Unless you’ve been there, it’s hard to comprehend the outpouring of community support during a disaster.  Well-meaning responders will converge upon your jurisdiction from the state, the region and even across the nation, depending upon the level of media exposure and the perceived need for assistance. 

Most of these people have purely altruistic reasons for joining the effort.  However, as I have personally seen in some disasters, some have less than desirable reasons for being there.  In the September 11th disaster, I watched two “rescuers” representing an agency authorized to be in the Hot Zone sneak shots inside the restricted area using a camera given to them by a news agency.  What were these people contributing to the “rescue” while taking these videos?  (My guess is, nothing.) To me, that’s just as bad as the clowns that slow down to gawk at the wreck we’re working on the side of the road, and I don’t have a whole lot of patience for those people.    “I was there...” To Mee, that’s just as bad as the clowns that slow down to gawk at the wreck we’re working on the side of the road, and I don’t have a whole lot of patience for those people.

Consider this anecdote; your team is responding to a man drowning.  On arrival you, the team leader, find four or five people in the water.  You figure (mistakenly), the more help, the better, so you let them slide and start your plan into action.  Suddenly one of them needs help.  As you react to that situation, your victim is still drowning.  Other units are simultaneously arriving and in the absence of control, begin to implement their own plan.  Personnel are swamping your CP, wanting to help.  Other units are calling on the radio.  Pretty chaotic?

Your job as the Incident Manager is to corral the incoming resources and deploy them in accordance with YOUR plan, as well as to stabilize the scene.  The key points to successful resource management in a disaster are to establish an incident management system, provide staging, restrict access, provide orderly acquisition of resources, use those resources to implement the incident action plan, and to downsize the response when indicated.

The way to adequately manage multiple assets at an incident is to set up an incident management system (IMS).  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  How do you manage a dynamic, rapidly-progressing technical rescue scene?  The same way; by breaking it down into identifiable needs and assigning appropriate resources to take care of the problems.

Stage incoming resources, or be prepared to suffer the effects of an overloaded scene.  During an aircraft crash I was managing, resources were arriving faster than I could deploy them.  What was the first thing I did?  Appointed a staging officer and a location.  That officer was instructed to hold all resources until I asked for them.  Deny entry to anyone who hasn’t been allocated.  Make sure the staging location is far enough away to prevent “scene creep”.  This phenomenon occurs where the people in staging keep sneaking up to see more of the incident until, wham, they’re in the middle of it.  Keep the staging area back from the scene and the result will be to alleviate the temptation for unallocated personnel to move in and for rogue officers to grab these people out of the corral.

Restricting access has other benefits.  It provides for the orderly acquisition of the resources.  I will grant to you that in the initial stages of a major incident, as an incident commander, you sometimes will not be able to deal with the help you have on scene until you can get some site security established.  Everyone wants to help and you can’t really blame these would-be rescuers.  Once you can isolate the scene, though, be aggressive about it.  Call in Law Enforcement or State Guard units.  Or keep on hand a resource list with chain-link fence suppliers, snow fence, contractor barriers, etc.

The human resources you bring out of staging should be in teams.  No person should come alone; they should at least have a partner.  This includes Chief Officers.  They should be given an Aide to assist them during this time of disaster.  They should come up to the access point and check in.  Utilize a Passport or some other type of tag system.
 

The Passport system our department uses is fantastic.  Just like the document you use to go from country to country, you must have your Passport to go from sector to sector.  When done in say, Division 2, the entire team reports back to Division 2, briefs him, then gets their Passport back.  They may then be told to report to REHAB.  The team leader takes the team to REHAB and gives the REHAB Officer the Passport.  He has a command board with the other teams in the corral.  When they are done in REHAB, the team may be sent back to Staging with their Passport, or cycled back in.

While I’m on this subject, I will restate that personnel should only respond in teams.  I have problems with unsolicited teams or a single individual showing up on my scene.  Who are you?  Who sent you?  What are your qualifications?  What level of professionalism do you have when you just show up at a scene in a car with no credentials?  Don’t you belong to someone someplace? 

Most states have established interstate compacts that employ coordinators to obtain these credentials and to establish a clearinghouse for information.  One-stop shopping.  If your state isn’t doing a very good job of this, I encourage you to talk with your elected officials and let them know what is going on.  If you truly desire to help, get involved and get organized.  Teams tend to train together.  I know this isn’t always the case, but in most cases, it is true.  If your team doesn’t train like it should, step up to the plate and encourage it.  Host some training sessions in your jurisdiction.  In the case of low skill tasks, like moving rubble, credentials aren’t a huge issue.  If you want to pony up a team of 20 un-vetted responders to haul crap, then that’s fine- it frees up the technical teams.  But certainly don’t try to use these guys to shore buildings or search voids.  If you do, you’re asking for trouble. 

I like the use of the ironworker’s union- these guys deal with metal for a living- they came as a team- put them to work as a team.  Make sure you determine who is in charge and plug them into the system.  If you really want to be progressive, get with labor unions ahead of time and get their cooperation to learn about disaster response and how to interact in IMS.  We did it in our community when we brought in contractors to receive Awareness Level training in Trench Rescue.  Our organization negotiated a price with a training agency and paid for it out of our budget.  The first day of class brought 15 contractor reps to talk with our team.  The lessons we learned from people who work in trenches all day long, as well as their candid comments on the realities of trench work, as well as their interaction with the rescue team were much needed.  This interaction with the contactors will do nothing but profit us in our service to the community.

