Emergency Services, LLC/ Copyright 2006 / Volume 06-12 1 06-12 Training Materials Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2 TRAINING Click anywhere on page to view show

Emergency Services, LLC/ Copyright 2006 / Volume 06-121

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TRAININGClick anywhere on page to view show in its entirety

HANDS-ONPre-Scenario Introduction Registration CBRF

Garage Collapse Simulation Exercise Scenario Begins Dispatch Size-up Initial Command/

Incident Command K-9 Search Teams Scene Resources Training for the Worst-Case

Scenario Special Equipment Safety & Extrication Strategies Removing Debris

Confined Space/Heavy Rescue Interoperability Incident Command Rehab & Crew Rotation Transition to Nighttime

Post-Analysis Personnel Safety Supporting the Command

Position Pre-Staging Assets NIMS Number of Attendees Expect the Unexpected Thinking Outside the Box The Incident Commander’s

Toolbox Sharing the Workload Meeting Exercise Objectives

Planning the Exercise The Idea for a Large Event Community/Site Permission Learning to Plan an Event Planning Team/Schedule Planning Team Leader The To-Do List Logistics Controller Administration & Finance Expenses/Paperwork Evaluators Use the Included Materials

Discussion Questions

Quiz & Answers

EVOLUTIONS 2000Kramer vs. Kramer


Working Fire Training Working Fire Training 06-12 Training Materials06-12 Training MaterialsWorking Fire Training Working Fire Training

06-12 Training Materials06-12 Training Materials

TRAINING

All training methods and procedures presented in this Working Fire Training (WFT) video program and training materials are based on IFSTA, NFPA, NIOSH, OSHA and all other relevant industry regulations and standards and are presented as a part of generally accepted and acknowledged practices in the U.S. Fire Service. WFT should be used under the supervision of certified trainers in conjunction with national, state, and local training standards and protocols, and the standard operating guides and procedures of the Subscriber. WFT is intended to be an ancillary source of training information and should not be used as the sole source of training for any emergency service organization. WFT accepts no responsibility for how the Subscriber implements or integrates this program into the Subscriber’s own training program, nor does the use of this program by the Subscriber imply that WFT approves or endorses any specific training methods presented by the Subscriber to its own organization. WFT accepts no responsibility for the correct understanding or application of its training methods and procedures by emergency service personnel who view this program; nor for any performance or lack of performance by emergency service personnel who may view this program and use or apply these training methods and procedures incorrectly; nor does it accept any liability for injuries or deaths of emergency service personnel who may view this program and use or apply such training methods and procedures incorrectly. By presenting this program for viewing to its organization’s members, the Subscriber, and by viewing or reading materials presented by WFT, the members and students of the Subscriber, agree to hold harmless WFT, the University of Cincinnati, VFIS, and any persons or organizations who participate in the creation and/or presentation of this training material from any legal action which might result from any line-of-duty injuries or deaths of the Subscriber’s members or any other emergency service personnel who view this program and who may use or apply such training methods and procedures incorrectly.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER


This month Working Fire Training concludes Exercise St. Louis, Part II – a large WMD scenario which not only involved local resources but state and federal response assets as well. If an intense or protracted disaster or WMD event occurs in your area, you'll be working with these out-of-town teams so here's a chance to see how they do business and how they’ll interact with your responders.

Exercise St. Louis, Part II covers the second scenario involved in the overall exercise -- the detonation of some device which collapsed a parking garage. The garage was fictitiously located next to the summit meeting venue where, as we covered last month in Part I, an airborne agent was released. In reality, the collapse was simulated at a local rock quarry, enabling searches of large debris piles. The Marines’ Chemical Biological Incident Response Force (CBIRF) was also present at this scenario, performing heavy rescue work and medical response.



Following the exercise, Working Fire Training conducted follow-up interviews and a roundtable discussion with many of the participants to discuss what went well and what needed improvement. The complete roundtable discussion can be viewed at www.workingfire.com. Finally, we present information from the planners of the event regarding the issues and tasks involved in staging such an event so you can create a WMD/disaster exercise of your own. See copies of many of the necessary forms that will assist you in your planning effort at the end of this version of the training materials.

Professor and Chief Bill Kramer is back again with more discussion regarding the staging of WMD events. Do we spend too much time conducting such exercises in more populated areas where most of the resources are, to the neglect of more rural areas? Many such areas have strategic sites such as nuclear power plants which could easily be a target for WMD, and rural areas are certainly no stranger to the destruction caused by tornados and other natural disasters. This is another continuing education opportunity for those enrolled in the University of Cincinnati Open Learning Fire Science degree program.


http://www.workingfire.com/


OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMESAfter watching this segment, the student shall understand: understand what’s involved with managing a heavy

rescue/collapse scene learn what kind of teamwork and coordination between the

different response teams and command structure levels are necessary for a successful exercise.

learn what’s involved to plan and stage a WMD/disaster drill.

