More Than Expected

The Wilmington Fire Department in Wilmington, North Carolina was one such team that faced the challenges of Hurricane Florence, and Assistant Chief Frank Blackley is now sharing the lessons learned from the days leading up to and following the historic storm. Speaking in a session at ESO’s recent Wave 2018 conference, Blackley set the background of how the city prepared as the storm approached, actions taken during landfall, and coordinated rescue and recovery efforts that took place in the following days and weeks.

“In North Carolina, we considered ourselves to be pretty ‘hurricane savvy,’” explained Blackley, noting that area had weathered two hurricanes in’96, and one each in ’98, ’99, ’22, and ’16. However, several factors worked together to make Hurricane Florence unique and particularly devastating, including extremely high winds (more than 90 mph at landfall), and already saturated landscape, and between 30-50” of rain dumped during the three-day event.

The First Challenges Arise

As the storm approached, already hammering the area with rainfall and wind, the first challenges beginning cropping up. Two generators were not working, and the department soon learned that it would need to relocate a neighboring agency to its own Station #9. Fuel was already becoming scarce for generators and apparatus, and requests began flooding in for deliveries of supplies to shelters. Finally, hard decisions had to be made about calling in staffing for emergency shifts, especially considering many of the firefighters’ own neighborhoods were being evacuated.

Blackley explained that city-wide planning meetings were quickly organized, with four different fire stations coming together to discuss submitting state resource requests, staffing, shelter inspections, and how the Incident Management Team and Joint Command Center would be formed and function. When the storm made landfall, it caused a structure fire in New Hanover County, took the life of a young mother and child when a tree fell on their home, and added more than 60 other incidents needing response that day.

Difficult Conditions Continue

Two days later, the departments were still dealing with tornadoes, evacuations, fuel shortages, and swift water rescues. When the 9-11 center went down, they had to send a squad to a completely different city to work remotely, answering more than 500 calls during this “down time.” A makeshift landing zone had to be created in a shopping center parking lot to allow rescues helicopters to drop off evacuees. Busy intersections with non-functioning traffic lights had to be re-routed into roundabouts to prevent accidents and traffic problems. For days, the emergency response team had to quickly think on its feet to deal with a long list of problems you never imagine encountering when training for disaster response.

Today, the WFD and the surrounding cities are still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Florence. WFD headquarters and its Station #5 sustained extensive flooding damage, causing mold, as well as a damaged roof. Blackley explained these repairs may take years to complete. Additionally, the jurisdiction is continuing to process through millions of dollars of invoices and expenses, including vehicle damage, street and sidewalk repair, debris removal, and employee storm work bonus pay.

9 Lessons Learned

Blackley said there are several lessons learned that he believes may help other departments facing potentially devastating storms like Hurricane Florence.

1. Proactively designate your base camp and other emergency response areas. Consider where a rescue helicopter could land, or where support systems can be set up. Many non-profits came into town to support first responders with food and other services; they need a place to set up as well. Make contingency plans for power outages and flooded or damaged emergency response facilities. Also, designate who will provide security for these areas; WFD worked with ICE agents in the case of Hurricane Florence.
2. Create a plan for fuel. During Hurricane Florence, transportation was extremely difficult, making fuel for generators and apparatus very scarce. WFD was eventually able to commander a school bus to help with its fuel transport, but the supplies were still hard to come by. Consider proactively forming agreements with suppliers, including plans for delivery, before you are in an emergency situation.
3. Plan for storm debris. Debris can not only block up roads and drainage paths, but can become fire hazards. Make a plan for how it will be removed and who will do it (again, establishing agreements with service providers ahead of time is a good idea). Don’t forget that there will be even more debris after the event, as people begin to clean out their homes and contractors begin repairs. This debris often gets deposited next to fire hydrants, causing additional hazards.
4. Prepare for Internet outages. This is a very real possibility with weather events, and your team needs to be prepared for how to respond. In the case of Hurricane Harvey, WebEOC went down when the Internet went out and the team had to resort to old-fashioned paper and pencil reporting. This caused some on-the-fly training that can be particularly stressful and challenging.
5. Increase communications with other agencies. This includes emergency response, law enforcement, government, and civilian. Before an emergency, start laying the groundwork for open communications. Help other agencies understand how each other work. Ensure that all, including your civilian counterparts, understand how to create and use an Instant Action Plan. Be sure your team is familiar with your jurisdiction’s Emergency Ops Plan.
6. Establish and finalize as many agreements with vendors ahead of time as you can. For example, establish agreements with contractors in areas like roof repairs, building maintenance repairs, and mobile buildings. Oftentimes the contract discussions and approvals take much longer than you expect, and you don’t want to be stuck in red tape when you are in desperate need of a contractor during or after an emergency.
7. Submit state resource requests as early as possible. The earlier you can submit your requests, the better prepared you will be to meet needs as they arise. Blackley adds that you wait to open any Points of Distribution deliveries (PODs) until you absolutely need them, because once you open them, “they are yours.”
8. Make a plan for staffing during a serious weather event. Consider that some staff will be evacuating their own homes. Others will need to work longer shifts of be called back unexpectedly. It’s hard to please everyone in these types of situations, but setting expectations ahead of time can alleviate some of the stress.
9. Be prepared financially for the impact. While agencies like FEMA and insurance companies do reimburse many costs, it takes time and paperwork. It’s good to keep a high general fund balance if possible to help prepare for emergencies.

