A cool mist rises from the woods as Chief Janet Morgan boards a maroon and white Texas A&M University shuttle bus at a hotel in College Station, Texas. It's early, 7:30 a.m. The passengers, who met last night, talk quietly as the bus careens down a residential back road before turning into an unmarked gate near the back of the university's airport.

Morgan has 27 years in the fire service and is the chief and fire marshal of Woodbury, Conn., a small New England town. “On the bus that morning I didn't know what to expect,” Morgan says. “I wondered why I was taking a week out of a very busy schedule and flying to Texas.”

Heads turn as the bus enters Disaster City, a 52-acre training facility complete with full-scale, collapsible structures designed to simulate various wreckage. As home of the Emergency Operations Training Center, Disaster City is just one portion of a larger emergency response training facility that includes the Brayton Fire Training Field. Brayton Field is the largest training facility of its kind in the United States and includes buildings, towers, tanks, industrial plant structures and a ship that are used during lifelike, live-fire training simulations.

The bus slowly winds between several overturned and twisted passenger train cars; it passes search-and-rescue personnel and canines attending the morning class at one of Disaster City's collapsible structures. The bus stops at a low, brown metal building, and the participants file into a room about the size of a high school gymnasium. Dominated by three large video screens, the room is set up with five sections of tables along the periphery and 40 seats at tables facing the screens.

Morgan and 39 others, who hold different positions from jurisdictions throughout the United States, are at the center for the Enhanced Incident Management/Unified Command Course. Using the National Incident Management System, this management-level course develops the incident-management and decision-making skills necessary to respond to a large-scale chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive terrorism incident.

The E-IM/CU course is funded through a U. S. Department of Homeland Security grant to the National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center, which is a division of the Texas A&M System's Texas Engineering Extension Service. Since its inception in 1998, the center has delivered more than 6,400 CBRNE and all-hazards preparation and response courses to more than 250,000 emergency responders, representing some 8,200 local and state jurisdictions in all 50 states and six U.S. territories.

Because the participants have such varied backgrounds, the course begins by familiarizing them with the unified command, the Incident Command System organization and the duties of each section and position.

Bill Long, chief instructor of the course, tells participants, “You can expect that the incidents we have here are going to be big, going to be bad and probably have something to do with terrorism.” Long says that although this course has a definite weapons of mass destruction flavor, the approach works with all incidents. “If we make this course a hurricane exercise, they'll deal with the same processes and procedures as they would with WMD.” The processes taught here will function without the technology and on a much smaller scale at an actual incident, but with the same effect.

Participants and instructors stay in the same hotel and the participants ride the bus to and from the EOTC daily. For three days, they eat, work and socialize as a group. This arrangement encourages camaraderie, like what an Incident Management Team would experience in the field.

The first simulation exercise takes place after lunch. Simulations are entity-based, event-oriented and can operating in either real time or at an adjusted rate based on training needs. In fact, the simulation software is only one component of a much larger and more complicated simulation environment.

The simulation exercise is set in fictional Granger County, which resembles the Corpus Christi, Texas, area. Granger County comprises several jurisdictions. Simulations may involve the port, a high school, shopping mall and convention center capable of holding 10,000 potential victims.

Each exercise takes about four hours and begins with a turnover briefing for an incident already in progress. After the briefing, the simulation runs about two and a half hours, after which there is a break while the EOTC staff prepares the after-action review. The review is everyone's opportunity to reflect on the exercise while events and actions are still fresh in their minds.

The exercises take place in the incident command post, which is divided into five sections: operations, plans/info/intel, logistics, command and admin/finance. Each section is set up with tables, computers and several forms of communications equipment.

The training analysis facility collects and analyzes information during the exercise and monitors everything that occurs on the command post floor. Located outside the command post, the facility is the control point for cameras and microphones placed throughout the facility that record the participants' conversations and actions. Instructors then use these video and audio clips to capture critical cues that support how or why a decision was made on the floor. These clips are replayed later in the review session.

An observer/controller is assigned to each section of the ICP. These floor controllers observe the participants involved in the decision-making process and guide them through the exercise. The NERRTC observers are part-time adjunct instructors from across the country, who were chosen for their experience in a variety of ICP functional areas. They have managed some of the country's largest disasters, such as Oklahoma City, 9/11, California earthquakes and Florida hurricanes.