CODES, STANDARDS & REGULATIONS Presidential Decision Directives 39 and 62, and eventually Defense Reform Initiative

Directive 25. NFPA 471, Hazardous Materials Incident Response. 29 CFR 1910, 28 CFR Chapter 1, Part 23. The Office For Domestic Preparedness Guidelines For Homeland Security: Prevention and Deterrence, June 2003, U.S. Department of Homeland Security.


Hands-On:


INTRODUCTION Scenario Explanation

– To stage a large disaster drill by taking advantage of local resources and all communications capabilities, and to have outside resources come in and do transition work between fire, military, and/or government agencies.

– To simulate a detonation and collapsed parking garage adjacent to the venue used for the simulated government summit conference and airborne agent release covered in Part 1.

Safety briefing– First there was a safety briefing by quarry representatives as this

was a working quarry in operation, followed by a briefing from the incident commander.



INTRODUCTION Safety briefing (cont.)

– This was a training scenario staged to be as real as possible. The hazards were real, though a bit more under control than they would be in a real incident.

Registration/Check-In– A registration element was brought into the exercise as part of the

logistics that would be involved in a real situation. All participants had to register and log in by unit and/or by position or

function. These unit logs (Form ICS 214) were then reviewed by the registrar

and entered into a database on a laptop computer. Other registration or log-in forms are suitable.

Times were added to the unit logs so that the registrar could track the arrival, performance, and departure of all participants in the drill throughout its duration.



INTRODUCTION Registration/Check-In (cont.)

– This kind of documentation (who performed what missions and when) is critical for fact-gathering, building a narrative of what happened after the fact and for executing reimbursement if that becomes necessary.

CBRF– One of the resources involved were the chemical biological incident

response team (CBRF) from the Marines.

– They have haz-mat, rescue, and medical specialists and their rescue contingent was working on this part of the exercise.

They bring in their own cache of equipment, their own communications, and their own chain of command and command structure.

By bringing them in, that permitted the opportunity to go from a local resource to a regional task force operation up to a Federal level of interaction, to make sure that when an event happens, local responders can indeed interact between all these agencies and levels.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Dispatch

– A collapse scenario was to be composed of two parts: a hazmat response, and a heavy rescue response.

– The start time specified was for 1800 hours The event was dispatched with rescue squads arriving in sequence and

not all together so that the command system wouldn’t be overburdened. As units showed up they made their initial contact and plans as company

officers until the formal command structure was set up and the chief officers were in place to support it.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Size-Up

– The first stage of a rescue like this is an involved 360 size-up, what we call surface victims and surface rescue:

what we can see visibly that is apparent to us, if any victims can be identified immediately, and

the conditions that surround that victim. It may be something as simple as dragging somebody

out and getting them out of harm's way or it may be something much more involved.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Initial Command/Incident Command

– The initial command system is probably going to be established by a company officer on the scene.

The first-in rescue captain on the rescue squad will come in and begin the Command set-up. If you’re a chief officer of a non-duty battalion following right behind them, it's your responsibility to come in and set up the formal command post.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Initial Command/Incident Command (cont.)

– The initial command system is probably going to be established by a company officer on the scene.

If they are a few minutes behind the rescue squad, then incident command will be the first-in rescue officer’s responsibility to get that system in place so the transition to the chief officer is a smooth one when it happens.



SCENARIO EXERCISE K-9 Search Team

– One of the best resources that may be immediately available (or you may have to call for them) in a search and rescue incident is a K-9 search team.

– The initial role of a canine team would be to search the whole area in general and then focus on specific areas where victims may be buried.

Dogs are good in areas where they can't send rescuers such as small voids.

Dogs take up to two years to be trained to a certified level.

– Because there may be a delay in K-9 squads arriving, if you are ever involved in an incident where you even think you might have a lost person or someone missing, call in the dogs early so they may arrive in a reasonable amount of time. You can always send them back if they are not needed. If you wait and call later, you’ll lose time.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Scene Resources

– As additional resources come in, something to stress is that not all resources needed will be rescue companies.

You will also need engine companies for fire suppression, truck and tower companies, ladder companies, etc. These will also supply water and foam supplies for suppression plus the water needed for concrete cutting and specialty tools -- especially should the infrastructure and water supplies in the area be compromised or non-existent. These may be our only water sources.