An additional problem with an uninvited response is that when you show up uninvited, the IC can’t plan for your care and feeding.  If you think it’s easy to set up a base camp and feed the troops, think again.  Our protocols (as I’m sure many are written) call for our personnel to be accompanied with sleeping gear and at least three days worth of meals.  Unless directed by the host jurisdiction, that’s what you should bring.  As the host, if you tell personnel not to sweat it, make sure you make plans to feed, shelter and care for these people. 

On one mission we were deployed on, we were reassured that we would be fed.  We found out that this would be impossible based upon the magnitude of the incident, so we reverted to the take-out system- eat wherever you can and bring back receipts.  Remember that in a disaster, that may not be an option- all of the power may be out or the businesses unable to function.  Be self-sufficient or don’t go, and if it works out that you are provided for, then everyone leaves happy.

So the teams you picked up from staging are now ready to be deployed.  Keep track of team progress and track their motion through the sectors.  This gives you perspective on what additional resources are necessary.  Make sure people report as teams to their assignment, then rehab, and then staging.  If individuals have to receive first aid or rehab prematurely, send them with a partner.  Individuals sometimes tend to wander.  Head off the temptation to check out the rest of the site.  Keep the team focused.

When teams have completed assignments, or are in need of rehab, debrief them.  Determine progress of the task, find out if additional resources are necessary.  Are there additional hazards?  Assign debriefing personnel to get this intelligence for you.  What is needed to sustain the incident?  How tired are the rescuers? This question may prompt you to cycle personnel earlier.  An additional benefit of team response is that it limits individuals from pulling out in the middle of the incident.  There’s not much more frustrating when someone says, “Well, on Monday I can’t do this anymore- I’ve got to go back to work”. 

In many of these cases, the rest of us (who because of the initial influx of bodies were told to stand down) get frustrated because while you jumped to the front of the line, we had to stand down until the incident was half-over. Now instead of getting the needed resources immediately, the IC gets a half-committed team for the first few days, and has a fully-committed team sitting in the wings getting demoralized, stale, and frustrated.  Teams are easier to track and if follow-up is necessary, like in the case of a hazardous materials incident, a team can be contacted and many people briefed instead of tracking down individuals.

Disasters require differing levels of expertise.  Anyone educated in what to look out for on-scene (Awareness) can effectively use hand tools to dig through rubble.  The problem is when specialization is required.  Structural specialists, canine teams, equipment operators are a different story.  This can be solved by using FEMA teams if your incident is federalized.  What if you have a disaster, but it isn’t at that level?  We have forms that responders must fill out prior to being utilized in our community, a lesson learned from responses that our department took an active part in.  We sent our teams to Hurricanes Hugo, Andrew, and Floyd, as well as the Florida Wildfires.

In each case, it was clear that not everyone was there for the same reason.  Some were there for the job and did whatever was required by the host agency.  Going up as a Water Rescue resource, my personnel stood by in a fire station during Hurricane Floyd and responded to calls.  Were we upset?  No.  The incident commander had the necessary resources to handle water rescue and so we offered to take care of other needs that we were equipped and trained for.  This wasn’t the case for all of the responding personnel there or in the other disasters I mentioned. 

In all of these incidents, we witnessed responders getting upset because they were asked to man a station instead of being on the front lines.  If you’re just in it for the glory or to take pictures, I suggest you stay home.  But on the other side- consider the expertise of the teams that you have showing up.  If you have inexperienced personnel shoring buildings and you just allocated the region’s premier collapse team to the bucket brigade, don’t expect a lot of happiness from these guys the next time you call them.

Finally, downsizing your incident is almost as important as the original allocation of resources.  When you don’t need the resources any more, send them on their way.  They have home communities and districts that are running short in order to help you out.  Make sure, however, that you conduct a thorough debriefing prior to releasing them.  Are different resources going to be required?  What problems did they see?  How can we improve our situation the next time?  Make sure you obtain contact information so that if any news comes up (potential exposures, particular requests for contact from grateful citizens, etc.) they can be reached.  Lastly, don’t release these resources without insuring that they can make the trip home.  I have been on one too many incidents where in my hurry to get home, I found myself pulling off to sleep before I wrecked a truck.  Get these crews fed and rested, get the debriefing done, then get them on their way.

Response to disasters is always an emotional event, whether it is the twin-engine Cessna plowing into a field or the WTC event.  Most people want to help and I won’t fault them for that.  Be it the true humanistic feeling of doing something for someone else or the desire to use skills learned and perfected, or whatever motivation, these people don’t desire to harm anything.  But get the right people in the right jobs without killing them.  Account for them and provide for them.  Use them to fulfill your strategy.  Don’t let them manage your scene by anarchy.  You are in charge.  Act like it.
 

bout the author: Capt. Michael “Mick” Mayers has been a firefighter and paramedic, as well as a HAZMAT and rescue technician for 22 years. He is the Special Operations Coordinator for the Town of Hilton Head Island (SC) Division of Fire and Rescue.  Capt. Mayers is a member of NFPA 1006, Professional Qualifications for Rescue Technicians and has a degree in Fire Science Technology from Savannah Technical Institute.