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Department
Fire departments are usually front line workers in a disaster situation. Therefore, during a disaster, the general public depends a lot on fire department for assistance.
However, provision of rescue services complexes under calamities like earth quakes, hurricanes and floods. Therefore, this necessitates increased staffing to meet the threshold of effective response.
Under calamities of such a large scale as tornados, government disaster assistance teams are called in after local resources have been exhausted (National Response Framework, 1998, p. 15).
Rescue steps
The first step should involve assessing the extent of the damage. This will help the department to consider the adequacy of its staff requirements.
Staff requirement analysis might involve how personnel will be activated, the management of catastrophic coverage, and the organization of shifts in situations where rescue operations will take more than 12 hours.
Nevertheless, in case of staff shortage, additional support might be requested from the staff on leave (Newman & Clarke, 2008).
Secondly, fire department should identify necessary extended operations to support rescue missions. This will involve indentifying services or fire departments that will support service provision not under the control of fire department (National Response Framework, 1998, p. 15).
The third step should involve setting up of emergency operations center from where lost friends and media briefings will be undertaken from.
This center will also act as a point of support for rescue teams, survivors and their relatives while controlling human traffic in collaboration with security department (Law enforcement guide for emergency operations, 2009).
The fourth step will involve ensuring the safety of rescue personnel. This will involve communicating with rescue team family members concerning their whereabouts.
The final step should involve organizing logistical support services in order to help the victims (Preparing for emergencies: University of California San Francisco Police Department, n. d.).
Necessary operational support services
One might argue that tornado management might be beyond the scope of the fire department. The official guidelines, however, state that fire department staff is responsible for carrying out rescue missions for saving the people that are in the vicinity of the tornado eruption.
The National Response Framework states that “Fire Department – Assumes the role of Incident Command on scene. Determines the hazard level of the incident and directs response operations as directed by” (National Response Framework, 1998, p. 19).
Therefore, the role of the fire department is crucial in the process of tornado protection and managing the tornado related rescue missions.
As the National Response Framework shows, however, not only the efforts of the fire department alone, but also the joined efforts of the fire department and the law enforcement that allows for addressing the problem promptly and efficiently. “.
Programs have been difficult to initiate or maintain unless they have been demanded by the citizens or mandated by law and paid for by the state or federal government” (National Response Framework, 1998, p. 31).
Therefore, fire department should work hand in hand with the local law enforcement agencies for support in clearing blocked highways and access roads (RECP law enforcement and coroner/medical examiner subsidiary plan: San Francisco Bay Area regional emergency coordination plan, 2008).
This increases response time and safety of the rescue team members. In our case, debris was from destroyed buildings and residential houses. Also, as tornado resulted in some shootings, law enforcement was necessary as it might increase the level of risk to the unarmed emergency rescue team members.
In some instances, law enforcers might also provide vehicles and planes thus increasing the level of efficiency of patients’ evacuation (Fire department preparedness for extreme weather emergencies and natural disasters, 2008; Guidance for community HAZMAT response plans, 2008; Richards et al., 2006).
As Tornado destroyed more than 60 percent of town’s businesses and residential houses, power blackouts were possible. Power line live wires could be lying in the floods, which might cause electrocution to emergency rescue teams.
Therefore, a local utility company will be needed to check any possibility of electrocution, support the provision of essential services like telephones, and clean water and sewerage systems necessary for a rescue process (Fire department preparedness for extreme weather emergencies and natural disasters, 2008; Guidance for community HAZMAT response plans, 2008; Richards et al., 2006).
The third most important agency in the given scenario is the department of roads and public works. These offices usually possess heavy machineries; that might support the removal of debris off the streets for emergency vehicles (Tornado protection: Selecting refuge areas in buildings, 2009, p. 9).
In addition, this department may also be equipped with structural engineers who will assist in safety assessment on the affected business and residential buildings.
This department also has plumbers among its key human resources; these plumbers will be able to provide water pumping services in the buildings, where the water supply system has been damaged by the tornado.
Thus, the fire department personnel will be relieved of some of their duties (Fire department preparedness for extreme weather emergencies and natural disasters, 2008; Guidance for community HAZMAT response plans, 2008; Richards et al., 2006).
The department of transport (DOT) will also be necessary in this rescue operation (Guide to IAFC model policies and procedures for emergency vehicle safety, n. d.). They will also assist in clearing streets and roads of debris, which might hasten rescue personnel movements.
The department might also provide four wheel vehicles to support the transportation of operational teams in case if rescue vehicle will not suffice (Online Support for Bomb Threat Response Planning Tool, n. d.).
Since the department has also qualified engineers, they may support traffic control through the installation of street lightings, stop signals and four way intersections.
Reference list
Fire department preparedness for extreme weather emergencies and natural disasters (2008). U.S Fire Administration, FEMA. Web.
Guidance for community HAZMAT response plans (2008). Emergency management and homeland security division, state of Michigan. Web.
Guide to IAFC model policies and procedures for emergency vehicle safety. International Association of Fire Chiefs. Web.
Law enforcement guide for emergency operations (2009). California Emergency Management Agency. Web.
National Response Framework (1998). Risk assessment of natural and man made disasters of the Signal Hill Fire Protection District St. Clair County, Illinois. Web.
Newman, G. R. & Clarke, R. V. (2008). Policing terrorism: An executive’s guide. U.S. Department of Justice. Web.
Online Support for Bomb Threat Response Planning Tool. Web.
Preparing for emergencies: University of California San Francisco Police Department. Web.
RECP law enforcement and coroner/medical examiner subsidiary plan: San Francisco Bay Area regional emergency coordination plan (2008). Web.
Richards, E. P., Ruthbun, K. C., Brito, C. S. & Luna, A. (2006). The role of law enforcement in public health emergencies: Special considerations for all hazards approach. Bureau of Justice Assistance. Web
Tornado protection: Selecting refuge areas in buildings (2009). Web.
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