Tower ladders and aerials can provide a high-angle view of the scene which can be a tremendous aid to the incident commander.

– Keep in mind that with those arriving engine and truck companies, if you don't need them right away, save them, but you may need some resources off those trucks.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Scene Resources (cont.)

– Another resource you will be needing in a disaster scene such as this are professional engineers as advisers.

Remember that these guys design buildings and are experts on how they go up and how they come down. They are also experts on what is and is not safe.

This is another outside resource that must be preplanned in advance of an incident like this.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Training for the Worst-Case Scenario

– When it comes to vehicles and responding to possible extrications, these will not be your typical vehicle accident.

Many of these vehicles will be inverted, set on unstable areas and will be heavily damaged.

They must be stabilized not to risk further injury to victims or responders.

Extrications may have to be made on vehicles that are upside down and perhaps cantilevered without proper support.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Special Equipment

– Some of the other special equipment that is available to us is technical search equipment.

This would include search cams which allows the camera to be inserted into a limited opening or void space.

This can be used as a search tool or as a backup to investigate a hit by one of the K-9 dogs.

We always try to confirm the location of a victim before we put resources into making that rescue.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Special Equipment (cont.)

– Another challenge that the teams faced were mannequins (simulated victims) that were pinned badly under vehicles which were upside-down and unstable.

It's a good idea to go back to one of our basic tools, the air bag. They’re good to use in those environments where the vehicle or the ground the vehicle is on is unstable and these out-of-the-norm applications might be needed in order to make these rescues.

In one case, we had a patient who was partially ejected from the vehicle that had rolled over and the vehicle was on top of the pile, hanging off to one side. Rescuers had to make some adjustments, certainly in stabilization and the application of air bags, to lift it up.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Safety & Extrication Strategies

– Of course, while all this is going on, firefighter and rescuer safety is paramount. The safety officers in charge must make sure those issues are being covered.

– After the rescue is made, the company officer has to make a decision whether to leave the vehicle stabilized or whether to pull the cribbing out and use it in another location.

Depending on the situation you are faced with, you may or may not have all the resources that you need.

Normally, you leave the vehicle stabilized but if you need the cribbing and stabilization resources elsewhere, you may have to remove them.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Safety & Extrication Strategies (cont.)

– After the rescue is made, the company officer has to make a decision whether to leave the vehicle stabilized or whether to pull the cribbing out and use it in another location.

Again, you must make this decision in consideration of the safety of the people nearby. Removing the cribbing may jeopardize another rescue evolution that's going on nearby or one that may not be visible to you.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Removing Debris

– Obviously, in a collapsed incident like this, you will have a ton of debris that will have to be removed by hand and your manpower requirements to do it will be tremendous.

It's a very safe operation for the victims and it gives us access to points without breaching through concrete as it may allow us to get into a natural entry point, but again, this will be a very manpower-intensive operation.

– Get the resources coming early and be prepared to rotate people through rehab to keep the operation moving smoothly.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Confined Space/Heavy Rescue

– One of the obstacles set up in this scenario was a confined space entry into the interior of the collapse site. We had an upper level of the parking garage and an interior or lower-layer and a concrete pipe was used as the access point between the two.

– The CBIRF team entered into the collapsing in via the concrete pipe.

– This just complicated the scenario as you went from an outside rescue to the interior and an inside rescue.

You now have the parameters of any other confined space rescue which include:

– air monitoring which had to be continuous

– retrieval lines and retrieval systems on personnel

– ventilation to keep that area ventilated for the people to work in.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Confined Space/Heavy Rescue (cont.)

– One of the challenges they ran into was that the pipe started out at 22” in diameter and then reduced to around 18” in diameter. That is a very confined space for rescuers to work in.

As they came through the pipe they got into a 3 x 3 x 4 foot culvert and had another 3-4 inch concrete slab to break through that was backed up by a chain-link fence. So there were quite a few challenges in this scenario.

Tools, such as 90 lb. jackhammers, also had to be transported through the pipe into the interior area. This is a very realistic depiction of this kind of scenario.

– In a collapse you'll be working in tight spaces and areas where you will not be able to stand up. Understand that it may take you 4-6 hours to get into the area where you want to search.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Interoperability

– One of the situations that arose was when a CBIRF chipper tool broke down.

The CBIRF logistics person and the logistics person for the St. Louis County Heavy Rescue Team got together and realized that a part from a County Team's tool would match as a replacement.

