United States Fire Administration Critical Infrastructure Protection - March 11, 2004
The National Strategy for Homeland Security identified 13 critical infrastructure sectors: government, emergency services, water, agriculture, food, defense industrial base, information and telecommunications, energy, transportation, banking and finance, chemical and hazardous materials, postal and shipping, and public health. The human assets, physical entities, and communication systems that comprise these critical infrastructure sectors enable Americans to enjoy security, safety, and public health standards far exceeding most nations of the world. Therefore, the Federal Government considers these critical infrastructures so vital to the United States that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on national physical and economic security in addition to public health and safety.
The Emergency Services Sector (ESS) basically consists of the fire, police, emergency medical, and emergency management professionals who provide the fundamental services that citizens depend on to survive. Consequently, the ESS has tremendously high value for the people of this nation as well as our adversaries. Those opposed to American political, social, and religious ideals recognize that the ESS is a lucrative and vulnerable target. These domestic and transnational terrorists understand that a calamitous attack on the ESS would significantly diminish the national morale and overall confidence in federal, state, and local governments.
Considering this reality, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC), representing a portion of the ESS (i.e., firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and emergency managers), will continue to research and propose time-efficient and resource-restrained protective measures and best practices for the EMR sub-sector. Despite severely limited resources, senior leaders of the sub-sector should persistently seek and find the appropriate means to prepare for, mitigate, or respond to terrorism and all hazards. Furthermore, all preparations and responses should guarantee the survivability, continuity of operations, and mission success of EMR organizations and agencies.
The Wildfire Threat
Repeatedly, the EMR-ISAC has maintained that wildfires are a threat to the critical infrastructures of community operations and emergency responders, in addition to citizens and their property. Now officials from the National Interagency Fire Center, Boise, Idaho, are concerned that much of the West faces a potential wildfire danger that threatens to exceed all previous records. Center experts affirmed that persistent drought, exacerbated by below-average snow pack, and insect-infested timber killed off huge tracts of forestland creating conditions for a possibly devastating wildfire season.
FEMA
