Fire Archives

Volunteers: Incident Management Assets or Liabilities?

David Wells July 31, 2024

Responses are often only effective if volunteers and their teams are properly trained, prepared, motivated, and deployed. One faith-based organization has refined these criteria over its 57 years of responding to major disasters in the U.S. and abroad. Learn about their best practices for driving the mission, boosting the response

The Key Bridge Collapse – Through the Lens of Community Lifelines

Michael Prasad July 17, 2024

The eight major elements of Community Lifelines use traffic-light-type color-coding to categorize the adverse impact status of a disaster. The article’s author has applied this same system to the recovery efforts following the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, Maryland. Learn how he applied this information-gathering tool to an ongoing recovery

Five Key Domains of Incident Management

Aaron Clark-Ginsberg July 10, 2024

Effective incident management is a set of activities, not policy box-ticking of doctrine that may or may not be followed. A new free toolkit based on five key domains can help incident management teams assess and improve their effectiveness regardless of the incident, incident management team, and policy doctrine members

The Maui Wildfires, Relief Funds, and Incident Recovery

Douglas (Doug) Stockham July 10, 2024

Financial preplanning goes beyond savings accounts and life insurance policies. When a disaster strikes, some people do not have these protections nor the financial means to fully recover. However, companies can launch relief funds on behalf of their team members to provide financial aid for employees struggling through a disaster

Jane Doe – Responding to Vulnerable Patients

Catherine L. Feinman June 26, 2024

Despite the prevalence of first responders encountering human trafficking victims, they are not always aware of the signs or proper handling of the situation to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of victims. One paramedic shares his experience with an encounter that provided him lessons to share.

Fentanyl Hazards and Detection

Ashley Bradley and Kristin Omberg June 12, 2024

The deadly opioid epidemic in the United States does not stop at overdoses. It also poses life-threatening exposure to first responders who arrive on scene. Learn about the new ways scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are expanding detection strategies and technologies to keep these responders safe.

Mental Awareness to Enhance Preparedness

Andrew (Andy) Altizer April 17, 2024

Emergency managers, public health officials, and first responders often stress the importance of physical fitness, but what about mental fitness? Without focused mental agility in even one of the emergency management phases, mistakes or subpar performance are likely. Learn about this author’s new acronym that can help prioritize mental health

Dungeons and Disasters: Gamification of Public Health Responses

Michael Etzel and Michael Prasad April 10, 2024

New technologies offer new ways to train personnel and exercise public health responses like COVID-19 and prepare response agencies for many other threats and hazards. Gamification integrates realistic scenarios in a controlled environment that can enhance community capabilities and build interagency collaboration and coordination. Learn more about this training and

Interoperability During Mass Casualty Incidents

Charles J. Guddemi and Catherine L. Feinman April 3, 2024

During a mass casualty incident, response agencies must be able to communicate in real-time. This means that interoperability plans need to include everyone involved in the response. One lesson learned from past incidents is that hospitals are an often overlooked “responder.” Learn what one agency is doing to close this

Support and Planning Inside 911 Centers

Heather McGaffin March 13, 2024

In an emergency, call 911. This simple instruction is easy to remember, but many do not know about the people, training, and technology required to make this lifesaving tool available 24-7. Learn about what happens inside the four walls of an emergency communications center and the strategic planning every community

A Foreign Government, Oprah, and Fires in Maui: The Impact of Misinformation on Community Resiliency

Marek N. Posard and Jessica Jensen February 21, 2024

A misinformation campaign spurred rumors that Oprah Winfrey caused the August 2023 wildfires in Maui. Foreign actors are drawn to spreading such rumors because social media is low-cost and easy to use. Learn what local professionals can do to combat these falsehoods.

Protecting Infrastructure – Cyber, Physical, and EMP Attacks

David Winks February 21, 2024

Imagine 3,500 spiders, each with their own style, getting together to create a giant web. That’s how this author describes the U.S. power grid and the complexities related to protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber, physical, and electromagnetic pulse attacks.

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