MFRI BULLETIN J A N U A R Y- M A R C H
On arrival of an emergency incident, situational awareness plays a key role in the safety and success of the outcome. Understanding situational awareness on both emergency and nonemergency incidents is paramount for the safety of today’s first responder. The first question every EMS provider is taught to ask is, “Is the scene safe?” Today, MFRI’s Incident Command Simulation Center (ICS) teaches new Fire Officers that they, too, must ask the same question before beginning operations on any type of incident. The ICS finds that new officers’ eyes are drawn to the location of the flames in the simulations, and they are trained to understand how to maintain total incident
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awareness and understanding. Over the next year, MFRI will be publishing a series of articles in The Bulletin on responder safety, situational awareness and special responses to assist our instructors and first responders to better understand these concepts. The following article, “Fire and EMS Operations During Civil Disturbances,” is intended to stimulate conversations about situational awareness and introduce concepts that are used outside of the normal day-today operations during such events. Our hope is that each instructor and/or responder ask the questions, “Are we teaching the appropriate
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concepts /materials?”, and “Are all emergency responders prepared to safely handle an event of this type?” This article was originally published in the DomPrep Journal, edited and reprinted here by permission from the author. This subject is timely and we hope that it sparks much discussion among our instructors and the emergency responders given the current state of affairs throughout our country and around the world. - Gary E. Warren, Deputy Chief, Chief of Operations & Special Operations (Retired) Baltimore County Fire Department; MFRI Instructor, Incident Command Simulation Center
FIRE AND EMS OPERATIONS DURING CIVIL DISTURBANCES by Michael E. Cox, Jr., MFRI Executive Director
Civil disturbances have been defined by the U.S. Department of Defense as: group acts of violence or disorder that is prejudicial to the public law and order. Civil disturbances typically fall into one of two categories: simple disobedience for the law, or uncontrolled anarchy and rioting. There are numerous types of civil disobedience, such as unruly
Rioters destroy police car during the 2015 Baltimore City riots. (Photo
courtesy CNN) fans at concerts or sporting events, unpopular decisions within college communities, different types of public protest/celebrations gone bad, unpopular court verdicts, out-of-favor political parties/decisions, and recently the negative perceptions of law enforcement/emergency services interactions by some of our citizens within a community. Regardless of the reason, incidents of civil disturbances are not limited to a single particular area and have been known to occur from coast to coast in urban, suburban, and rural areas within our great nation. All emergency response agencies must be prepared for these types of incidents and be aware that civil disturbance incidents can create situations whereby emergency responders must function in a modified
response mode in order to better ensure safe and efficient operations. This will, at times, create confusion for those response agencies that are not prepared, as these incidents require a change in tactics from the normal day-to-day operational framework that many of our fire and EMS personnel are so accustomed to working within. In order to prepare for and mitigate civil disturbance incidents successfully, fire/EMS response agencies should implement some tried and tested initiatives. One of the first initiatives that must be employed is planning. Planning is a key component in all significant initiatives, and it should begin long before a civil disturbance incident occurs. This process should start with the development of a hazardspecific annex or a section of the
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