More on theValue of Exercises

I recently served as a controller for an exercise up in New England.  This was a combined exercise based on the dispersion of Anthrax.  This in itself makes it a terrorist incident.  Present at the exercise were fire, EMS, Hospitals, Emergency Management………and one lone policeman.

Unfortunately this is not an exception but pretty much the rule when it comes to exercises, law enforcement just doesn’t show up most of the time. Although in most every case, the training of our law enforcement officers is the highest anywhere, the hole that is left by their absence in these types of exercises will surely be felt in the event of a real incident. When we have an incident, we are all only as strong as our weakest link. In the case of Anthrax, it becomes a public health incident as well as a criminal incident and he way it is handled and investigated can put the lives of a lot of people in jeopardy real quick.

The investigation of an incident of this type originates in public health. The symptoms of an Anthrax incident are unfortunately the same as that of the flu and the real problem may go undetected until the right test is performed in a lab. Without this treatment will be lacking and there is only a 48 hour window for detection and treatment. Once the actual anthrax problem is discovered and based on the number of patients involved, law enforcement needs to be brought in. Investigation of this type of infection is carried out by public health investigators called Epidemiologists.  Law enforcement should work very closely with these folks so that the right questions are asked of the right people and they should only be asked once.  This all takes training and coordination, use of ICS on both sides and the absence of turf battles.  Let’s hope the next time there is a little better participation.

Tabletop Exercise in Connecticut

Last week I served as a controller for a tabletop exercise held in Manchester, CT.  It was an excellent time to see how other parts of the country operate and deal with some of the same problems that we have here in Ohio.  This exercise was centered around a deliberate distribution of bacillus anthraces or Anthrax.  Since there are numerous colleges and universities in the area there was ample targets to disperse the agent for maximum affect.

Anthrax is one of those things that exists in our atmosphere all the time but has little affect unless it is concentrated and inhaled or enters the body through a cut or abrasion.  In this case there was contamination by both ways.  The people of the area dealt with it as best they could.  Tabletop exercises are designed to see if plans already in place are adequate or need to be upgraded.

A functional exercise is scheduled later I June.  Functional exercises are a bit more complex where players actually deal with a problem doing everything but the actual response. 

A bit about collective bargaining.

Around 1971, Greenville Fire Fighters all joined the International Association of Fire Fighters.  Soon we asked for and received the recognition as the bargaining agent for fire fighters in Greenville.  This came on the heals of two consecutive years with the city giving us a $1.00 a week raise and the cost of living raising substantially more than that.

Because we stuck to our guns and maintained our integrity, all city employees in Greenville enjoy a comparable wage to other municipal workers in our area and City enjoys a good relationship with it’s employees.  Gov. Kasich seeks to destroy that situation by the passage of Senate  Bill 5.  Make your voice heard.  Call, write or email your senator or representative in Columbus and tell them no on SB 5.

Don’t try to fix something that isn’t broken.

Engine 2 is now retired

 

Greenville’s good old engine has finally answered it’s last alarm.  For almost 40 years, Engine 2 served the citizens of Greenville.  It was built by Mack Trucks and delivered in 1972.  Soon after Mack stopped building fire trucks.  Many departments relied on this tough bunch of trucks including FDNY.   Columbus had  a number of tiller type ladder trucks built by Thibault and powered by Mack tractors. It’s a shame that such an American Company as Mack stopped building fire apparatus.  We were lucky in this area because of Harvey Hole Mack in Versailles being a local dealer and supporting us.  I’ll assemble some shots of Engine 2 and post them next.

Thoughts today

I've neglected this blog for a while with too many other things going on.  A lot has happened recently.  Greenville Fire has a new apparatus in service. Quint 2 replaces Engine 2 the grand old dame in service since 1972.  Engine 2 was the first out for around 30 years.  It was one of the last engines that Mack built entirely. Because Quint 2 was purchased with federal grant money one of the stipulations was that E-2 be retired from the fire service.  It is now stored at the City Garage and will soon be offered for sale.
Senate Bill 5 as proposed will limit collective bargaining by government workers at all level and do away with binding arbitration.  The governor says that this has strapped the local governments and should be abolished.  The most important thing to look at here is whether or not there will be something put in it's place so that employees have some option to deal with administrations, city councils and school boards.  We'll wait and see on this.

NFPA 1584 Standard on the Rehabilitation Process.

The 2008 NFPA Standard on the Rehabilitation Process (NFPA 1584) is out and here are some highlights:  It establishes what the exact criteria is for rehabilitation  on the emergency scene.  It also says the department "shall establish a rehab section" at any incident and that personnel shall be trained to set the rehab area up.  In this context saying that a department SHALL DO these things is pretty straight forward.  It means that you should do it.  Of course these standards are not laws.  They aren't laws until tested in court.  NFPA standards have a long history of being held up as the "best practice."  So here is a case where areas which have separated fire and EMS are going to have to work pretty hard together to make this work.  In most areas this won't be a problem. This is a good thing.  If you want to check it out, log in to NFPA's website (it's free unless you want to download something)

Cop arrests Fire Captain for Vehicle Placement

We should consider ourselves fortunate in Ohio.  ORC says that the senior fire officer is in charge at the scene as long as life or property are at stake.


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