“The O/CS have a multifaceted role on the floor,” Long says. “They have to understand the storyline and know where the simulation is going. They are also constantly talking to the exercise controller, making sure that each section uses the procedures they need to follow to accomplish the lessons of the exercise.”

Also staffed by observers/controllers, the exercise control cell has a different mission than the floor controllers. These controllers are the soul of Granger County. Each controller in the control cell plays a fictional role in the simulation by generating a surprising amount of radio and telephone traffic. Their roles include personnel from the emergency operations center, public works, law enforcement, fire and rescue units on the scene, elected officials, the media, and civilians.

“We immerse ourselves into the scenario,” says Nancy Trench, an observer/controller. She leaves her job as assistant director of fire protection publications at Oklahoma State University once a month to play the role of Battalion 2 in the exercise. “It's my job to create realism so that the participants on the floor will immerse themselves into the simulation.”

The Texas Engineering Experiment Station — another Texas A&M entity — developed the simulation software specifically for the course. It incorporates moving-map displays, messaging systems, e-status displays and a simulation clock to enhance the students' situational awareness. It also has live audio and video from media reports at the incident site.

NERRTC Program Manager David Nock likens the EOTC's balanced learning environment to a three-legged stool. The first leg consists of the simulation software, which promotes situational awareness and keeps the participants abreast of what's going on at the scene. The controllers represent the second leg. They bring the simulations to life, both on the floor as advisers and mentors to each section, and in the ECC where the role-players provide the fuel for the exercise. The third leg is the ICP, the participants and the room itself. The command post has all of the ICS parts in place, and it is the place where the participants add their unique dynamic.

“Each leg not only has to be there, but it must be the correct length,” Nock says. “If it's too much or not enough of it, the stool is out of kilter and we don't have a balanced learning environment.”

There are two exercise simulations per day on the second and third days of the course.

“No two courses are alike,” Long says. “When the scenario starts, we have a path to follow with specific things we must accomplish. If the students make a decision to do something off the wall, the dynamics of the course allow us to play along with them while imparting information that will bring them back where they need to be.”

James Chin is a 32-year veteran of Fairfax (Va.) Fire and Rescue and an observer/controller. He says the same dynamic exists with the floor controllers.

“We try to allow them to make most decisions on their own, but we don't want any negative learning,” Chin says. “If we see them going down the wrong path we may offer suggestions that might get them back on track.”

The exercise scenarios are designed so that each exercise becomes progressively more complex. Before each simulation, participants are assigned specific ICS roles, which are intended to move the participants outside their comfort zone.

“If you're a fire captain, I'm not going to put you in operations,” Long says. “You already know how to do that. I'm going to put you into logistics and planning, so you can learn how to get equipment and supplies to the personnel in the field. We want participants to be somewhat uncomfortable and make mistakes here. Our training facility is designed to facilitate success and learning by allowing mistakes, and learning from their causes and effects.”

The observers/controllers help the participants analyze essential elements of information, with the goal of training them to be confident enough to say, “ok, thanks for the information, let me think about this.” The exercise controller also has the ability to manipulate time.

“We have the ability to stop or slow the exercise and do a teaching point if necessary,” Long says. “We'll talk to them about where they are, why they are there, and if it is the appropriate place to be. Then we'll restart the scenario with the participants moving down a more positive path.”

Chin says there are a lot of disconnects between sections during the first day or two, which is common. However, as the simulations become more complicated and the students get to know each other better and become more comfortable, they begin working the sections as a team.

The scenario ends after almost three hours, and the participants take a short break. Les Mlsa, a trooper with the Wisconsin Highway Patrol and an instructor at its police academy, was amazed how the simulation drew him in.

“You are put into a position that raises your stress level enough that you focus on your problem at hand,” Mlsa says. “All of a sudden, you realize that almost three hours has passed. That truly represents how realistic the simulation is.”