This allowed a tool to be kept in service and not replace an entire tool system.

– The interoperability between equipment and logistical communications was a big asset.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Incident Command

– The incident command system was designed to expand and with a scenario like this, it will expand tremendously.

– Whether it's a company officer or a chief officer in the role as I.C., he/she has to be ready to expand the command post operation to meet the demands that will be required in such an incident.

– There are a lot of areas to be addressed and many staff positions to be filled:

You will, of course, need an Incident Commander who will take responsibility for the overall operation.

Multiple Safety Officers in an incident this size, around and inside the incident itself.

You will need an Operations Officer to oversee the rescue operation.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Incident Command (cont.)


You'll also need a Planning section established for documentation of the incident and also for developing additional plans, Plan B, Plan C, etc.

– Should there be problems, the Planning section must develop options and alternatives for handling them.

– Where the Operations section oversees the incident as it is taking place right

now, the Planning section looks forward and anticipates the needs of the operation later on.

The Logistics section will be huge and you may need a squad of people to handle logistics to get to get it started and keep it rolling.

– Keep in mind the resources on scene must be managed but we also have to manage the resources that are coming in.

– Logistics must find resources that will be needed, line them up, and manage them when they arrive. You don't want to have a rescue squad standing idle because some resource didn't arrive on time.





Though normally not appointed during a typical incident, a Finance Section Chief has to be in place at a large event.

– For example, if this were actually a parking garage collapse, some of

the resources that would be needed would be local ironworkers, operating engineers, professional trades, and cranes would have to be brought in.

– We have preestablished relationship with these resources but someone in Finance will have to track the cost of those people coming in.

– When those professional trades are brought in they go through the same process as regular rescuers: they have to check in upon arrival, their equipment has to be documented, and the Finance chief is the one who will be responsible for approving those resources and their expenses.





Though normally not appointed during a typical incident, a Finance Section Chief has to be in place at a large event.

–When those professional trades are brought in they go through the same process as regular rescuers: they have to check in upon arrival, their equipment has to be documented, and the Finance chief is the one who will be responsible for approving those resources and their expenses.





Another staff member needed is the PIO or Public Information Officer. An event like this is a media magnet.

– We didn't have one here since it was a training scenario but in a real event this position would be critical in communicating to the media.

– The person has to be updated with information on a regular basis and given a place where press conferences can be held.

– However, because the military is involved in an incident like this, its public

information needs will also have to be considered and tied in with the Public information Officer as the military may not want certain things to be released to the media.

A number of people will be needed at the command post itself to take care of documentation and relaying information in and out of the command post.




– There may be a time when the incident Commander might need to leave the command post in order to gain a more global perspective of the operation or perhaps conduct face-to-face discussions with one of the section officers.

In such a case, the command post would be turned over to an aide or some person who is second-in-command for a brief period of time. Personnel should be in place so the incident commander has the ability to do this if needed.




– Another aspect of this event, since the military was involved, was to simulate certain vehicles and people of a classified nature who were trapped in the collapsed garage.

This allowed the rescue teams to work with the government and military to practice the handling of such classified information correctly.

In this scenario, if civilian rescuers found such classified information they would then interact with a military person so that the material would be handled correctly.

It's a challenge you don't normally run into, but depending on the location of the disaster and who was involved, it may be something that rescuers might be confronted with.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Rehab & Crew Rotation

– In an incident of this magnitude, it's important that we keep our people rehabbed and hydrated and properly rotated. Some may not want to leave the scene -- make them!

– This scenario gave us an opportunity to practice the transfer of information from one squad to another squad accurately. This is an important skill and not usually trained on!

– It also gave us the opportunity to practice the logistics that would be needed to support rehab. For example, the need to acquire shelters or air-conditioning.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Accountability

– We set up the formal check-in points and directed everybody either to a staging area or to a job assignment immediately after checking in.

– It's always a good idea that once the operation is ongoing and personnel are available to out send a runner or a face-to-face person to double-check with each squad to make sure we have the proper number of people and the proper ID for all companies that are on scene.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Accountability (cont.)

– We can compare that information to what the person has who's filling out the documentation and if the numbers are equal and even, we know that everyone is formally accounted for. If the numbers don’t match and someone is missing, we either have to get them back to check-in or find out who they are and why they're not there.

– On an incident this size, we liked to think that we have scene control well-managed but in reality, people often find their way in is because they want to help or because they were there before the formal system was set up and were missed initially.

– We need to make sure the accountability system is in place because an incident like this could run on for hours or days and we need to know who's going in or out.



