The Coming Storm

Weather-related emergencies require unique preparation & planning

I am by no means an artist, but let me paint a picture for you: It’s a typical Saturday shift during what has been a usual summer season. The local Boy Scout troop was at your station earlier today; your company helped them with their Emergency Preparedness merit badge. Your station weatherperson walks into the day room and informs you that the latest weather report is calling for severe thunderstorms this evening. As the captain switches on the TV to check the weather, all your crewmembers have the same thought: another night of chasing fire alarms because of the weather. As usual, each channel is reporting a similar forecast for the evening hours that may or may not last past the midnight hour, but could possibly affect the morning traffic. A disappointed look comes over the captain’s face and he mutters, “It looks like it’s going to be one of those nights. Let’s get dinner done early.” With dinner on board and the dishes done, there are still no signs of any bad weather outside, but the Doppler radar loop says it’s coming. As your crewmembers anxiously await what may or may not come, their attention shifts to whether the lady on the television has a “deal or no deal.”

And then it happens: “Battalion 2 to dispatch with emergency traffic.”

“Dispatch to all units, stand by for emergency traffic, go ahead Battalion 2.”

“Battalion 2 has a visual on a funnel cloud formation that appears to be located in the southwestern section of the city.”

Then the special weather statement cuts into the television show, reporting that radar has detected what possibly could be a tornado formation in the same area of the city your chief just called in about. How will your crew respond?

Weather-related disasters present our departments with a unique set of challenges. Every year, we see the devastating effects natural disasters have on communities around the country. These events are unpreventable and unpredictable. As responders, we must be more than just “hose jockeys” and “Band-Aid buddies.” We’ll be presented with new challenges during these events, and we must be ready for them.

Planning: The HVA & the ERP
The first step toward preparedness is always planning. I would like to think that every state, city and department has conducted a hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) and has updated it this year. Hazards may or may not change in your community, but your ability to respond to them should. This simple tool gauges your ability to respond to likely events. Remember: A problem identified is half solved. As you go through the HVA worksheets, keep an open mind and let go of the “it will never happen to us” mindset. Be realistic in the probability of each hazard and your department’s ability to respond to it. A thorough and complete HVA eliminates the potential for the forgotten event. Once it’s developed, update the HVA on a regular basis. Communities change, as do the services they require.

With the HVA complete, it’s time to review your emergency response plan (ERP) as it relates to natural hazards. No matter where in the country you are located, Mother Nature can create events that will tax your agency’s ability to provide services. You can’t count on federal aid right away, either; local government shoulders the responsibility for the initial response to an event.

Regardless of the event, your ERP should dictate how you will respond. A “make it up as we go” plan is a plan for failure. Your department’s ERP should address each event outlined in your HVA—if it can happen, you must plan your response to it.

Another crucial part of developing the ERP: testing its effectiveness. On paper, your plan may look solid, but you must ensure it will actually work. Agencies that have responded to weather-related events have real-world knowledge and experience on which to base their plans. The rest of us have to test our plans by conducting drills. Drills and actual responses will provide us with valuable information to revise and refine the ERP. The plan that worked fine four years ago may not function when we need it this year. The ERP should be a living document, always growing and changing.

Coordination: Train Together
Weather-related emergencies require the aid of several agencies. The National Incident Management System provides the template for all of the responding agencies that will work together during the event. For command to operate effectively, every agency must complete training prior to the incident—at a minimum, the IS-700 and IS-100 online classes from FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute. Tabletop exercises should be conducted regularly and involve all available agencies. The opening of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is not the time for handshakes and introductions of the management team; it’s important that all the players know the team they are playing for before game day. The fire service has been operating under the basic concept of the incident management system since the 1970s, so we must shoulder the responsibility of training other agencies and individuals who will be a part of the response.

Resources: The Importance of Scale
Major weather-related events create an overwhelming need for resources, and it’s safe to say we are going to respond differently than we do for day-to-day calls. In my city, something as simple as a severe thunderstorm has the ability to place every unit in the city on a run and create a “calls holding” list. Response tactics are usually altered and resources are spread thin to accomplish the extraordinary call volumes. More than one engine company has arrived on the scene of a working structure fire during a storm, with no idea if and when additional resources will arrive to assist them. Units clear from calls only to be sent directly to other calls. Units often crisscross the city to ensure that every citizen’s call is answered in a timely manner. We typically face this type of event once or twice a month during the summer season, and we have learned to cope with the chaos it causes.

It is often these “intermediate” events that can prove extremely difficult to manage. Our standard operating procedures dictate daily responses, and our ERPs dictate how to respond to the “big one,” but where does the “bigger than normal, but not that big” event fit in? Some questions to consider: Have you addressed these intermediate events in your ERP? Do you have provisions for the activation of a partial EOC? Can you ramp-up or scale down an existing plan to address these needs? With every event, we learn a little more so we can make the changes required to do a better job next time.

Response: Questions to Consider
Let’s return to my first scenario: The tornado touches down, destroying houses, downing power lines and causing numerous civilian injuries. How will you respond? How long will it take to get your EOC up and running? How will you survey the damages caused? Are the communications systems intact, and if not, how will you communicate? Are the critical systems of the community intact? Can responders access the affected areas, and if not, what is your contingency plan? Is the community trained to take care of itself until help arrives? How will you meet the basic needs of those evacuated or left homeless? Where is your outside help coming from, and how long will it take them to arrive? What are the roles and responsibilities of the various responding groups?

The answers to these questions and many others should be in your ERP. There are no universal answers; no two communities will do everything the same way. The key is to do what works for your community and department in a way that will bring about a positive outcome for those involved.

People: The Final Factor
Can we write an ERP that provides an answer for every scenario or problem? Probably not. But your ERP should provide the basic structure for unthought-of events and the tools for good leaders, managers and problem solvers to make decisions and outline a response. Solid planning before an event can reduce the amount of work that has to be done during an incident. Remember: We can have the best plans in the world, but we need good people to make them work.

Bob Hnatko is a firefighter/specialist with the Special Operations Division of the Chesapeake (Va.) Fire Department and the commercial programs director for Spec Rescue International. He also serves as a hazmat specialist with the Southside Region Virginia State Hazardous Materials Response Team and as a rescue specialist on FEMA’s Virginia Task Force 2