The WFD learned a great deal during its fight with Hurricane Florence. In learning from some of its successes and areas for improvement, other departments around the nation can be better prepared for extreme weather emergencies, and reduce the impact to the community and department.

The post 9 Important Lessons Learned from Hurricane Florence appeared first on ESO.

Many people are familiar with using satellite-based geolocation tools included in their smart phones or personal GPS devices to help map out the best routes when traveling. The device transmits its location to the service provider, and a real-time location is then displayed on the device’s screen, showing the best routes to take and how to correct any wrong turns. The same technology, however, promises a wide range of benefits to first responders and fire agencies, as recently outlined by FireEngineering.com.

5 Ideas for Using Geolocation

1. More Efficient and Useful Pre-inspection
   Fire agencies can make their pre-inspection reports more accurate by including GPS and/or longitude and latitude information on property information. Some of today’s top inspection report recording software allows for customized fields, creating the perfect way to store important information that can prove to be pivotal during an emergency. Record geolocation of points of entry, hazardous materials, utilities, hydrants, water systems, and more.
2. Improved Hydrant Location
   Many fire services and municipalities regularly monitor and inspect local hydrants to ensure proper flow and functionality. Being able to easily locate a properly working hydrant during emergency response can save valuable time and resources, especially when working with secondary and support agencies who may be called in to help with response. Agencies can also submit their local hydrant locations to the U.S. National Grid (USNG) to increase efficiencies in the USNG mapping system.
3. Easier Location of Victims and Team Members
   9-11 operators often have tools to help locate callers and make a more efficient response. However, this information at times lacks some accuracy. Today, there are several free apps that members of the public can access to track more accurately their current location. For example, the free browser app FindMeSar.com offers an accurate reading of a device’s location within minutes, given in USNG (same as MGRS), UTM, and latitude/longitude in both decimal degrees and decimal minutes. The map also allows a user to see his or her location in an aerial Google map, allowing for many victims to self-rescue if lost, or allowing team members to relay more accurate location information to Incident Command if needed.
4. More Accurate Maps for Team Members and IC
   As you begin to gather more detailed geolocation information for your agency, you should also consider requesting gridded maps for use by your team. Gridded maps can greatly increase accuracy and planning your response to emergency, especially as you begin to record and maintain geolocation information like hydrant location and property information. In an emergency response, one very large complex can have a single address; geolocation information can save your team valuable time, as well as save lives and property when seconds can make a difference.
5. More Helpful Location Markers
   More and more states and standardizing on using signs and markers with geolocation information. These signs, recognizable in their emergency blue color, are being posted on trails and within parks, and display the GPS location of the sign with accuracy up to 10 meters. Encouraging your city or municipality to look into installing these types of signs in parks and hiking areas can help your response team more easily locate victims, and also ease communication between team members during response events.

Leveraging an areal view and accurate, satellite-based location information can be an invaluable tool for fire agencies and first responders who are working hard to arrive and render aid as quickly as possible. Using these easy steps can make key differences when it comes to saving lives and property.

The post 5 Ways Geolocation Helps Fire and EMS appeared first on ESO.

In more than 6,000 public safety answering points (PSAPs) around the nation, an unsung hero plays a key role. They help save lives and property, are masters of multitasking, and serve as a vital link between first responders and the community. This unsung hero is the 911 dispatcher.

Dispatchers’ work environments are often dark, windowless buildings. However, as they intently study at a complicated computer interface and city map, dispatchers must keep calm during stressful situations and possess sound decision-making abilities to route police officers, firefighters, and EMTS to help callers during emergency situations.

Read on to better understand what 911 dispatchers do, the tools they use, and how to improve teamwork among dispatchers and emergency services.

What does a 911 dispatcher do?

