On Feb. 3, the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots 17-14, to become Super Bowl XLII Champions. This improbable victory concluded an extraordinary year for both the Giants and the Glendale (Ariz.) Fire Department. Both organizations toiled with the challenges of visualizing goals, building a team, developing talented rosters and executing a winning plan. Super Bowl XLII was the most-watched Super Bowl in history with over 97.5 million U.S. viewers and nearly 1 billion worldwide. It was second most-watched television program ever, second only to the final episode of M.A.S.H.

Glendale hosted an estimated 200,000 guests at the event, and it took significant preparation and planning by valley fire agencies to ensure that public safety matched this level of notoriety. Although Glendale was one of seven valley cities that hosted sanctioned NFL events, fire departments from across the state, public health and governmental agencies, contractual and vendors comprised the overall fire service response to Super Bowl XLII.

All of the participants had to share a fundamental commitment to success starting with its mission. Glendale Fire Chief Mark Burdick mandated a comprehensive fire service response to Super Bowl XLII with this simple phrase, “build a fire department within a fire department and do not disrupt daily service delivery to the citizens of Glendale or the region.”

The Super Bowl XLII plan was compliant with the National Incident Management System and followed the National Response Plans criterion for organizational structure. Because the Super Bowl was a preplanned event, a complex event management system was employed with the ability to transition from event status directly into incident status through a modified Phoenix-metropolitan area Multi-Agency Coordination Center with embedded federal coordinating representatives. Escalating the event to an incident would occur based on pre-determined triggers such as chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive ordinance or mass-casualty events.

Focused areas of the plan included:

• Identify known sanctioned and unsanctioned events.
• Coordinate resources with valley fire agencies.
• Unify all command and control areas.
• Create a public safety external liaison.
• Create a fire marshal office advance team.
• Coordinate public information.
• Coordinate multiple agencies.
• Provide logistical support of all operational areas.

A NIMS-compliant structure was designed and executed for response to all Super Bowl events. An area command structure supported three command locations and provided resource coordination and control. Individual command locations managed assigned resources without direction or influence from the area commander and only when resource requirements exceeded dedicated staff and equipment would requests go to the unified area command for support. Area command then had the option of diverting available resources from either of the two other command locations or to make a request to the tactical operations center. Incidents occurring near the event footprint would be dispatched via Phoenix Regional Automatic Aid dispatch and deployment criteria and may or may not include dedicated Super Bowl XLII resources.

More than 450 personnel worked in all areas of fire service delivery from prevention and inspection to special operations, creating a fire department within a fire department. Volunteer logged thousands of hours, using vendors, public-safety representatives, fire cadets, crisis response and senior educators.

One of the greatest contributions of any event-management plan is logistical support. The outstanding performance of the individual and collective performance of the Logistical Services Division contributed significantly to the success of Super Bowl XLII.

A secured unified public safety inner perimeter logistical services center was designed, built and fully occupied two weeks prior to the start of events. The logistics deputy chief relocated his office to a portable office mini mobile box. Information technology support to this location was accomplished via obligations of site management, in-kind contributions of vendors and the use of the Super Bowl budget supplemental to ensure the functionality of the location.

Golf carts, Segways, mini ambulances and ATVs were stored in this location. Two former Federal Emergency Management Administration travel trailers were purchased to support the month-long activities of the fire marshal's office and the required on-site EMS personnel. Both law enforcement and fire personnel stored supplies at the site, which remained unified throughout the event.

Requests for service occurred via radio, phone and e-mail to this location and all requests were fully satisfied. The resource management team ensured the highest possible likelihood for success by operations personnel.

Burdick purchased an electronic system by Salamander that established a method for tracking equipment. This system also facilitated credentialing each individual working during the event, identifying their capabilities and qualifications and tracking them individually thereby enhancing personnel safety and accountability. Salamander staff provided in-kind services by working with GFD personnel to ensure that the system was executed as designed.

The budget for Super Bowl XLII was just over $921,000. This was determined by projecting the necessary costs based on known events 14 months prior to the execution of a response plan to the actual events. Considerations of necessary equipment, services, contracted employees and contingencies were proposed to Burdick and formulated into a supplemental budget request. The Glendale City Council authorized this supplemental budget in June 2007 and the funds were appropriated.

Charges to this supplemental budget occurred under the supervision of the assigned assistant fire chief over Super Bowl preparations. Each division was encouraged to fully consider the financial impacts of their anticipated services. A combination of funded and in-kind services comprised the execution of the final Super Bowl plan. Although final approximations are being tabulated, a conservative guess is that in-kind contributions doubled the authorized budget. Without these in-kind services, GFD would have been hard pressed to provide the level of service required by the Arizona Super Bowl XLII 2008 host city bid.

A dedicated finance/administration representative was assigned in the event of required budget analysis or of a transition from event to incident status. Burdick received daily budget status reports to identify any variations to the anticipated expenditures.

During the event — Jan. 26 to Feb. 3 — GFD responded to 181 medical incidents with 30 patients transported to local hospitals. There were three fires contained to the area of origin. The special operations division provided responses to 11 all-hazards calls (see “By the Numbers” on page 45 for a complete breakdown).