SCENARIO EXERCISE Transition to Nighttime

– One of the features built into this scenario was the ability to go from daytime through dusk to night.

– The Planning section was very involved as they were working on advanced plans that would engage at dusk, as a test to make provision for energy sources, lighting, and provisions for flashlights and recharging flashlights.

– Moving into nighttime also adds a fatigue factor to personnel which also has to be managed. Care has to be taken that personnel are rotated through rehab.



POST-ANALYSIS Personal Safety

– No one should ever get hurt. Taking extra precautions during a training event will transfer into real life.

– One of the main focuses is to coordinate safety issues, safety officers, rehab, etc., so that everybody is safe.

– This must be practiced so it becomes ingrained in our personnel.

Supporting the command positions– People who are thrown into the command position are often

afraid they will embarrass themselves if they have never been in charge of an event of this magnitude.

– Therefore, it's a good idea to put someone with them who has had some experience and can help if they have problems and to suggest possible actions. This is very beneficial in these exercises.



POST-ANALYSIS Pre-staging assets

– Because we have had several presidential debates and a Papal visit in St. Louis, our experience has been that all such events will be pre-staged; therefore, pre-staging was not unusual for this event since it was conceived to be a governmental event.

– One of the major benefits from doing a large event like this is that you get Federal and state assets involved and the people that you meet in that context can be extremely beneficial.



POST-ANALYSIS Pre-staging assets (cont.)

– You become more comfortable if you have sources and resources available, so develop confidence in and a relationship with these people in advance. It's great experience.



POST-ANALYSIS National Incident Management System (NIMS)

– In this exercise we identified some problems in adjusting from the traditional ICS to NIMS.

– The Incident Commander had done a lot of training on it but not everybody had used the NIMS terminology in day-to-day events.

– Day-to-day ICS and NIMS terms are easy, but when you start using divisions and groups and branches and then bringing all the disciplines together, it can get confusing if you don't train that way. Departments don't usually do that -- and hardy ever during training.



POST-ANALYSIS Number of Attendees

– There was a great deal of demand for participation in this event. Probably a third more people showed up at this event than had been planned for.

– Departments and agencies were very interested in knowing what this exercise was all about and because Olivette is a small town, it was a great opportunity for us to stage this event and figure out where we're going to put all these agencies – that was one of the logistical challenges

– Something to be concerned about is when departments tell you they will bring five guys but they also bring three pieces of equipment – that's one of the challenges we had not thought through very carefully.



POST-ANALYSIS Expect the Unexpected

– Our experience tells us that when you do an event like this, be prepared to expect the unexpected.

For example, in this event a ladder truck was to come in and do Gross Decon first, but two pumpers had entered the grounds first and had to be backed out. These kinds of things can really mess up an exercise if you don't plan them out ahead of time.

You need to be very flexible in these types of exercises because these things may happen.



POST-ANALYSIS Thinking Outside the Box

– Incident Commander Robin Jobe: “It seemed to me that this two-hour event only took 10 minutes. As the incident command job was being done, things that I was thinking of doing were already being taken care of by either the CSTs or the Marines or someone else in the Unified Command area. That is a hard thing to get used to as an incident commander when you are used to having to make those decisions yourself. It's tough to step outside and think outside the box in a major incident like this...to think about the big picture and the big plan.”



POST-ANALYSIS The Incident Commander's Toolbox

– Take any sort of training or class that has to do with planning any large event or exercise.

– Learn or ask more knowledgeable people about things you don’t know.

Find out about certain weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes and things like that, and talk to those people who have been there. Learn from them.

So if someone says something it doesn't take you totally off guard; you’ve heard that before and that it's a possibility. It's another tool in the incident commander's toolbox.



POST-ANALYSIS Sharing the Workload

– It's hard to be the Incident Commander and be on the planning team. While you learn a lot, it's hard to be challenged since you know everything that's going to happen. It also means taking on the workload of a second task.



POST-ANALYSIS Sharing the Workload (cont.)

– It's probably not a good idea being the IC and one of the planners of the exercise. Sharing the load and getting more people involved is helpful to the individual and more beneficial for the exercise.



POST-ANALYSIS Meeting Exercise Objectives

– If you meet all your objectives in an exercise, then you didn't challenge yourself sufficiently.

– We should always want to learn something and there's always room for improvement. If that doesn't happen, then it probably wasn't a very realistic exercise.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE The Idea for a Large-Scale Event

– CBIRF (Chemical Biological Incident Response Force), a Marine group out of Washington, D.C., has two teams and once a year one of the teams does field training.