During the break, controllers from the floor and control cell convene in the analysis facility to prepare the AAR. They review the participants' performance and prepare an AAR that includes those information from the audio and video recordings. Joe Lynch, a retired fire chief from Alabama and a floor observer/controller, says that overview and feedback capability makes this training center unique.

“The electronics in our command post give the observer/controllers the ability to monitor progress and pinpoint the deficiencies or successes from each scenario,” Lynch says. “Most of the time, you miss things when you are evaluating an exercise. Our oversight and review capability enhances our ability to give feedback to the students, or to allow them to journey down the pathway of self-realization where their mistakes become achievements.”

The AAR is designed to provide an honest, professional appraisal of what happened in the scenario, and allows the participants to learn from successes and shortcomings. Many participants hold front-line, tactical positions in the emergency response community and tend to think on a tactical level. The E-IM/UC course trains the participants to think as managers. “They have to learn to take their hands out of the pot and let the field crews do their job,” Long says.

The course emphasizes the importance of each section and position. Connecticut's Morgan spent her last exercise in the finance section. Through that experience, she learned the process used to track finances during operations and the importance of having someone with that knowledge on the team.

Long says, “When a large incident occurs, someone is going to have to handle logistics and finance. Wouldn't it be smarter to take the people in your jurisdiction who deal with finance every day and train them to work with the incident management team? We want participants to leave with an understanding and appreciation of areas such as finance and planning, so they can return to their jurisdictions and cultivate relationships with personnel in those areas.”

Claude Ford, a district fire chief from Longview, Texas, says the course taught him to be proactive rather than reactive: “I'm going home and find the people in my town that we can work with. I need to find someone in finance and public works, and start talking about what resources are available and how we can help each other. What about public health? Who do I call at two in the morning? Who is trained in media relations?”

Earlier in the day during an incident with many casualties, a uniformed priest played by a member of the ECC and an obnoxious TV reporter managed to gain unauthorized access to the ICP and disrupt operations. Ford was the first participant to encounter the intruders. When the priest said he was from Granger Parish, Ford coolly asked, “What part of Louisiana is that?”

Participants assigned to the public information officer function are subjected to press conferences held in a briefing room complete with bright lights, television cameras and aggressive journalists. These conferences are taped for playback during the AAR.

“My job is to make sure that the training is state of the art, and that we are putting out a product that people will use,” Long says. “We want to give them something tangible to take home with them.”

Over the next year, the EOTC facility will double in size and capabilities. “We are adding another large exercise simulation room, which will become our Emergency Operations Center,” says NERRTC Program Coordinator Mark Anderson. “TEEX is developing an advanced EOC course. When the expansion is complete, the EOTC will be able run simultaneous simulations incorporating participants working in field units at Disaster City, who are communicating with participants in the ICP, who are in turn working with participants in the EOC.”

In addition, TEEX is completing version two of the simulation software, designed to incorporate the EOC into the simulation. “This software is so good we are getting requests from the field to use it in actual incidents,” Anderson says.

Morgan was impressed by the quality of the observes/controllers: “They never talked down to us. When we come up against something difficult, they'd just say, ‘Hey, did you think of this?’” Morgan says that if she could bring all of her personnel to the EOTC next week, she would. “This is such a learning tool, I can't wait to get home and talk about it. This is the best class I've taken in the 27 years I've been in the fire program.”

Although the monthly E-IM/UC course is booked through 2007, some weeks are available for jurisdiction-specific courses in which a jurisdiction has the ability to bring their own incident management team to the EOTC for training. The jurisdictional version of the E-IM/UC is available through local funding.

“Give us your GIS maps and a list of your resources, and we'll build a simulation specifically for your jurisdiction,” Anderson says. To date, incident management teams from Los Angeles, Houston, Austin and San Francisco have traveled to College Station for the training, with some jurisdictions returning several times.

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Sam White is a communications specialist for the Texas Engineering Extension Service, a member of the Texas A&M University System.

Signing Up

The National Emergency Response and Rescue Training Center's Enhanced Incident Management/Unified Command course is grant-funded through the Department of Homeland Security at no cost to participants. The jurisdictional version of the course is funded via local resources. For more information or schedules for either course, visit www.teex.com/eotc, or contact Program Manager Dave Nock at 979-458-6816.