Post Severe Storm Response

[Handsome Robb]

Prior proper planning prevents poor performance.

You should see our county disaster/MCI setup.

Communications are huge in first response, like you experienced, the loss of communications cripples a system. That's why there needs to be redundancy. Backup generators, backup dispatch centers, mobile command centers capable of dispatching. There are lots of ways to add redundancy to your agency's communication network. If they haven't addressed the problem I agree that it needs to be brought up, especially being in an area prone to disasters.

We don't have tornados, or hurricanes, or tsunamis where I live. What we do have are massive wind storms and huge snow storms that would make the east coast want to crawl in a hole and die, I'm talking 60+ inches in a single storm. Does it happen all the time? No, but it's something we're prepared for. Even in smaller storms we staff extra trucks, every truck has chains and crews are trained to put them on. We have multiple backups to our comms center. There's a reason we can still cover our city in these situations.

Not a natural disaster but take the Reno Air Race incident for example. We transported 50+ people from a single scene in an hour. During the event they had the entire 911 system backfilled and maintaining compliance within 30 minutes. We run annual MCI drills and have CEUs on MCI/Disaster management. After every incident all the agencies sit down and talk about what was done well, what we could do better and what needs to change in order for us to do it better next time. That's how it should be, rather than backpeddling and grasping at straws trying to "make it work" when something bad happens.

 

[MrJones]

Never mind.

Not worth the drama.

 

[exodus]

The best way to respond to a major incident like that is to prepare. Have everything needed before it is needed. Once something does happen you should have a plan (general plan) and vital supplies to keep you working.

I'm in Cali so I don't have to worry about tornados, hurricanes, floods. Our main concern from the earth is earthquakes (still haven't figured out a way to predict them). So our main station and dispatch center (60 miles away) both have back up generators (not the small portable ones). We also have a mobile communications rig with the ability to dispatch from inside. We also have a MCI trailer with everything from backboards to duodote kits. We also have a "DemCo" Uhaul type vehicle (it's got flashy lights and the woo woos) with cots, portable showers, portable toilets, and other non medical equipment. And this is all for a private company.

Now the fire department has a good amount of goodies as well.

As for location that should play a lot into what stuff and how much you need. I'm not familiar with your area so I can not speak of it. As for us here in Cali, while I may be in a semi isolated region, the pure amount of resources available is jaw dropping. So it won't be extremely long before we are getting aid from other agencies.

To recap the best way to respond to a disaster is to prepare before a disaster occurs... Long before it does occur.

We also have a very large (trailer sized) CAT portable generator tucked away in the garage where our server room is.

 

[mycrofft]

It wouldn't be a "disaster" if the plans and preparations worked, right? NO one can totally prepare and be equipped/planned/exercised for such a scenario.

My thought: call work and see if they can use you. If they say yes, grab all the cash on hand, two days' food plus, uniforms and clothes, basically be ready to operate for a couple days out of a station which may be out of electricity, water, sewer. If they say shelter in place for now, do it, but if you have some training make sure your house and your block are ok (see C.E.R.T. training to help with that).

I worked in Lincoln NE when the big tornado of Aug 1981 ran over North Platte. They called us in when they had assignments for us, which wasn't too long, and we sent a few units manned with folks familiar with N. Platte because road signs and many landmarks were gone over a span 200 yards wide and a mile long (plus). IF we'd all tried to motor there on our own, or clogged the station at Lincoln, it would have been a clustermug for everyone.

 

[Bullets]

If youre not always prepared, youre never prepared.

NJ hadnt had a major hurricane strike land since the early 1900's (Vagabond Hurricane) yet the State Task Force, formed after 9/11, saw a need for a tropical storm/hurricane plan, and it has been implemented 4 times.

We havent had a major incident at a port, a rail station or an airport, yet with one of the busiest airports, the 2nd busiest port and an extensive rail network, we have developed plans of response for each rail station, port, airport and hospital in the state.

Does your state have pre-identified regional staging areas? Does your County? Does your Town?

Have you pre-identified mutual aid? From other Towns? From other Counties? From other States? What specialty resources exist? in your town? Your County? Your State? Which agency houses them? What is their phone number? How do you contact them? What is their capability? Mass Care units? NIMS Type 1, 2, or 3?

Have you pre-identified a helispot? a Helibase?

NJ owns 13 actual buses (as opposed to a NYC "Bus") designed to transport up to 20 supine patients. Each bus has a directory which includes the physical address and phone number of every hospital and lists their capabilities. They also carry a file of the phone number to every PSAP and regional dispatch center in the state.

Plans for power loss should be one of the first plans any rookie Emergency Manager can develop. Do you have a cache of generators? Where and how quickly can they deploy?

Honestly FEMA has a ton of information on its website including lists of specialty vehicles and their NIMS type

http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=6357

In 2013 there is no excuse to be unprepared for anything. Send your people down to Teex in College Station, TX. Send them to Anniston, AL, get them trained in NIMS and ICS, contact your Office Of Emergency Management and talk to them, what do they expect of you and what do you expect of them. Call other states and ask questions. NJ didnt know what do with a hurricane, so we called guys in Florida and Louisiana and asked how they handle this.