– As one of the teams was going to be in the St. Louis area for another exercise, it was decided to schedule a second event in the suburb of Olivette, just west of St. Louis.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Community/Site Location Permission & Support

– Permission was requested from the Olivette City Manager for use of a vacant building and an outline was presented of the activities involved in the exercise and who would be involved. The City Council approved the idea.

– Local schools and industrial complexes nearby were involved as they had resources (parking lots, etc.) that would be needed and they were very supportive.

– In addition, Chief Jobe, who would be the Incident Commander of the event, took some classes to prepare himself for the exercise.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Learning to Plan an Event

– Planning of an event like this is a skill but it can be learned. There are a lot of resources out there:

FEMA has plenty of courses through the Emergency Management Institute (EMI)

State emergency planning agencies have courses just for these kinds of emergencies.

There are specific courses to be a controller or evaluator available through these agencies and through the federal government. They can help train your people beforehand for their roles in these kinds of activities.

– If you are not an expert in planning, find a good planning section chief and get that person on board, either as a consultant being paid or through one of the emergency management agencies.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Learning to Plan an Event (cont.)

– These people are highly qualified and this is a preplanned disaster. Get those people involved if you don't have the ability to do it yourself. If you do, take advantage of the training that's out there and learn these aspects of how to plan a large training exercise.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Planning Team

– Initially, there were 6-7 members of the team. You need to have a decision-maker from each of the key resource elements; someone who has the authority to make decisions at the periodic group meetings.

– Once-a-week meetings are almost mandatory for the primary group and once a month a larger meeting should be held with representatives from every group. But the key planners should meet once a week. Within a month of the actual event, meetings should increase to twice a week.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Planning Schedule

– To pull off a high-quality exercise you will need a year of planning.

– If planning is new to you or to all the agencies you are working with, think about a two-year process in order to pull it off and another six months afterward for all the follow-up, paying all the bills, and making sure all the administration and reports are generated.

– What you learn from the event gets shared with other people. A lot of support from all of the players and organizations is necessary.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Planning Team Leader

– The Planning Team Leader assists in the planning function by giving guidance and helping to provide resources to the other team members so they can do their jobs.

– The leader works to keep the planning on track and to keep up everyone's spirits. The lead time for planning could be a year or a two-year process.

– Let them know that it doesn't all end, once the exercise is completed. There are other functions and events that have to happen after the fact to make the event a success. You have to take what you learn and do something with it.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE The To-Do List

– Initially, identify your goals.– Establish who is going to participate.– Pick controllers and evaluators.– Pick decision-makers with authority.– Schedule meetings.– Develop a scenario including locations, safety factors, etc.– Develop a timeline.– Assign a person to be responsible for the various "To-Do's".– Develop the kind of training your members will need in advance, in order

to participate effectively in the exercise - this is critical!



PLANNING THE EXERCISE The To-Do List (cont.)

– Decide on a duration for the event.

– Put Finance and Administration controls in place.

– Hold a lessons-learned critique/post-analysis with appropriate documentation materials.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Logistics

– The logistics area is one where people don’t have a lot of training. We know how to put water on a fire, take care of haz-mat etc., but when you have to find 40 Porta-Potties and meals for 500-plus, and need to set up air conditioning (then we need at an HVAC guy, a generator, and maybe an electrician), these are not the things you normally consider in your basic incident response.

– We did run air conditioners at this event and had to get an HVAC guy to come out and recharge air conditioners. Fortunately, we had an assistant chief of a neighboring department who had HVAC equipment was able to do that. But the logistics person assigned to that had never even thought about needing an HVAC person on-scene. This is not something we normally do.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Controllers

– You try to organize the chaos and keep the flow of the event going, working with your other controllers.

– Each of the areas has a controller. The Master Controller is the focal point who looks at all the parts of the event and provides additional direction to all the controllers to keep the event moving in the same direction.

If something unexpected occurs, a question occurs, or if the players involved start going a different way than intended, the controllers can bring them back on-line.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Administration and Finance

– One area that goes completely unrecognized is Administration and Finance.

During a drill, how do you pay or get paid for services if a federal disaster occurs, or just keep track of expenses for your agency?

We had people checking participants in, keeping track of payroll hours and expenses that might be reimbursable through one of the grants, so the department could get paid back. But in order to get that reimbursement from the government, we had to know exactly who was there, what hours they were there, what the rate of pay was, etc.

– They were insurance waivers and making sure that we had the proper insurance for the venue and for doing the kind of training that took place. Permissions for different activities also falls under Administration and Finance.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Administration and Finance (cont.)

