First Response: Scene security

Size up

• What is going on?
• Will there be secondary incidents?
• What do I need?
• What do I have?

Response Notification

• Who do I call?
• How long until they arrive?
• What do I do until they get here?

Call Center: Someone has to answer the phone

• The press is calling
• The families are calling
• The public is calling
• Everyone is calling

Crisis Communications: For outgoing information to all of the above

Scene Management

• Triage and treatment if there are survivors
• Mortuary services: Recovery, morgue, identification, transportation, refrigerator storage and autopsies
• Safety: Lights, hazards, hazardous materials,
• stabilization, fire suppression
• Security: People love to come look
• Rehabilitation: Personnel management, food and drink, sanitary needs, medical needs
• Search and rescue
• Rotation: Everything on the scene needs to be replenished, repeatedly

Emergency Operations Center (EOC): You'll need a large room at the ready

• Support staff
• Stakeholders
• VIPs
• Family Assistance Center
• Logistics
• Transportation
• Food
• Shelter
• Communications
• Critical incident stress counselors
• Family liaisons

Investigation: What happened and why?

Data Management

• Accountability of personnel and equipment
• Victim tracking and identification
• What did we use?
• What did we spend?
• Where are the families?
• Who do we bill for all of this?

Return of Decedents and Their Personal Effects

• What will it take to get the decedents back to their families for burial?
• Who will coordinate all of this and who will pay to make it happen?
• How do we identify the personal effects and return to the families?

Recovery of Our Assets

• What will we need to get our personnel and equipment back to normal?
• Who will coordinate all of this?
• Who will pay for our time and equipment used?

• Read the main story, "Before the Unthinkable Occurs," to learn how to every fire department can prepare for mass-fatality incidents.