On a personal level:
Do you have a 24hr bag packed? Do you have a 72hr bag or an adjunct to the 24hr bag packed? That means everything you need to be self-sufficient for 24-72 hours? Clothes, food, water, meds, money, supplies? Batteries, chargers, ect? Sleeping gear? You dont know if your ambulance will be home, so a sleeping bag and a ground pad in your 72hr kit.

I have a backpack that serves as my 24hr bag and a butt pack that i can add as my 72hr. If the NJEMSTF gets deployed they expect me to bring up to 72hrs of stuff before we may get resupplied and they provide a list of what to bring. Have you done this with your employees/members?

Does your family have the same? If you are at work can they fend for themselves? so a 72 supply for each member of the family? Fuel for a generator for 72hrs?

When society collapses we see looting, how will you and your family defend itself? Firearms and ammo? Training in such?

There is a ton of Info on the web for all of this

 

[mycrofft]

The second largest/busiest in tonnage port in America is Los Angeles/Long Beach (Calif) harbor district (they are conjoined) and is designated as an inundation area in the event of a likely tsunami. Trade west of the Mississippi River and most Japanese vehicle imports will be shut off if that happens until port facilities are restored.

Note: the tsunami pulse from a quake off Palos Verdes or Catalina Island is theorized at 1 to 3 meters tall; sounds like "not much" until you think that this slug water is up to nine feet tall but it has a body of similar height solidly coming in (not in waves, one surge) which can be a couple miles long. Has to go somewhere...like Marina del Rey, San Pedro, etc.

 

[Bullets]

The second largest/busiest in tonnage port in America is Los Angeles/Long Beach (Calif) harbor district (they are conjoined) and is designated as an inundation area in the event of a likely tsunami. Trade west of the Mississippi River and most Japanese vehicle imports will be shut off if that happens until port facilities are restored.

Note: the tsunami pulse from a quake off Palos Verdes or Catalina Island is theorized at 1 to 3 meters tall; sounds like "not much" until you think that this slug water is up to nine feet tall but it has a body of similar height solidly coming in (not in waves, one surge) which can be a couple miles long. Has to go somewhere...like Marina del Rey, San Pedro, etc.

Sorry, ours is 3rd busiest, its the biggest east of the Mississippi...Sheesh

 

[mycrofft]

Bullets, if you separate LA and Long Beach, you are definitely #2. Then I think they are 3 and 5

I hate being called #2.

ANYWAY, the point is that there are measures to take as part of basic prudence and due diligence, there are extraordinary measures you can't support indefinitely, and lots of room in between, but Ma Nature or Al Kaida (I know, al-Quaeda) or their relatives Sandy and Katrina will come along and spoil your plans.

Self-response is not an effective deal for long because you will run out of supplies really fast, and might even be arrested if you are found diddybopping around a disaster area without a responder ID or wristband or whatever.

 

[Bullets]

Bullets, if you separate LA and Long Beach, you are definitely #2. Then I think they are 3 and 5

I hate being called #2.

ANYWAY, the point is that there are measures to take as part of basic prudence and due diligence, there are extraordinary measures you can't support indefinitely, and lots of room in between, but Ma Nature or Al Kaida (I know, al-Quaeda) or their relatives Sandy and Katrina will come along and spoil your plans.

Self-response is not an effective deal for long because you will run out of supplies really fast, and might even be arrested if you are found diddybopping around a disaster area without a responder ID or wristband or whatever.

Most recent numbers put LA #1, Long Beach #2, PONYNJ #3

I always wonder how areas where private contractors provide 911 response deal with and interface with municipal agencies. My experience in planning and responding was within the confines of a municipal back volunteer or paid agency. These agencies are involved with the preparations and daily business of the individual town, we know all the players in the game, even down to the individual EMTs and cops. How does a giant organization like AMR handle responses when the local municipality doesn't know they guys working in their towns.

 

[mycrofft]

I'm sure they have extensive and deeply thought-out PLANS.:rofl:

 

[DrParasite]

In the beginning of the day communications were still up and everyone was aware of the hardest hit areas. After all power went down there was still some FM radio stations that would tell people to shelter when another tornado was inbound, but in the early afternoon.

Communications are paramount in any disaster (natural or man made). If your communications went down, then your comm center failed. What's your backup plan for when it goes down? do you have backup generators? what happens when the backup generators fail? then what? What happens when your comm center roof (or entire building) is lifted up by a tornado and deposited 1 mile away from it's former location, than what?

The Doppler radar they were using was destroyed. So even early warning was no longer existent, but interestingly the majority of the tornados followed the same paths so a few single areas just were pounded and pounded (that's how you knew where todo).

you know, there is this new thing called the internet, and weather.com. you might lose doppler radar, but you can track cloud formations. and not only that, what was your areas plan in case the Doppler radar became non-functioning?