– Fortunately we had no injuries, but if we had, Administration and Finance would've been responsible for the follow-up with all the insurance companies to make sure that the patient didn't get a bill, etc.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Administration and Finance (cont.)

– Short of responses with the federal government, on a regular response call, Administration and Finance support section are usually never set up for an incident, other than a drill or a preplanned event such as a presidential debate.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Managing the Funds

– In the St. Louis area there is an organization called the St. Louis Area Regional Response System (STARRS). This is a group that was created to manage our urban area security needs and funds from the federal government and several other federal grants that were coming into the St. Louis region for disaster and terrorism response initiatives.

– Instead of having a bunch of different groups managing each different part, what we did in our area was put everyone together in sort of a unified command of fund management. In one group we have public health, hospitals, EMS, law enforcement, public works, all together at one table, managing all the different grants that come into the area. This way we can leverage the funds that come in with those activities and make sure we get our biggest bang for the buck.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Out-of-Pocket Expenses

– STARRS paid for the overtime for the participants, bottled water, food etc.

– The only out-of-pocket expenses that the City of Olivette had were electricity to run the buildings where the event occurred.

Dealing with the Paperwork– When you get involved with a large event involving federal,

state, and local entities, there is a plethora of paperwork that will have to be turned in to cover all the overtime and billing for everything that is involved.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Dealing with the Paperwork (cont.)

– It's very beneficial if you can contract with an outside organization that will handle all that for you.

We were not able to do that, so we did it all internally. It's another internal aspect that can be very difficult and

complex, so departments do need to be aware of and address it beforehand, so you don't have problems later when everybody wants to get their money.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Outside Evaluators

– We brought in outside evaluators and told them, “This is we what think we’re going to do and how we expect to do it. You check and see if we do it.” Overall, we did very well.

– They identified areas of improvement and we just received a report from the federal government on our communications plan and it identified some of the same things we did,

– Now we have an outside, objective view of what we need to do to improve and we can now start working on those problems.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Using Video as a Tool

– Using a company like Working Fire Training to videotape the entire event is another way of analyzing what went on.

– When you're in the event itself, time goes by very quickly and it’s very beneficial afterwards to view what occurred. As we learned a previous exercise videotaped by WFT (the Washington University WMD scenario, Volume 02-7), it’s good to go back later and look at a video and realize that you said a certain thing or did something specific.

– It's another tool that’s very useful that I would recommend for anyone planning such an event.



PLANNING THE EXERCISE Use the Included Materials

– Working Tire Training has provided on this DVD various materials such as planning sheets, timelines, budgets, etc. for helping to stage such an event. You don't have to create everything from scratch.

– You may also contact any of our staff or Working Fire Training in order to find out more about information that you might need. It’s better to be proactive than reactive, so prepare your department and your mutual aid partners.




Hands-On DiscussionHands-On DiscussionHands-On DiscussionHands-On Discussion

The commanders involved in this month’s training pose some discussion questions that you can use as discussion-starters in your own department’s training sessions.

How will your department handle these scenarios?


Steve Rinehart, Incident Commander, Collapsed Garage Scenario

1. Do you train on unusual vehicle extrications where cars are upside down or teetering in an unstable position? What are your SOGs for handling vehicles in this situation?

2. It’s a good idea to develop a Confined Space Rescue “kit” (even if it’s only a mental list) consisting of all the essential tools you’ll need to support a rescue: air monitoring, retrieval systems, ventilation gear, etc. Grouping tools together by task or function makes it easier to access them when needed.

3. Check in advance to see if your structural collapse equipment will interface with that of your mutual aid partners and your local CST and/or CBIRF unit. Equipment that integrates can save a lot of time in the hot zone should something go south.

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Hands-On Discussion


Chief Mark Thorp, Scenario Planner

1. Make sure your planning group and the agencies the group’s members represent have the will to execute the exercise. During the long planning process, interest and desire may flag. Work to keep the group focused. Go over the benefits of doing the exercise to keep members motivated.

2. In a large incident, be prepared to assign tasks you don’t normally deal with, such as Administration and Finance, or Logistics. Learn the capabilities and strengths of your personnel to discover who can best do these jobs.


Hands-On Discussion


Battalion Chief Matthew Jurotich, Scenario Planner

1. In running your planning meetings, it makes a lot sense for the person who keeps the minutes of those meetings to communicate by e-mail with all event participants directly following each meeting. Not everyone will be able to make every meeting and e-mail recaps of meetings will help drive the process forward.

