FIRE-USAR-HAZMAT

The Alameda County Sherriff’s'Office (ACSO) will host the Urban Shield 2012, a planned training exercise involving local, national and international first responder agencies. The event begins Friday, October 26, 2012 and ends Monday, October 29, 2012. This 48-hour exercise will be managed utilizing the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS). The event incorporates the guiding principles from the National Response Framework (NRF) to assist tactical teams as well as all first responders, to prepare for and provide a unified response to disasters and major emergencies.

Urban Shield will be separated into seven operational Area Commands designated Black, Gold, Green, Red, Purple, Blue and Silver, and one support Area Command designated Orange. Participating hazardous materials and Urban Search and Rescue teams will operate under the command of the “Red Area Command” or “Fire Branch.” Philip White, Fire Chief of the South San Francisco Fire Department, will be the Fire Branch Director.  

 Scenario Introduction

 “Fire Branch” scenarios for 2012 will be primarily based on hazardous materials and/or Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) incidents. There will be an emphasis placed on decision-making skills and cooperation between first responders commonly present at the scene of an emergency (fire, rescue, hazardous materials teams, police, EMS, public works, business and Community Emergency Response Team personnel), rather than simply completing a specific set of tasks.

To encourage this multi-disciplinary approach, participating US&R teams will become part of a “US&R task force” comprised of a Type 1 or 2 US&R team, a Type 1 fire engine staffed with three firefighters who will represent the requesting jurisdiction, a police officer/supervisor, an Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance staffed with two personnel, a public works supervisor and a ten member Community Emergency Response/Business Emergency Response Team (CERT/BERT).

Hazardous materials teams will be evaluated on their ability to participate in a multi-disciplinary approach to an incident through their interaction with role players during scenarios and at a joint scenario with a “task force”.  To maximize “on-scene” time of teams and task forces, the travel distance to the next scenario location will be kept to a minimum by locating all the scenario sites within the City of South San Francisco.

 Event Tasks

USAR and hazardous materials teams will participate in six time-based scenarios evaluated and graded by a proctor who will be a subject matter expert. Those teams with the highest cumulative scores will be selected to receive special recognition. Scenarios will be approximately 2 hours in duration, geared at evaluating a particular knowledge and/or skill set using the Department of Homeland Security Tactical Capabilities List as a reference (see http://www.fema.gov/pdf/government/training/tcl.pdf ).  

Once they have arrived at a scenario, site teams will attend a general briefing which will orient them to the site, provide the rules of engagement and direct them to work the scenario in a unified manner, sharing resources and personnel. Scenarios will end with a short presentation by the participants, intended to provide an opportunity for them to describe what problems were identified, how they were resolved, rationale for tasks performed, lessons learned, followed by general feedback from the proctor regarding performance.  

Urban Search and Rescue Expectations

USAR teams will be presented with realistic, mentally and physically challenging, state-of-the-art training scenarios which will require them to demonstrate their ability to operate in an “all risk” environment. Examples of “all-risk” include rescue from confined spaces, trenches, high and low angles, entrapments, building collapse, etc. Participating teams should be prepared to size up a rescue incident, control any hazards that are present, establish the necessary infrastructure to support day/night operations, perform a search for trapped victims, provide EMS in the “rubble pile” when medically indicated, disentangle trapped victims from the debris through spreading, prying, cutting, lifting or lowering operations, then extricate victims to an area of safety in preparation for transport.

 Hazardous Materials Expectations

Hazardous materials response teams must demonstrate their ability in a series of realistic, mentally and physically challenging, state-of-the-art training scenarios to respond to the uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances during transportation or at fixed facilities, as well as incidents involving weapons of mass destruction. Participating teams should be prepared to use detection and monitoring devices, perform product sampling and identification through wet chemistry or instrumentation, detect and identify radioactive sources, refer to technical manuals and/or chemical safety databases, perform hazard analysis, perform plume modeling, collect evidence, provide recommendations to fire, rescue, EMS, law enforcement, public works, BERT and CERT personnel regarding protective actions, product control and mitigation measures, selection of personal protective equipment, decontamination and disposal.

New and Emerging Technologies

Sponsoring vendors will be present at selected scenario sites to showcase new and emerging technologies to aid first responders at the scene of US&R and hazardous materials incidents. Participants will also have an opportunity to utilize these new and emerging technologies during scenarios.

Information for Fire Engine Companies

Fire engine companies will represent the requesting jurisdiction. After the general briefing, engine companies assigned to “task forces” will be given a task order which they will present to the “task force.” They should be prepared to assist in size up of the rescue incident, assist in the control of any hazards that are present, assist in the establishment of the necessary infrastructure to support day/night operations, assist in the search for trapped victims, assist in providing EMS in the “rubble pile” when medically indicated, assist in the disentanglement of trapped victims from the debris through spreading, prying, cutting, lifting or lowering operations, then assist in extricating victims to an area of safety in preparation for transport.

Information for Police Officer/Supervisor

Police officers/supervisors will represent mutual aid law enforcement that has been dispatched to assist with the incident. Officers should be prepared to provide crowd control, scene security, collect evidence, arrest and take into custody suspects, and be prepared to assist in size up of the rescue incident, assist in the control any hazards that are present, assist in the establishment of the necessary infrastructure to support day/night operations, assist in the search for trapped victims, assist in providing EMS in the “rubble pile” when medically indicated, assist in the disentanglement of trapped victims from the debris through spreading, prying, cutting, lifting or lowering operations, then assist in extricating victims to an area of safety in preparation for transport.