In emergency situations, a 911 dispatcher fields multiple calls, activating crews and relaying information to multiple agencies including law enforcement, firefighters, and emergency services, along with other first responders who can provide initial medical advice to a caller. Dispatching requires effective communication skills and the ability to balance of workloads and resources. Dispatchers gauge the seriousness of an incident, the required resources for response, and the actual location of the event. Additionally, a dispatcher is tasked with:

• Keeping the caller calm enough to relay helpful and pertinent information regarding the emergency. These details can affect not only how many responders are needed, but the type of equipment that should be prepared or taken.
• Providing pre-arrival emergency intervention to callers. If the dispatcher is a certified Emergency Medical Dispatcher (EMD), he or she may also be offering the caller “dispatch life support,” while also conducting an interview of predetermined questions, pre-arrival telephone instructions, and pre-assigned response levels and modes that will help first responders on arrival.
• Deploying, managing, and redirecting crews as needed. Dispatchers may be handling calls from a range of locations and agencies; it is their job to quickly prioritize and deploy the right teams to the right locations, and even redirect as needed. That means being aware of current locations and status of all crews, as well as fielding emergency calls from both the public and from fire departments, police departments, and other municipal agencies that may arrive on the scene of an incident and call it in.
• Mastering a range of communication tools – from phone to radio to computer-based alerts – simultaneously to keep all teams informed and prepared upon arrival. While today’s dispatchers can benefit from computer-aided dispatch and dispatch software tools to make their jobs more efficient, a dispatcher must still effectively manage numerous sources of input and constantly loop all responders back into the communication cycle.

The vital role of the 911 dispatcher is arguably often under-appreciated and misunderstood. This is perhaps most likely because of a lack of visibility into what they do on any given shift. Dispatchers are often just a voice on the other end of the radio. They may be the bearer of unwelcome news – like having to redirect your crew to a new location after driving miles to a first call, or taking an additional call near the end of a shift – and may often receive the brunt of a tired first responder’s frustration. Oftentimes the responding crews don’t have the full picture of what is causing a call to change, whether it is a more urgent need arising or a call being resolved unexpectedly. A dispatcher must soldier on and try to balance the needs and status of the crews with a wide range of incoming calls.

How to Improve Teamwork with Dispatchers

As an article in Fire Rescue magazine suggests, if fire departments and other first responders had a chance to better understand the role and responsibilities of 911 dispatchers, their perspective might change. In fact, there are a few simple steps agencies can take to improve communication and teamwork with their emergency dispatchers.

Take a tour of the call center.

Reach out to your dispatcher and schedule a time when you can stop by for a visit. In slow times, a dispatcher is often happy to give a quick tour and explain how the comm center works. Seeing their environment, the number of communication avenues they are juggling, and their view of the dispatch area may offer a new perspective on the scope and stress of the job. Additionally, consider bringing a small sign of your appreciation, like a box of bagels or donuts. The simple gesture can go a long way in building a positive and mutually supportive professional relationship.

Improve the lines of communication in non-emergency times.

Consider ways that you can increase your communication with the call center and your dispatchers, whether it is setting up regular check-ins or visits, bringing newbies to the call center as part of their training, or even including dispatchers in some of your own drills or training exercises. Helping the dispatcher better understand what your team encounters and considers will definitely help them not only dispatch the right resources, but possibly help get you more helpful pre-arrival information from callers.

Encourage an environment of respect for the role.

While it is easy to get frustrated when responding to an incident or during a radio interaction, treating your dispatchers with respect not only promotes professional courtesy but can help remove a layer of stress from their already challenging job. Increasing an understanding of how and why dispatchers make their decisions can help all members of your team trust them more and possibly even find ways to make the working relationship more efficient.

How EMS Dispatch Software Makes the Job More Efficient

Just like numerous other job functions in emergency response, modern software tools can make the role of a 9-11 dispatcher more efficient. EMS dispatch software designed specifically for 9-11 communication centers simplifies the complexities of decision-making to help dispatchers get the right unit to the right place at the right time. Features like color-coded mapping and linked runs allow dispatchers to more accurately track and manage status and location, and have a better picture of unit availability. More powerful scheduling features help balance pre-schedule transport with incident response, making for a more efficient balance of resources, and quicker response to emergencies.

A better understanding of the role of the 9-11 dispatcher helps deliver better patient experiences and more positive outcomes. As the saying goes, care actually begins with the 9-11 call is received. Supporting dispatchers and improving handshakes along the entire spectrum of care ensures all teams work together more efficiently and make a better impact on the health of a community.

The post Understanding the Role of the 911 Dispatcher appeared first on ESO.