2. It’s important to set goals for large exercises to make sure you get out of them what you expect. Make a list and plan for completing those goals and objectives. A goal-oriented process will reveal to you what you don’t know or don’t have to make the exercise a success.


Hands-On Discussion


Date___________ Firefighter/PM____________________ Chief/T.O.___________________ Education Credits _____

1. True or False: First-in crews should not start to work until an

Incident Commander arrives.

2. True or False: At a collapse rescue, get ready to appoint multiple Safety Officers.

3. True or False: Registration is a pain in the neck. Why bother? After all, it’s just training.

4. True or False: You absolutely must use Form ICS 214 to register participants.

Hands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2Hands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2QuizQuizHands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2Hands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2QuizQuiz



5. True or False: CBIRF will follow your Incident Commander and command structure

6. True or False: The first stage of a rescue like this is called Surface Victims and Surface Rescue.

7. True or False: K-9 teams are an excellent first step for discovering where victims may be.




8. True or False: You’ll never need a tower truck at a collapse. Everything’s already collapsed!

9. True or False: If you see a guy lying on his back at a collapse rescue, he’s probably working.

10. True or False: One of the issues in removing debris by hand is you’re trading speed and heavy manpower usage for safety and efficiency.


(Answers on Slide 80)


Date___________ Firefighter/PM____________________ Chief/T.O.___________________ Education Credits _____Select the best answer:

1. Which of the following belongs with collapse rescue?

a. Air monitoring

b. Retrieval systems

c. Air bags

d. Ventilation

e. All of the above.

Hands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2 Hands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2 QuizQuizHands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2 Hands-On: Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2 QuizQuiz

2. Which is NOT a part of Incident Command?

a. Wearing same type of PPE

b. Separate radio frequencies

c. Using joint command

d. Accountability checks

e. None of the above.



3. In this scenario, which is the correct order?

a. Set up Command–Dispatch– Size-up

b. Size-up–Initial Command–Dispatch

c. Dispatch–Size-up–Initial Command

d. Establish Sections–Set up Command



4. Military presence may change the job of the PIO in what area?

a. Privacy

b. Media Access

c. Accountability

d. Security




5. Working at night presents which challenges?

a. Energy needs

b. Access to lighting

c. Manpower fatigue

d. Special planning



6. The following helps learn the Incident Commander role:

a. Firefighting tasks

b. Special classes

c. USAR dogs

d. Communications




7. To plan an exercise, you should:

a. Start a year in advance

b. Meet once a month

c. Meet once a week

d. Meet twice a week



8. Which of the following is a planning “to-do”?

a. Register participants.

b. List all apparatus that are coming.

c. Order more Porta-Potties.

d. Develop a scenario including locations, safety factors, etc.


(Answers on Slide 80)


06-12 Training Materials06-12 Training MaterialsEvolutions 2000: Continuing EducationEvolutions 2000: Continuing Education


1. How does the location of an actual disaster affect the ability of local authorities to assemble sufficient emergency responders?

2. In your opinion, where is it more likely that participants in the St. Louis exercise will be actually used, in St. Louis or elsewhere?

3. Describe what you feel would be the ideal location for a disaster exercise and explain your answer.

If you’re enrolled in the Open Learning Fire Science Program at the University of Cincinnati, complete written responses to the following three essay questions to earn one college credit hour for watching Working Fire Training.

Kramer vs. KramerWMD/Disaster Scenarios, Part II:

Metro vs. Rural Locations


ENROLLMENT INFORMATION:

For more information on enrolling in the Open Learning program to gain college credit, call Working Fire Training at 800-516-3473 for a brochure or, to register directly, call the University of Cincinnati at 513-556-6583. Associates and Bachelors programs are available. Call to have your transcripts evaluated.

Send your responses to:

Professor Bill KramerUniversity of Cincinnati

College of Applied Science2220 Victory Parkway, ML #103

Cincinnati, Ohio 45206





Thanks so much for viewing Working Fire Training!

See you next month – stay safe!

Answers:

Hands-On – St. Louis Exercise, Pt. 2: Quiz on Slides 71-73: 1. False 2. True 3. False 4. False 5. False 6. True 7. True 8. False 9. True 10. True

Hands-On – St. Louis Exercise, Pt. 2: Quiz on Slides 74-77:1. e 2 a 3. c 4. d 5 e 6. d 7. e 8 d

TRAINING

Documents

Emergency Services, LLC/ Copyright 2006 / Volume 06-12 1 06-12 Training Materials Exercise St. Louis, Pt. 2 TRAINING Click anywhere on page to view show