 Information for ALS Ambulance Personnel

Ambulance personnel will represent mutual aid EMS that has been dispatched to assist with the incident. Paramedics and EMTs should be prepared to provide medical care to the sick and injured in austere environments typical of pre-hospital care and special rescue situations involving uncontrolled hemorrhage, tension pneumothorax, crush syndrome, etc., and be prepared to assist in size up of the rescue incident, assist in the control of any hazards that are present, assist in the establishment of the necessary infrastructure to support day/night operations, assist in the search for trapped victims, assist in providing EMS in the “rubble pile” when medically indicated, assist in the disentanglement of trapped victims from the debris through spreading, prying, cutting, lifting or lowering operations, then assist in extricating victims to an area of safety in preparation for transport.

Information for Public Works Supervisor

Public Works supervisors will represent the local jurisdiction that has responded to assist with the incident. They should be knowledgeable of the typical public works resources commonly available to assist with obtaining access to an incident, controlling and mitigating any hazards, establishing the necessary infrastructure to support day/night operations, etc.

Information for Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT)

CERT/BERT personnel will represent the local jurisdiction that has activated them to assist first responders at the incident scene. CERT/BERT personnel should be prepared to provide medical care to the sick and injured under the direction of EMS personnel and be prepared to assist in size up of the rescue incident, assist in the control of any hazards that are present, assist in the establishment of the necessary infrastructure to support day/night operations, assist in the search for trapped victims, assist in providing EMS in the “rubble pile” when medically indicated, assist in the disentanglement of trapped victims from the debris through spreading, prying, cutting, lifting or lowering operations, then assist in extricating victims to an area of safety in preparation for transport. CERT/BERT teams will also provide an alternative means for communication via ham radio in the event first responder communications become overloaded or fail.

 Participation Encouraged

 First responder organizations may participate in any of the following ways:

Help with planning the event by becoming a part of the exercise design team (must commit to bi-monthly planning meetings beginning Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at the South San Francisco Emergency Operations and Training Center located at 480 North Canal, South San Francisco, CA 94080).

 

Send interested persons who wish to serve as assistant safety officers, site captains, assistant site captains as well as proctors (subject matter experts) to help with team assessments as they work through the scenarios or role players on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 from 0700 to 2200 hours.

Send your Type 1or 2 hazardous materials team comprised of no more than ten personnel that includes their supervisor who will be assigned to compete from 0800-2200 hours on either Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 in six realistic, challenging, and state-of-the-art training scenarios.

Send your Type 1 or 2 Urban Search and Rescue team comprised of no more than ten personnel that includes their supervisor who will be assigned to compete from 0800-2200 hours on either Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 in six realistic, challenging, and state-of-the-art training scenarios.

Send a Type 1 fire engine that will be assigned on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 to be part of a task force comprised of a US&R team, fire engine company, police officer, ALS ambulance, public works supervisor and a Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT).

Send a patrol officer or front line supervisor who will be assigned on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 to be part of a task force comprised of a US&R team, fire engine company, police officer, ALS ambulance, public works supervisor and a Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT).

Send a public works front line supervisor who will be assigned on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 to be part of a task force comprised of a US&R team, fire engine company, police officer, ALS ambulance, public works supervisor and a Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT).

Send ten members from your CERT/BERT program that includes at least one ham radio operator who will be assigned on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, to be part of a task force comprised of a US&R team, fire engine company, police officer, ALS ambulance, public works supervisor and a Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT).

Send an ALS ambulance staffed with two personnel who will be assigned on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 to be part of a task force comprised of a US&R team, fire engine company, police officer, ALS ambulance, public works supervisor and a Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT).

Send ten members from your Regional Urban Search and Rescue program who will be assigned on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 to be part of a task force comprised of a US&R team, fire engine company, police officer, ALS ambulance, public works supervisor and a Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT).

Send ten members from your FEMA Urban Search and Rescue program who will be assigned on Saturday, October 27 or Sunday, October 28, 2012 to be part of a task force comprised of a US&R team, fire engine company, police officer, ALS ambulance, public works supervisor and a Community/Business Emergency Response Teams (CERT/BERT).

 

How to Sign-Up

The Fire Branch has authorization to allow a total of 12 hazardous materials and 12 Urban Search and Rescue teams to participate in Urban Shield 2012. In the event there is a demand for additional slots, efforts will be made to try to accommodate additional teams. There are also only 12 slots for police officers, ALS ambulances, public works supervisors and CERT/BERT. To sign up, please download or complete the attached “Request to Participate Form” and follow the instructions.   Once the request has been received, it will be reviewed. Once approved, a “Confirmation of Participation” will be returned to the sender within 3-5 days.

 Funding

Please note that Urban Shield has no funds available to offset the costs of overtime for employees who may wish to participate in the exercise on their days off. Nor does Urban Shield have funds available to offset the costs of backfilling on-duty employees who participate. However, there may be opportunities to recover costs for some expendable supplies used during scenarios. The Fire Branch has requested from the Logistics Chief a list of expendable supplies for which a request for reimbursement can be submitted. Participants will be notified in advance of the exercise which expendables will be reimbursable.

 Why Your Organization’s Participation is Important

Urban Shield is designed to strengthen each participating agency’s preparedness to respond in a unified manner to threats or actual domestic terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. Participation in Urban Shield is a unique opportunity to evaluate the competencies of your hazardous materials and/or US&R team in real life scenarios that they are likely to encounter which will help validate effectiveness of an organization’s training, policies, procedures, as well as the return on investment by a community. Urban Shield also presents fire, police, EMS, public works, and CERT/BERT leaders a unique opportunity to further develop the management and planning knowledge/skills of talented individuals within their organizations.  

For more information on Urban Shield or the Red Command-Fire Branch visit http://www.urbanshield.org/. For first responder organizations wishing to obtain more information about how they may participate, please contact Tina Ronzani at 650-829-3950 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .