In Part 1 of this feature, we looked at the various types of terrorist attacks that could happen in our response areas. Now, we will examine how to plan for and respond to these possible attacks.
Response
When a terrorist attack occurs, it doesn’t matter if it’s a complex attack or not, the emergency services should expect their systems to be overwhelmed almost immediately, as we see in almost every event.
Casualty counts can range from a single individual to hundreds of injured or, in the worst cases like the 9/11 attacks, thousands of casualties. Terrorists count on the emergency response system being overwhelmed and our inability to deal with the massive carnage as a method to increase the death count and mayhem.
It’s important that all emergency service agencies have a trained, competent public information officer (PIO) available to disseminate official information to the public before, during and after these heinous events. They must counter the terrorists’ message immediately. The public must have faith and confidence in its emergency response community and government. They must also understand they have a role in countering terrorism by assisting with good situational awareness. This needs to be conveyed properly and the public must be educated on its role if we are to win this battle and gain the upper hand in bringing these events to an end.
Operations Security (OPSEC) is essential for first responders. Terrorists will often monitor the media and internet coverage to try to gain information on incident scene operations, especially law enforcement. They can then adjust their posture to counter the response, or worse yet, include the responders in the potential carnage, as was the plan with the secondary devices in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics. If responders, or their public information personnel, release information about current or planned activities, the number of personnel on scene, identity of personnel on scene or their specialties, response posture and comments by government officials, it could endanger both civilians and responders, as this information can be used to cause further harm.
In many cases the emergency service and security infrastructure are deliberately targeted. Police stations and hospitals have been targeted as standalone targets or as part of a bigger, coordinated attack. Every emergency service organization should have plans in place to increase capacity in the event of any terrorist attack. While we have witnessed attacks in major metropolitan areas, midsize and smaller communities must not be blind to the possibility of facing an attack. Just like many Americans believe terrorism “happens over there,” we cannot assume that modern terrorist attacks will only occur in the largest communities.
Terrorism presents major problems for all responders, often crossing the three major emergency response agencies—fire, police and EMS. These events may initially surface as criminal events, move into EMS and subsequently become a terrorism by fire attack. However, currently there is no set pattern or sequence for how these events begin, escalate and play out. Each attack is unique and follows its own path as events dictate. These events can even cross back and forth between services or leave some out altogether. A terror by fire event may never be recognized as such depending on the damage, investigation and nature of the event. A non-complex attack like an attempted stabbing may be dealt with as a law enforcement incident only, or it may escalate into a barricaded hostage situation, later potentially with a shootout and/or fire, requiring the involvement of all three emergency response services.
In order to conduct successful response planning to terrorism incidents, we need to closely study previous incidents, conduct training on multi-agency and single agency responses, and coordinate and collaborate with response objectives and operations. While many times law enforcement has its own set of priorities and procedures in these events, fire and EMS can work closely together and train on their respective standard operating procedures (SOPs). All three response disciplines must be coordinated for operational success. Incident commanders (ICs) must work within a unified command structure and should expect and plan for high numbers of non-ambulatory victims, as has been demonstrated at almost every incident.
Unified command
In addition to a formalized unified command structure, communities must also have plans to deal with the various issues, such as mass casualties. For instance, mass casualty equipment should be pre-positioned as soon as possible in locations that are accessible and known to responders. Logistical support is crucial in these scenarios, especially if they become campaign events in which operations continue for hours and into days. For example, the Moscow theater siege went on for three days and there were 700–800 people held captive. Every one of those individuals was a potential victim, who could require medical support or worse. If the Moscow terrorists detonated their bombs and/or started shooting hostages, the death toll would have been catastrophically higher requiring a large-scale logistics operation.
Putting this into perspective, the enormity of transporting a substantial number of injured under these circumstances is beyond the capability of even the largest EMS systems in our nation and requires more capacity than most hospital systems can provide. With many emergency response and hospital/healthcare systems operating at or near capacity on a “normal” day, a terrorist event can deal a blow that overwhelms our ability to respond effectively to the crisis. ICs must take advantage of any “down” time during an incident to coordinate anticipated logistical needs.
The fire service must also assess what assets must be put into place and maintain a standby posture until needed. We have witnessed situations in which police raids or terrorist actions cause fires to break out during the event. It may not be possible to extinguish these fires immediately, or effectively, due to the nature of the fire and other actions that are simultaneously occurring. This delayed action can lead to substantial fire advancement before firefighting operations can commence causing the possibility of additional fatalities, injuries and property destruction.
ICs must be alert and prepared for the potential of a terrorist event evolving into a fire scenario. They cannot ignore or fail to prepare for fire suppression efforts when staging during these potential or actual terrorist incidents. As these events unfold and victims and casualties begin to accrue, they must resist the temptation to re-direct firefighters into EMS operations or use them as “stretcher bearers” in lieu of their primary duty—fire suppression. Firefighting operations should not be an afterthought, rather integrated and planned for from the outset. ICs need to look at the possible outcome of the incident as a fire event and call for the necessary resources before the flames materialize. More than one active shooter or terrorist incident was resolved when fire took control of a structure.
In order to effectively combat present and future terror attacks, the emergency services must work together in a coordinated effort to plan, train and prepare for these events. Further, as a nation, we must realize that every citizen has a role to play if we are to prevent these heinous attacks from happening on our soil. While responders prepare, as they do with any all-hazard event planning, the public must also be aware and alert and share any vital information with the emergency services.
In sum
We have an obligation and duty to our citizens in times of crisis, just as our citizens have an obligation to us. We are expected to research, plan, exercise and train to the highest level, to expect the unexpected and always be properly prepared. This includes interdisciplinary training, planning and operational coordination. However, we also have a duty to keep our citizens informed and to include them as part of the solution. We can no longer be all things to all people and expect good outcomes. Our citizens must have a stake in this to ensure successful outcomes. They must be included in conversations and community planning. They must be situationally aware in our communities, they must report things they see and hear.
As a society, we cannot chastise a person who reported something suspicious, but even if it is later determined not to be a threat. And as we cannot hold well-intentioned citizens in a bad light. Likewise, if emergency services perform our planning, training and response at the highest level, we can’t be blamed when systems are overwhelmed or bad days happen.
We can’t prevent every bad day, but working together we can make for fewer bad days, and make sure the bad days that do occur have the smallest impact on our citizens and communities. The bad guys are constantly planning and training, and we must, too.
