 It's August 31st and I'm leaving with my national fire team to go to Lanta, Georgia to join up for the hurricane Katrina relief efforts Our first briefing by area command Edie Williams Rhodes team. He said it'll be a challenging assignment That will be in an area with no power Water cell service and our mission was to go to Moss Point, Mississippi to set up, establish, and run a base camp for a thousand Emergency workers. We're told the people down here are very nice, but they're angry, hungry, thirsty So as we head down to these areas, if people try to stop us, roll down the window a little bit, answer questions and if anything starts taking place, we were to keep driving and not stop. It was a six-hour drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Jackson, Mississippi We've seen gas station lines at least two miles long We're standing on the foundation of a house right on the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf's probably 30 feet away Looking down the coast There's not one house that we can see in either direction. They're all completely gone The smell down here is pretty bad also You have the bayou and the mud Every now and then you'll come upon a pile of rubble that we're fairly certain has some kind of a dead body in it either animal or human because the smell is just horrible There's raw sewage floating down the street because we're at the low end. It just bubbles up out of the manholes and and rolls down the street We just ran into a group of firefighters from I believe they're from Glendale, Arizona that have been assigned to search the area. They're also experienced the same frustration We are that they There doesn't seem to be any coordination or any direction here They were just dropped off and asked to search an area and then when they're done there they'd Report back and they'd go search another area But all the street signs and all the pretty much all the roads signs are gone So you really are kind of guessing where you're at The use of wildland firefighters on all-risk assignments is based on our knowledge of the national interagency Incident management system or NIMS and more specifically the Qualification skills and experiences that we've gained in the use of the incident command system or ICS Wildland firefighters have not only responded to the hurricane relief efforts, but we've also responded to some rather unusual assignments We helped stop the spread of the exotic Newcastle disease Which was spreading through the chicken population in Nevada We responded to the Columbia shuttle recovery efforts and through the United States Agency of International Development or USAID We helped with the eradication of a locust infestation in Western Africa We've been increasingly called upon to help our international partners in various capacities It's not that uncommon anymore to find wildland firefighters that have taken overseas assignments We responded to floods tornadoes and even the aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attack The 2005 fire season will probably be remembered more as the 2005 hurricane season We sent over 13,000 firefighters to help support hurricane relief efforts Looking ahead and preparing for this fire season. We can only wonder what we may be asked to do next What we do know is that when a national need exists be it a hurricane earthquake volcano Flu epidemic or whatever our assistance will probably be called upon again So the questions that beg to be asked are how do we prepare for these non-fire assignments? And how do we keep ourselves safe when we're on these assignments? We recently talked to some people who just returned from all-risk assignments and here's what they had to say As I got the resource order the first thing I did to make sure of what we were going to do so I could brief the team in route was Call the local unit call the the four supervisors office in Jackson, Mississippi and talk to the lead dispatcher Talk to the expanded dispatch folks and it helped quite a bit I think this is sort of an unusual situation and as that several of the team members knew a lot of the folks From Mississippi that we'd be working with but all the information that we could gather still didn't prepare us for what we're actually faced with As we got on to the incident It was a Make it up as you go sort of a thing. We actually had to saw our way into our ICP And I don't think any amount of preparation of the forest gave us even though the delegation of authority was very good very thorough It just didn't reflect the magnitude of what we were faced with and then all of the the other things that sort of Accumulated got tagged on other duties as assigned. I Think the team In dealing with the human factors were probably a lot more challenged than just you know Taking 20 saw teams and shot crews, you know saw on our way through the forest to southern Mississippi to try and get roads open, you know, that was Sort of routine, you know, we felt comfortable doing that. We know what we could do But you know in dealing with all the people that had lost everything The first impression I had as we got down on the south end of our assignment and in Gulfport and making contact with one of Our other teams from the Great Basin down there was just the smell The stench of rotten destruction and death and you know, it was very unusual the physical Factors that we're dealing with there, especially in Mississippi sleeping out on the ground You know the the message I guess to folks that would find themselves and something