Challenges Faced By Fire Service During Disasters

A firefighter is not just called to fires while that is there name many are trained in emergency medical services (EMS). Three fourths of the calls a firefighter runs on are medical emergencies including car wrecks. Other dispatches include; Tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, or any other life threatening occurrences . Many times firefighters work right alongside law enforcement officers.

evacuation, making emergency repairs to the levees, and providing food and law and order in an unprepared shelter). These measures, born of necessity, may be quite different from or exceed in scale anything responders have done before. They must be creative and extremely adaptable to execute improvised tactics. Equipping organizations to recognize the novelty in a crisis and improvise skillfully is thus a far different (and far more difficult) matter from preparing mainly to implement preset emergency plans. Scalability and Surge Capacity In many disasters, as Katrina well illustrated, responders must cope with far greater numbers of endangered people or more extensive damage than usual. To scale up operations to handle this surge of demand, emergency agencies require access to resources in larger quantities than normal and frequently to specialized equipment or

Firemen, while intimidating to the general public, are widely accepted and respected. This means that they serve as an embodiment of the public as a whole. In their hands fire is used to

Connell, II, Disaster Management Solutions Inc., MA [M] Melody Eady, Georgia Fire Academy, GA [SE] Richard J. S. Karasaki, Jr., Honolulu Fire Department, HI [U] Wesley V. Kitchel, Santa Rosa Fire Department, CA [L] Timothy A. Kovacs, Phoenix Fire Department, AZ [L] Timothy J. Lombardi, Cuyahoga Falls Fire Department, OH [L] Rep. NFPA Fire Service Section J. Michael McCreary, American Emergency Response Training, TN [SE] Robert N. Moody, Montgomery County, Maryland, MD [L] Robert E. Rhea, Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department, VA [U] Brian Rousseau, State of New York, NY [E] Robert J. Schappert, III, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, DC [U] Peter M. Schecter, Government of the British Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands [E] Rep. International Association of Fire Chiefs Ralph Sproul, Chevron Products Company, CA [U] Michael L. Walker, Oklahoma City Fire Department, OK [U] Charles A. Wehrli, Spec Rescue, IL [SE] Ernest R. Wright, Wright Rescue Solutions, Inc., FL [SE] Leonard E. Yox, Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, MD [SE] Andrea Zaferes, Lifeguard Systems, RIPTIDE, AZ Training, NY [SE] Alternates Brad Eveland, U.S. Air Force, AK [E] (Voting Alt. to U.S. Air Force Rep.) Fred J. Jackson, Cuyahoga Falls Fire Department, OH [L] (Alt. to T. J. Lombardi) Rep. NFPA Fire Service Section Frank E. Florence, NFPA Staff Liaison

This chapter provides an overview that describes the basic types of hazards threatening the United States and provides definitions for some basic terms such as hazards, emergencies, and disasters. The chapter also provides a brief history of emergency management in the federal government and a general description of the current emergency management system—including the basic functions performed by local emergency managers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the all-hazards approach and its implications for local emergency management.

and Dentistry and Director of the Program in Disaster Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and the UR Center for Disaster Medicine and Emergency Preparedness. For over a decade, he has responded to numerous national disasters as a volunteer with the American Red Cross. He has also developed comprehensive disaster mental health training programs for the New York State Office of Mental Health and the New York State Department of Health currently being disseminated throughout every county, state psychiatric center and acute healthcare facility throughout New York State.

At 6pm on April 30th, 2014, a life-threatening disaster struck the Florida panhandle. At that time, Florida residents were not aware of the rain and flooding that was about engulf Pensacola and the surrounding areas. But as time began to pass, it became obvious this was not an ordinary storm. As the rain poured and the lightning struck, many people lost power and television connection, unable to see that what was thought to be a small storm would set national records and be the cause for severe-weather threats. This event taught me how to prevent a disastrous situation in dire conditions as well as the importance of being prepared.

Current in the United States there is a huge impact form weather, starting with Hurricane Harvey and know Hurricane Irma. These two storms have tested and taxed the Emergency Response teams as well as the Emergency Management Teams on a Local, State and Federal Level. Hurricane Harvey came ashore in Texas, causing wide spread power outages, causing residents to evacuate their homes and overall disrupted the entire states and many parts of the country. With Hurricane Irma, we are seeing much of the same things on even a large scale. As Emergency Management we need to focus on the many different aspects of Preparation, Previous events and be able to employee the last technologies to help our residents, Family and

CERTs are deployed progressively and as needs in the area dictate but members are taught to assess their own needs and those in their immediate environment first. Spontaneous volunteers, our neighbors and ordinary citizens, often arrive on-site at a disaster ready to help. Yet because they are not associated with any part of the existing emergency management response system, their offers of help are often underutilized. Specialized planning, information sharing, and a management structure are necessary to coordinate efforts and maximize the benefits of volunteer involvement. Emergency management experts are encouraged to identify and utilize all existing capacity for integrating unaffiliated volunteers. Some CERT teams are able to be deployed outside of the immediate area to assist other local governments during times of emergency. These teams must receive additional training in order to be able to be

South Florida is particularly vulnerable to the effects of major hurricanes. The sub-tropical weather places the region directly in the historical path of seasonal storms. The area has faced repeated battering by major storms over the decades (Blake, Landsea, Gibney, & I.M. Systems Group, August 2011). Furthermore, the geographic location and the constraints of being located on a peninsula create unique and difficult challenges for the population during these events. The millions of people that live from Okeechobee Lake to Key West are vulnerable to the destruction capable by a major hurricane. Emergency responders must be prepared to deal with these issues when planning and responding to large scale events.

Emergency calls are piling up and first responders are instructed to stay in and keep a watch on the storm from inside their police and fire stations. They are forced to watch the 911 reports stack up on the dispatch computers and do absolutely nothing about it. Responding

“In recent years with an increased emphasis on non-routine incidents such as hazardous materials, and now terrorist events, other methods have been developed to address new aspects related to non-routine situations” (FEMA, 1999). Command structure will encourage the delegation of workload to more manageable levels. Panic and chaos are not conducive to emergency responder productivity in a disaster. Managed response is a “force multiplier”, meaning that responders can accomplish their mission with less personnel or fewer resources if they work within a well- developed and planned system of

Practice makes perfect or at least a perfectly executed plan, but errors still can occur even with the best laid plans, but with practice, errors are minimized. First and foremost, the safety of all personnel must be observed. Emergency responders should be in secure location and not take action until they may do so safely. In some instances, this means not entering damaged structures until assessed by engineers. Lines of communication must be maintained during the event, this may include satellite phones and radios (NIMS,

During the Hurricane Katrina in 2005, even though the National Weather Service (NWS) had forecasted the storm characteristics information on wind speed, storm surge and rainfall accurately, the local authorities responded inadequately (Kent, 2006; Basher, 2006). The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina pumps a series of discussions on emergency responses in a hurricane hazard (e.g., Basher, 2006; Kent, 2006; Kamarck, 2007; Spencer, 2013). Researches draw their attention to this discussion focused on three questions: (1) who should be in charge (e.g., Kamarck, 2007; Badiru and Racz, 2013; Barnhill, 2013; Cova et al., in press)? (2) To do what (e.g., Lindell and Perry 1992; Kim et al., 2006; Wu, Lindell & Prater, 2015; Cova et al.,

Emergency management faces many challenges in today’s modern society. In the years prior to 9/11 emergency management was primarily focused on natural disasters. That has since changed; we now face a diverse variety of risks and hazards on a constant basis. As we continue to grow in population current and newer have compounded into more problems that emergency planner must face and find solutions for.