¶ … Manual for State of Alaska First Responders
Introduction to the Critical Incident Manual
This critical incident manual contains information that will be valuable for all emergency or public service agencies in State of Alaska, such as police, fire, emergency medical teams, and others tasked with first response to natural and manmade disasters. The manual contains the relevant components of operations, planning, administration, and logistics with a view to providing first respondents with the general information they need for rapid activation and deployment.
The Importance of Contingency Planning
Every disaster is unique, of course, but there are some steps emergency first responders can take to ensure their own safety while maximizing the effectiveness of their response. In this regard, Katoch (2006) emphasizes that, "Although disaster response is inherently chaotic, tried and tested international tools and procedures do exist to assist a disaster-affected government and its people to handle the situation" (p. 153). Because of the enormous geographic size of the State of Alaska, it is vitally important for all emergency or public service agencies responsible for emergency first responses to implement a command response structure that provides guidelines that can be followed as the situation demands. Indeed, despite the efforts on the part of the federal and state governments in recent years, delivering assistance to remote areas of Alaska may require a significant amount of time. As the U.S. Department Homeland Security points out, "Planning for emergencies ensures that emergency services, local authorities, and other organizations better communicate and coordinate efforts, improving disaster response and post-disaster recovery" (Alaska emergency planning, 2013, para. 1). Irrespective of the source and type of the disaster, the primary goal for emergency first responders remains the same: "Federal, state, and local requirements are concerned with providing safety and security for the public under threat of a full spectrum of potential disasters" (Alaska emergency planning, 2013, para. 2). Therefore, identifying the specific personnel and positions for each function becomes a critical first step, and these issues are discussed further below.
Identification of Specific Personnel and Positions for Each Function
The State of Alaska is huge, of course -- bigger than many countries -- and this means that local community leaders need to assume responsibility today for identifying specific personnel or positions for each emergency response function. This point is made by the Alaska Division of Homeland Security that reports, "The successful management of a disaster begins at the local level. When a community is prepared to deal with a disaster the impact can be minimized and lives may be saved" (Small community emergency response plan, 2013). The flip chart depicted at Appendix A can be distributed to each responsible first responder to help coordinate emergency responses.
Besides identifying specific personnel or positions for each emergency response function, it is important to develop a community emergency plan that outlines how the community will manage disasters (Small community emergency response plan, 2013). Even though every community is different in some fashion, the essential elements of the community emergency plan should include local, regional, and state resources that support local response (Small community emergency response plan, 2013). Moreover, a wide range of financial incentives are available pursuant to the Patriot Act that make prior disaster planning possible, and per capita, Alaska receives the second highest amount of disaster planning (Wyoming is first) today (Sokolsky, 2004).
One of the most important sources of funding for Alaskan first responder needs has been the Department of Homeland Security's science and technology allocations for the following:
Establish a clearinghouse with the Technical Support Working Group to rapidly prototype homeland security technologies.
Accelerate the deployment of biological, chemical and radiological tools and technologies.
Work with federal, state, and local governments and organizations to develop standards for first responder technologies.
Anticipate emerging threats and protect critical infrastructure through science and engineering.
To facilitate the distribution and utilization of these funds, the Department of Homeland Security formed the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency (HSARPA) which has been central in adapting these requirements to localized needs (Fein, 2003).
Despite this high level of funding and Homeland Security priorities, the scope of the disaster planning that is involved in the unique case of Alaska makes the assignment of individuals who will be the first to respond to anthropomorphic and natural disasters and what positions they will fill all the more important. With respect to the specific personnel or positions needed for each function, Latourrette, Peterson, Bartis, Jackson and Houser (2008) advise that, "The term emergency responders refers to those personnel within the community that deploy to emergency incidents" (p. 7). Emergency responder organizations and specialties include the following:
Firefighters;
Law enforcement authorities;
Emergency medical personnel;
Hazardous materials responders;
Urban search and rescue (USAR) teams;
Anti-terrorism squads;
Special weapons and tactics (SWAT) teams;
Bomb squads; and,
Emergency management personnel (Latourrette...
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