I believe this to be different from hurricane Sandys response because we had almost no warning this storm was going to hit, and y'all had quite awhile to get assets in place.

this is true, we had quite a bit of notice (2 or 3 days), put on additional staffing in additional vehicles, and staffed all of our special operations units, told people to plan to be at work for 3 days, so bring change of clothes, etc. We still worked doubles and triples, and after you worked a triple (3rd 12 hour shift), you were ordered by management to take 12 hours of sleep off.

and apparently someone had a hunch a storm was coming to hit your area: http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/archive/2011/day1otlk_20110426_1630.html

it's called using your resources, and spending some money to plan for the worst case scenario, and if it turns out to be much ado about nothing, well, it was a good planning scenario.

Also it was to the point that just hopping on an ambulance doesn't really help when your going to fill up the entire ambulance with patients. There weren't enough trucks to transport everyone so people were actually driving down there interstate I'm pickup trucks with wounded in the back on the way to the hospital. Several patients were transported on doors (as makeshift backboards).

well, with your comm center down, the whole process has both hands tied behind yoru back to begin with..... so you fill the entire ambulance with patients, what's wrong with that? if they are dying, take them to the hospital. if they aren't dying, well, they probably don't need a hospital, at least not immediately. remember the hospitals will be overwhelmed, and in addition to the storm related stuff, you still have the routine medical and trauma calls.

Just to give you an idea this is a picture of an ambulance transporting as many backboards as possible to one of the areas.

yeah, I have seen that once..... we were tasked to go to all the hospitals in the county and pick up our backboards..... we were OOS, not taking any calls, and were using the back of the truck as a storage area, like a pickup truck. going into a disaster area with a ton of boards, strapping people down sounds uncomfortable, stupid, pointless, and abandonment of your patients. you probably shouldn't advertise that much....

The ambulance company couldn't place you where they needed you because all the trucks were out and there was no communications to tell you where todo anyway.

again, what was your plan when communications went down? and I don't mean you personally, I mean your agency, county, and state.

Where I work, we lost power during Superstorm Sandy. The entire building, city, and county were totally blacked out. And we had generators in place to power the comm center, the repeaters, and everything we would need to maintain operations. We couldn't use the kitchen, and the lights in the bathrooms didn't work, but the radio system were functional. And if our main channel went down, we could switch all operations to a backup channel, on a different set of repeaters, that was separate from our main system.

And if that failed, we would request this truck be set up which can run a radio system on 4 tires.

Planning for the worst is time consuming, expensive, and can make someone think you are ultra paranoid. Paying for all the training, buying equipment that you are hoping you will never use, and staffing specialty vehicles (as well as having additional spare vehicles that can be staffed on short notice to handle increased call volume) are signs of being prepared. All too often, (especially for profit) agencies will staff with a 100% utilization rate, which is great for routine ops, but when the tornado hits, then what?

I won't be as critical as Veneficus was, because I think it's due to ignorance that your system failed rather than incompetence. Based on what your described, the response was a disaster. Will the next storm you face be a similar disaster, or will you be properly prepared?

 

[Bullets]

Ahh god old TSU North, the back bench is really comfortable to sleep on....we had a stretch of coast where the towns had no idea what was happening in their neighboring town. We met that truck and set up dispatching operations, staging areas, and living quarters for EMS strike teams that covered 20 miles of coast

 

[mycrofft]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rcoddington
The Doppler radar they were using was destroyed. So even early warning was no longer existent, but interestingly the majority of the tornados followed the same paths so a few single areas just were pounded and pounded (that's how you knew where todo).
you know, there is this new thing called the internet, and weather.com. you might lose doppler radar, but you can track cloud formations. and not only that, what was your areas plan in case the Doppler radar became non-functioning?
Good point. At least one of this website's founders is a weather spotter. It takes some practice and learning to be a good weather spotter/reporter, and a system to accept and sort those reports. Or as the federal firefighters do, hire a meteorologist.

 

[mycrofft]

My prejudices against mobile command posts and other concentrated large vehicular alternative functionality nodes:
1. Not exercised enough. (We had that problem with mobile medical facilities in the military leading into DESERT STORM, and wound up offering to leave them for the Saudi nation. They politely declined and we were required to bring them home (theirs were at least on paper very superior).
2. Hard to move when roads are constricted or gone, or even getting out of a small parking lot.
3. Extremely expensive if they are to make a difference, and items become outdated in today's market rapidly.
4. Require support of their own, like food, billeting, electricity, lighting, fuel, sanitary facilities, suitable surface to park and set up on, etc etc.
5. Big slab-sided trailers or motor homes are subject to wind forces, low overheads, and the thin sheet metal skins are not resistive to many puncturing forces (downed trees' branches, impact by tools or other vehicles) which admit water and can cause elecrical trouble and eventual mold and corrosion issues.

I prefer smaller more agile and distributed capacity (Jimmys, Suburbans, converted modular ambulances ) carrying tentage, generators, and personnel support supplies as well as picks, shovels, axes, chain saws, and advanced firstaid supplies.