In sports, as in anything else, preparation is essential for success. In disaster management, there's an increasing acknowledgment that practicing responses to emergency situations is essential in effectively training first responders -- and a lack of such training is an invitation to chaos.
Drills, both table-top and full-scale -- such as the exercise that took place at the Long Beach, Calif., Airport in April 2006 -- are encouraged, and sometimes mandated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to better prepare the nation's first responders to handle both man-made and natural disasters.
The Long Beach Airport Bureau's triennial disaster exercise was a staged incident that began with the reported presence of chemical weapons in a Boeing building at the north end of the airport. There was also a simulated terrorist attack -- a fuel truck containing a bomb was rammed into an airplane packed with passengers.
The FBI and more than 28 local agencies -- including the Long Beach police and fire departments, Los Angeles County Sheriff and nine local medical centers -- responded to the incident. Other participating agencies were the U.S. Army Ninth Civil Support team, Long Beach Public Works Department, Long Beach Technology Services Department, National Transportation Safety Board, Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Service, and the American Red Cross.
The Long Beach Police SWAT Team took into custody the two suspects in the Boeing building and disarmed the chemical weapons. Crews from multiple first responder agencies then responded to the explosion, evacuated the plane, triaged victims and searched for potential survivors.
The exercise, mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, was conducted according to the procedures and "doctrine" outlined in the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program -- a threat- and performance-based exercise program consisting of exercise activities of varying degrees of complexity and interaction, according to the Office of Domestic Preparedness. This exercise, like others of its kind, also required some DHS funding.
The thrust behind these exercises is to get first responders, and other law enforcement and emergency management agencies, on the same page when communicating during disasters, and establish an understanding of how each will react during a real incident. The exercises are a good way to find gaps in communications, and develop strategies for plugging those gaps and strengthening interoperability.
Sgt. David Cannan of the Long Beach Police Department said exercises of this magnitude are done about once each year in the area, and are great learning tools. "As far as being able to talk to other agencies, as far as the communications in an emergency setting -- a situation where you have to respond and work with other agencies -- for those lessons learned, these things are invaluable."
Goals and mission depend on the agency, but the key, Cannan said, is to really compel agencies to create realistic worst-case scenarios, even if in a simulated environment, and to make sure complacency doesn't set in. "As far as the overarching goal," he added, "most of the time it deals with interoperability -- the ability for our agencies to communicate with each other in a timely manner under stressful situations.
"The only way they will fail is if we get too scripted and everybody just goes out there and does what's on the page, and does not really try to stress their own resources. As long as everybody speaks about what occurred during the exercise honestly with each other, after the exercise, that is where we get our success."
FBI representatives attended the exercise to experience what first responders go through on a disaster scene and how evidence is collected. "We do have folks who work in the area of weapons of mass destruction, and so we have people who work hand-in-hand with the first responders like Long Beach fire, Los Angeles Public Health," said FBI special agent Catherine Viray, present at the exercise.
"After an incident occurs, the first responders are really the hands-on folks, and once they get to the stage where it is perceived to be a criminal matter, that's when the FBI would step in," Viray said. "First and foremost, we want to develop a good working relationship with our partners in local law enforcement, fire, police, in order to be in a situation where when it does happen, we know the right people to call and we know exactly what to do."
Long Beach Fire personnel prepare to enter the aircraft after first inserting a ventilation tube into the plane.
Panicked and injured passengers await the arrival of emergency personnel, who would triage the victims, then transport the most seriously wounded first to a mobile field hospital.
