The Response Of Emergency Response Crews

The city had learned from the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and had done contingency planning in the event of another similar terrorist attack. It established a state of the art Emergency Operations Center. It was evident that training was provided to all departments and officials as to what the priority would be in the case of a disaster, which is public safety. The first thing that was done was to seal off the area to allow first responders to respond quickly and evacuate the public from the area. Even in the absence of communication with the Emergency Operations Center, department heads and key ranking personnel knew exactly what the priority was and acted accordingly. The city’s preparedness left little room for doubt as to who was in charge, with that being said, state and federal agencies were mainly in the role of supporting the city in the efforts of evacuating, rescue and recovery. The leadership provided by the mayor calmed the already shocked public and reassured them of their safety. “The three steps of crisis management are prevention, preparation and containment” (Starling, 2008, p.222). The city itself could not have done much about preventing the situation, but the city’s preparation was evident by their public administrator’s and employee’s quick decisive response. The containment was also accomplished by the city action of closing off the area and

Oncor electric is a regulated distribution and transmission business of the private sector and owned by a limited number of investors. Oncors’ responsibility is to deliver reliable and safe electricity to the private sectors, so they can have the power to maintain productivity by keeping the backbone of our economy (oncor 2012). We are known as the “poles and wires” infrastructure company, we manage our business like the private sector does and our company invests in the latest technology and by putting our employees and customers first. When restoring outages due to large storms or natural disasters we respond quickly and safely to restore power to the critical infrastructure. Electric service providers are required to notify the Commission’s Emergency Management Response Team (EMRT) to be involved in the event of a major emergency and natural disaster that occurs such as hurricanes and ice storms (puc.texas.gov 2009). With the EMRT, they help to coordinate power restoration while communicating regularly with any affected electric service providers before, during, and after an event.

In the Disaster in Franklin County simulation (Regents of the University of Minnesota [UMN], 2006), there were several key personnel in the incident command team. This concept is utilized in real disasters when the Public

The various local, state, and federal emergency management systems of the United States suffered a crude awakening in the decade of the 2000s. Systems expected to hold up were put to the test and failed to prepare for disaster, mitigate the damage, and, in some instances, actually hampered responses in life-or-death situations. Worse, all failings were highlighted in an age of global communication and mass media, on display first whether a man-made incident like September 11th attacks or natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. The decade found the complacent government failing to maintain modern emergency management practices, stimulating began a series of doctrinal upgrades and training improvements. Yet, no matter the bureaucracy, writings, or money thrown at a problem, the first responder to the incident has and will continue to influence the outcome. While the individual responder stands as the most important part of

ithin minutes of the blast, a massive search-and-rescue effort commenced that included fire, emergency, medical, and law enforcement personnel, as well as a large number of citizens. Citizens and emergency personnel joined together and entered the bombed structure, forming human chains to locate and remove trapped survivors and victims. In fact, throughout this rescue effort, the large outpouring of citizens and agency volunteers astonished veteran rescue workers.

September 11, 2001 is commonly thought of as the next major disaster in the United States. So I prefer to choose this real incident. The event that shook the world like a thunderstorm, thousands of people died in the terrorist attacks they did not resemble the catastrophic disasters previously discussed. Unlike all of the natural disasters previously detailed, the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC did not completely overwhelm the emergency response capabilities of entire regions. The attacks caused brief mass confusion and overwhelmed individual emergency response agencies but did not paralyze the entire emergency response network. The primary first responders were the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD. While federal officials participated in rescue operations and helped provide security after the attacks, the immediate rescue efforts were orchestrated by local responders. The local response networks were overwhelmed and resources were strained, but there was no system-wide breakdown in organization or authority. Nonetheless, emergency responders encountered many of the same problems that responders experience during catastrophic disasters. Communication systems