like that is you've got to prepare yourself Probably as much mentally as you would physically for the discomforts the lack of amenities You should need Prepare to go and be self-sustaining for several days until they can get an infrastructure set up Because in a lot of these cases at the onset of these disasters, there is no infrastructure. What you take is what you'll have Take your medications that you might need personally If you can I know there's weight limits on aircraft and stuff But make sure that if there's a group of you going make sure you've got first aid bottled water Rations MREs, you know if you can't take them with you make sure that it's on that end set up for you And I know a lot of these people that are on the receiving end are scrambling to set stuff up for you to make you Effective and efficient But they may not have the wherewithal to do that if everything that they have been depending on is destroyed So take as much stuff as you can with you that you think you might need batteries Extra batteries for your flashlight your radios Sometimes that radio and a repeater are going to be the only communications in existence to where you're going so prepare ahead of time Four warned is four armed Be expect the unexpected you have to just know that you're not going down there as a firefighter strike team leader means nothing to to All risk assignments. I mean functionally the incident command system works very well for us There are varying varying degrees of how much the incident command system is used amongst the agencies amongst FEMA the National Guard and us and I spoke to you earlier about how functionally everybody works really well up and down their chain their Functional chain of command including FEMA the National Guard Incident management teams and the federal agencies they work really well The challenge is breaking down those barriers between those functional changes and getting that communication going across the board Because a lot of the complexities and difficulties Come from that very thing. So if you're if you're a firefighter going down with the team or on a single resource assignment Don't go there expecting to be able to acquire the things you need come with what you need Because you're most likely be stuck using it situation awareness is is probably one of the most important things because We are brought in in a capacity to provide aid in an environment that we're not used to So one lesson I learned is There are the obvious hazards. They're the obvious threats. There's the piece of roofing hanging off the roof There's the large chunk of metal. There's the nails on the ground They're the things that just automatically come to mind, but there there are things that you know, you may not consider We were in an area where there happened to be just a lot of insulation floating around in the air You couldn't see it You could feel it. It was hot. It was humid and it was real sweaty You'd feel it on your skin, but you know, you weren't really thinking about I wonder how healthy it is to breathe this stuff You know and we found out a lot of the folks on our team Started hacking and and just we're very irritated in the lungs. So it's it's it's hard to it's hard to nail down situational awareness because There's just so much going on our The other end of the spectrum is you could be in a place that's just untouched by any And he just any distraction any disturbance and you'll be fine The important thing is to go in Knowing that you might end up in one of those areas where the conditions are really bad It's just your situational awareness has to be High as it always is for a firefighter or an operational person, but you just really have to take everything It's a very broad scope. You have to look at everything around you look up look down look around You're really assessing everything When you're going on an all-risk assignment as a federal employee The experience levels and the people you'll be working with are going to vary quite a bit You may know more than the person you're working for You may be working with the person that's learning as much as you are and is on on the same level as you are so you really have to tap into who's with you and And and build a working relationship with the folks that are with you on a single resource assignment You're you're going to be working for someone directly. You may not know them very well In the team environment, you're working with folks. You're comfortable with you understand that chain You know their capabilities and it works really well. So you really have to Use who you have and what you have around you to your best benefit And there's going to be a learning curve to figure out how to do that because a lot of us aren't sure how yet You know I the personnel that I Were involved was involved with from the wildland fire groups did an outstanding job I'm a firm believer that when people are asterized to the occasion They will and I think the wildland firefighters have a lot to be proud of I Found a very beneficial to As a team to find out special skills when people were coming in who's a forklift operator who has some carpentry skills Who's done? Flagman type of work that we were doing in traffic control those kind of skills were very important to find the special skills and We're so used that we know how to fight wildfire very well or do wildland fire use and those type of prescribed burning operations That we really had to have everybody you know evaluate. What is the risk management and how are we