.
                Fresh and waste water treatment plants have been shut
                down. The western side of Cynthiana is flooded and
                inaccessible. The phone system is down due to AT&T’s
                switching station being flooded.
                One factor of this storm system differed from the one
                previously experienced — high winds skirted along a
                smaller system that preceded this rain event. Winds from
                the line preceding the rains caused structural damage to
                the roof of city hall; however this wasn’t discovered
                until the following rains came, leaking through the
                building into the dispatch center, rendering most of the
                equipment useless. EOC is assumed to have been partially
                self-activated by EMA; however other officials are not
                present.

OBJECTIVES:     1.) Communications are down and infrastructure has been
                crippled. Appropriate measures must be taken to fully
                activate EOC. Establish alternative methods for
                communication with all applicable agencies and public,
                and solve the issues of infrastructure whilst a public
                panics. Alternate agency contact information *may* be
                located in the ERIL section of the EOP and in dispatch
                SOG/SOP. Other necessary items or equipment may be
                readily available or promptly procured from EMA.
                2.) All agencies within Cynthiana exist on eastern side
                of town. An appropriate number of response units and a
                base of operations for these units must be made on
                western side of town. Decide an appropriate number, find
                a location for operations, direct units how to reach
                western side with the existing road closures.
                3.) Contact needs to be made with hospital and care
                facilities to check status of operations and rations.
                Locate means of providing support.
                4.) Contact needs to be made with the city of Berry for
                status. Attempt to provide mayor with any necessary
                supplies.

DIRECTIONS:     Complete objectives by utilizing all available plans and
                by brainstorming to fill any gaps in plans. For areas
                which are decided on the spot without an established plan
                backing the decision, city/county attorney(-ies) may
                provide advice if decision could have legal ramifications.
                EM deputies and attornies will be assigned to represent-
                atives of EOC to record decisions and provide further
                information on departmental decisions from a randomized
                list of sub-scenarios—EXAMPLE: EMS dispatches two EC units
                to western side; deputy assigned to EMS in scenario
                announces to EMS representative that one EC has arrived in
                x-minutes while other EC has experienced mechanical
                trouble along the way.
                Notes will be collected and compiled at the end of the
                scenario. Review of the scenario will be conducted next-
                day, with discussion.

Initially, there would be two somewhat separate IC operations going on until a Unified Command was established with the activation of the EOC. IC-1 would be the EMA preparing for the rains, assumedly a week or so in advance—this timeframe estimation comes from the recent history of the NWS communicating with KYEM and local EM agencies on forthcoming weather events. During the EM preparation the EOC would be partially activated. IC-2 would involve the damage within the dispatch center. During this phase, dispatch would be attempting to return to a non-preferred working state. Concurrently EM would be continuing efforts in relaying messages to the county Judge-Exec and Cynthiana mayor’s office and assumedly assisting in bringing dispatch online. As the waters continue to rise, dispatch would come back to a crippled operating state (likely relying upon spare mobiles and HTs) and attempts would be made to contact other officials and bring the EOC to full activation.

All representatives in the EOC would fulfill Operations and some Planning roles. In regard to the exercise itself, additional staff or volunteers would act in planning capacities in order to keep the exercise going to provide additional documentation of the actions taken for the following day’s critique.

Logistics would primarily be headed by the EM, with communications between the agencies taking place in the EOC for additional brainstorming. All actions under logistics, unless the responsibility of another agency or another agency volunteers, would be the responsibility of EM.

Finance/Administration would be handled by the heads of the governments and/or their appointed representatives/staff. How this would be handled with the event affecting two to three governmental bodies (Berry, Cynthiana, and Harrison County) would be questionable and likely an issue which would need to be addressed—part of the point of an exercise. One could speculate that Berry would not be present and rely upon Harrison County, and that the county and Cynthiana would work mutually for the entire event while keeping separate records.

Other elements of ICS would be the responsibility of respective agencies.