Logistical support and fire inspections and investigations divisions managed extraordinary volumes of requests for service from inside and outside the organization. As the event days began, NFL representatives noticed and commented on a number of best practices were. These include:

1. Unified command and control of the events with police, fire, emergency management and public health agencies. The entire state contributed to the public safety response to Super Bowl XLII. This enormous undertaking was led by the Arizona Department of Public Safety's Mike Orose, who served as liaison to the NFL. Representatives from federal, state, county and local public safety agencies worked in unison in the seamless delivery of services. They were represented at all levels of command strategically at the multiagency coordination center and joint operations center. At this location, issues of regional concern were worked within a collective think tank. At the tactical operations centers and event command locations, the tactical movement of resources within the event districts based on the strategic plan and conditions were executed. At the task level, each technician worked with an eye for the other guy's job.

2. Public safety external liaison's support of out-of-town public safety representatives with an established itinerary with options to mentor representatives from future Super Bowl cities. Arizona and out-of-state public safety representatives were given a comprehensive exposure to the planning, operational, logistical and financial impacts of a mega event like Super Bowl XLII on individual agencies and the region. This program gave all interested parties the greatest chance for involvement without tasking operations personnel.

3. Leveraging professional relationships to enhance service delivery. The Phoenix public safety community realized early that no one agency could support all the required services for this event. An open invitation was extended to all Arizona public safety providers to participate in the planning and execution of the event plans. State agencies such as the Department of Health Services, Office of Homeland Security, Department of Emergency Management and Radiation, and Arizona Radiological Agency were active partners that provided both equipment and staffing. Vendors provided not only their products for demonstration and use, but also provided staff and technical support. The overall effectiveness of command control and EMS delivery would have been greatly diminished without such great participation. Medical Sports Group Inc. provided the needed advisement in its role as contractor to the NFL and through the collective experience of its staff who represent the sport and entertainment world as well as local and national emergency services organizations.

4. Logistical support of build out, events and demobilization. Glendale partnered with NFL vendors and contractors to ensure that the plan review, permitting, inspection and event management was embraced. GFD occupied a logistical base camp along with the Glendale police and building safety departments to establish an on-site presence for property management and vendors. GFD frequently met with the principal architectural firm, HOK, to head off potential problems with access, occupancy loads and venue features. For example, the corridor used for the halftime show was too narrow for stage and staff load in. And while no fire code violations were involved, great potential for injury existed as volunteers moved the pieces of stage on and off the field. As a result, the operational plan changed and an appropriate response plan was applied. Unification of public safety resources management simply makes sense. By centralizing logistical support, a fire department can feed, equip and maintain operational needs for the entire event more effectively.

Staff members will kill themselves to make sure the team wins; but try to avoid putting that kind of pressure on them. While logistical support of this event was outstanding, additional support should be given to overall resource management in future special events. Additional staff, facilities and information technology assets should be considered to avoid limited staff working excessive hours. Optimal performance in personnel is a balance of poetry and prose. Motivating personnel to give their best requires leaders to put personnel in positions based on skill strengths and acknowledge that even the most secure individuals need ego massage and reassurance during the battle.

Security at command locations is closely hinged to the technology that supports those positions. Mobility of command offers greater security by mixing up the vulnerability potential. Enhance information technology capabilities at all event command locations, preferably with mobile tactical systems so that fixed or routine command locations are avoided. Invest in laser technology that can be deployed on the move.

Comprehensive public health management integration into modern fire-based EMS must be embraced by the fire culture. Fully integrate public health priorities in the EMS plan on an ongoing basis. GFD gained great momentum at the Super Bowl and hopes to capitalize on it by integrating public health process and procedures into daily emergency medical service delivery.

Give all parties something that wows them. The true unification of public safety agencies in the planning and execution of Super Bowl XLII worked. GFD plans to continue the comprehensive and fully integrated planning process for all special and mega events. The NFL saw firsthand the value of active public safety partnership and believes it provided a sense of confidence in Arizona's capabilities.

Let everyone involved in the process know they are part of an exclusive group. Show them through such things as custom coins, shirts and badges that they are doing something really unique. When folks feel good about themselves they perform better.

Super Bowl XLII will go down in history as one of the most improbable games of all time. For all its twists and turns it came down to this simple fact: hard work and a commitment to planning, excellence and each other are the cornerstones of teamwork. All great teams share those elements. The momentum created by our collective energy on this project will yield benefits to public safety for years to come. The next act of nature or man-made mega incident in Arizona will be mitigated more efficiently as a result of the collective efforts of all.

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Asst. Chief Tom Shannon has been in emergency services for over 26 years and with the Glendale (Ariz.) Fire Department for the last 19. He has served in fire operations, special operations and emergency management divisions. As an assistant chief, he has overseen life-safety service, administrative services, and preparedness and planning divisions. He led the planning team for Super Bowl XLII.

By the Numbers

Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 4, the Glendale Fire Department responded to 712 calls. Here's how they broke down.

315	ALS EMS
271	BLS EMS
60	Fires
61	Service calls (unknown origin)
4	Hazmat
1	Technical rescues