When the airplanes flew into the Twin Towers on 9/11 in New York, there was chaos and confusion throughout New York and the entire country. The events following the Boston Marathon Bombing were full of confusion and stress. However, in both events, first responders were there to aid in whatever way they were able. First responders, like those that responded to 9/11 and the Boston Marathon Bombing, rely heavily on proper communication to do their job properly. While communication has advanced in the past years, there are always more ways for communication amongst first responders to be advanced. Response efforts need to flow smoothly and efficiently, and communication aids greatly in those efforts. The events following a terrorist attack,

Natural and man-made disasters have increased in the past decade, and due to these changes, Emergency Managers had to make drastic changes in order to improve the way first responders operate in a disaster area.

Of the three aircraft that reached their intended targets, two struck the towers of the World Trade Center while the third struck the Pentagon. These three aircrafts striking these locations caused massive damage and took the lives of countless Americans in the process. The actions of those that responded to the scenes of devastation were nothing short of heroic. During the time those responders were on scene, Emergency Operations activities had begun as well as the Incident Command System was being utilized simultaneously.

Medical, trauma, and emergency knowledge was needed in assessing victims of the attacks, in deciding who needed or did not need medical care and in which order was most beneficial to the time and for the greatest use of supplies available. The days, weeks, months, and years required to recover from these incidents not just in the hot zone, but medically and mentally have set forth implementation of how we focus our efforts before, during, and after hazards strike. The affects of September eleventh, have taught us as first responders and government officials valuable information on disaster response and recovery efforts.

On September 11, 2001, planes struck and collapsed the North tower and the South tower of the World Trade Center with many people who died due to acts of terrorism. To declare that terrorism caused all the deaths is a major understatement. At least 1,500 people who survived the attacks had died due to many other factors in or of the building. One of the causes of many lives lost were communications, coordination, and command of the FDNY and the NYPD. In 9/11 the problems of radio communication between firefighters, and the police department impacted the ability for the firefighters to have enough information where the people were trapped on the floor and what floors the fire was on. This issue of communication affected the radio systems of

The helicopters brought in to survey the area appeared to be lacking in their ability to transfer information to the ground. Emergency Management Systems personnel were stationed very near towers but also seemed ill prepared for this type of catastrophe. Had they all been connected and communicating many lives could have been saved (Jim Dwyer, 2007).

The attacks of 9/11 in 2001 shed a light on many different weaknesses relevant to the security of the United States regarding communication, and disaster response. On every level of government— federal, state, and local— substandard communication methods contributed to the deaths of nearly 3000 people, as well as the growing number of people dying from illnesses that resulted from participating in the cleanup at Ground Zero. There were many communication challenges faced by agencies tasked with responding to the incident, and particularly in the case of law enforcement, these problems likely resulted in more fatalities than would have occurred had better systems been in place. This paper will discuss the communication problems that

The burden of emergency management has grown great deal in the last few decades. We have seen an increase in natural disasters, a new threat of terrorism on our front door and an increase in manmade disasters. All of these have tested emergency management in a number of cities and towns across the nation. It is not always disasters that present problems for emergency managers. We have to look beyond our traditional view of emergency management of helping us during times of disasters and view what issues they consider may affect their emergency response. Issues that emergency management see that are moving into the critical area are issues of urbanization and hazard exposure, the rising costs of disaster recovery, and low priority of emergency management.

According to the After Action Report (1995), the first called to 911 was received at 9:03 a.m. At 9:07 a.m., there was an immediate response from law enforcement, the American Red Cross, the salvation army, emergency medical and fire personnel, and a large number of citizens who participated in a massive search and rescue effort (After Action Report, 1995). A stragery used by citizens and emergency personnel to safely retrieve survivors and victims was the formation of “human chains” while going inside the damaged federal building. According to the IB Times (2015), “The Salvation Army served over 1,000 meals and provided over 100,000 ponchos, gloves, hard hats, and knee pads to rescue workers following the explosion.” In order to manage the massive search and