mitigating our risk in these situations? So when you're doing these new tasks you have to look inside the organization you have to look outside the organization We had a FEMA Administrator that had run one of these areas previously in Florida When he showed up and he brought some Ideas and safety stuff that we really hadn't thought about that. I thought was very important Then we did do a ours with crews and making sure personnel that there was feedback which We were doing a ours with some crews when they were leaving I think it would have been more beneficial And hindsight to do more frequent a ours I think that would have been down at the unit bases and that just so we could get some of this feedback coming back And how people were functioning and ideas in that As far as heading out on all risk assignments. I think I Think it's key because of the way we've been called on we are we have been and will be I think continued to be called on for all risk I Think at the start of the fire season or when that when the crew gets together for the wildland fire season They talk about that potential with the understanding that hey, if it does happen, maybe right up front saying Does everybody? Understand what we might be involved with here and there may be some folks that say I'll fight fire, but I'm not emotionally prepared to go and do those sorts of things Maybe because an experience that had a previous year in the law risk incident said hey And it wasn't good for me and I don't want to do that now again That could be a crew issue, but it may I think it's only fair to the crew members that they have that open discussion at the start Of the fire season before we get into the all risk, which is usually I mean the big events Certainly the past few years have been the hurricanes, but again You know the issue doesn't mean that you know if the shuttle Columbia shuttle had had landed in Texas in August then there would have been maybe some different prioritization of Of our resources for well and fire resources maybe to go and share some of our resources in the recovery efforts So it could come quickly, but I think as the crew as the crew comes together Initially at the start of the year whenever that is they should talk about these issues and I think that is a key rather than all the sudden come late August early September and crew members find themselves on a plane going to Louisiana and really haven't haven't talked about it Haven't thought about it and hadn't made that decision the minds that they're ready in a sense They've begun to emotionally prepare themselves for this type of event. I think our involvement should be In those areas that we have the expertise We have the qualifications in a sense We have this in a sense the safety and security training that will get us in a sense keep us out of trouble and not get us into trouble and I mean one example I heard of that one group was part of the Hurricanes were you know, they got to the assignment and they said here put these you know these Uniforms on because you're gonna go in and pulling debris from this hazmat area. They said Excuse me. I mean that at least apparently that crew said wait a minute. We're not trained in this We don't you know apparently takes several hours to maybe 40 hours to learn how to properly use the gear and to make sure you don't injure yourself or Expose yourself through through tearing the gear and so they said no so again if we do get called the all risk I think it's it's incumbent upon us To make sure that we tell those folks that have asked us to become involved that we that we define what we can can't do Will and won't do I Think we're finding in these all risk Incidents that we we are drawing on different skill sets Then then we would normally just have for the while and fire environment and I think it is good for a crew to sit down Once they get to an all risk incident and say okay Evaluate what's what's what are they asking us to do and do we have the skill sets within the group here within the team within the crew that can help to meet some of those and I think That's important because that one could keep you that Those skill sets could also be help you with the situational awareness because those folks may know what can get you in a trouble or not That you may not know in as a crew for a while in fire environment. So I think yeah, I think I think those types of I guess Evaluation of the skill sets within the crew team whatever are critical It's hard to be involved in any major disaster and not have some sort of emotional response to it This is especially true when you find yourself working closely with people that have been affected by the disaster To get a better handle on the emotional side of all risk assignments We'd like you to read the information reprinted in your student workbook The first one is a section taken out of the field operations guide or fog for disaster assessment and response This guide was developed by USA the Bureau of Humanitarian Response and the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance It was modeled after the NWCG Fireline Handbook and it contains information on general responsibility for disaster responders The section in your student workbook is on personal health and critical incident stress The second write-up is from the final report submitted by the Hurricane Katrina Safety Assistance Team This is only a short portion of the entire document which could be obtained by visiting the Lessons Learn Center website listed in your student workbook