News Podcast Download: Firehouse.com Interviews IAFC's Bill Bullock on the Task Force
DALLAS -- The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) held a press conference at Fire-Rescue International at the Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas, Friday, to announce the launch of a new publication, A National Mutual Aid System for the Fire Service: A Strategic Vision (MASTF). The strategic plan was developed by the IAFC Mutual Aid System Task Force and is a first-of-its-kind resource for the fire service.
Chief William D. "Bill" Killen, CFO, IAFC President 2005-2006, spoke at the press conference of the underlying reason for this system; "In the aftermath of Katrina and Rita, the IAFC recognized the need to do a better job of organizing and deploying our resources in disasters."
One could ask the question, why bring equipment and responders from New York City to New Orleans days after they were initially needed when a national mutual aid system with an inventory database, if it had been in place, could dispatch the same from neighboring states in hours?
From that premise, IAFC produced a strategic plan that creates a framework for states to be a part of a formal agreement that allows the deployment of fire service-based resources across state lines. It recognizes that every emergency is a local phenomenon but there will be events that exceed the capabilities and resources of the local community, and the next level of responsibility becomes Intrastate Mutual Aid.
The result of a year's worth of effort by the IAFC's Mutual Aid System Task Force (MASTF), A National Mutual Aid System for the Fire Service: A Strategic Vision identifies six key issues regarding fire service mutual aid and provides recommendations to address these issues.
The six issues covered by the strategic plan are:
- 1. The use of a national point of contact for interstate deployments: MASTF recommends that requests for mutual aid be disseminated to the FEMA regional office where the state is located then transmitted to the state that are part of that region. The FEMA regional office would become the first line of federal support outside of the state.
- 2. Policies and procedures to enable rapid deployments: Intrastate assets can be immediately deployed and moved to the affected site within 12 hours.
- 3. The aspects that make a department and its members eligible to participate: A national system of responder credentialing remains in the works.
- 4. Educating and training participants on the system: MASTF believes that a concerted effort has been placed during the last few years to train all relevant personnel in the NIMS requirement and training on the mutual aid program is only an extension of that training.
- 5. The linkages with other services that will connect the systems together: The need exists for a high level of cooperation between other agencies both inside and outside of the traditional public safety model.
- 6. Who will be responsible for funding the development and monitoring and supporting the system: To be determined.
The goal established by MASTF is to provide the training materials to 75 percent of the IAFC member organizations within six months of production. Ultimately, all fire departments would receive the training information within a year.
The new IAFC Mutual Aid/Emergecy Management Committee will serve as the organizational home for activities and programs in this area, to continue development of national guidelines, policies and procedures. The IAFC Mutual Aid section will provide information as the program progresses and will have downloadable documents for fire departments.
