FDNY personnel train for a hazmat response on a subway train.

U.S. fire departments have spent millions of dollars on chemical-, biological- and radiological-detection devices. In fact, places like Chicago and New York have procured mobile hazmat labs, handheld chemical detectors and interoperable communications devices to identify hazards and share data across local agencies. It's a good move, because if a large-scale disaster hits an area, federal help would be days away.

According to a recent Q3 2009 Government Accountability Office report, it would take at least 96 hours for the Department of Defense to mobilize and deploy to a large-scale incident. That means local first responders would have to manage the scene for four days before federal assistance arrived, said Davi D'Agostino, the GAO's director of defense capabilities and management team.

“Some people thought 96 hours was an awfully late time if there really is a mass causality or major incident,” she said.

D'Agostino said the report is the first of two analyzing federal agencies' overall capabilities to assist local agencies with chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosive (CBRNE) incidents in the United States. The report examined the National Response Framework under which disaster response is tiered. Local governments and agencies typically respond immediately following an incident. Then, states provide assistance with their own resources or that from other states through mutual-aid agreements. The federal government then provides assistance to states if requested.

Lack of Coordination

The DOD plays a crucial support role in managing CBRNE incidents because a catastrophic incident occurring within the United States would require a unified, national response, D'Agostino said. The DOD must coordinate the movement of its own resources, as well as those from the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This includes various CBRNE response units from the National Guard.

Coordination, the report found, was lacking. In addition, researchers found that the DOD still needed to define its role and timeframes for a response to an incident on U.S. soil. As a result, the GAO report mandated the DOD improve its preparedness plan, with an immediate request to establish interim goals.

“Our recommendation is that they establish some interim goals, objectives and planning assumptions … so the agency knows what to bring and when,” D'Agostino said. “Right now it is undefined as to when [local agencies] need the DOD to show up at an incident.”

In the meantime, D'Agostino said local first responders are going to hold down the fort after the immediate incident response. As a result, departments need to reexamine their expectations that the DOD must respond quickly. It's just not going to happen.

“I think there's an impact on state and local emergency response community. …” she said. “In fact, maybe departments should invest more, and think more about having more local capabilities and redefine requirements based on the situation that the DOD is in right now.”

Local Pressure

It is true that local firefighters must play more of a role in preparing for a disaster — even combating terrorism — said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, director of terrorism research for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Gartenstein-Ross has studied firefighters' role in counter terrorism and recently testified on Capitol Hill on trends in this area.

“Fire departments should consider, in places where there are significant terrorist threats, looking at the intelligence function of fire departments,” he said.

Gartenstein-Ross recommended firefighters first look at terrorism in terms of “preventive intelligence.” However, in doing so, they must ensure that intelligence-gathering doesn't blur the line between the roles of police and fire.

“For example, if there is a suspected bomb or a terrorist cell operating in a building, you don't send the firefighters in to do an inspection to get around a search warrant,” he said. “Instead, fire departments must work constitutionally.”