Cedar Fire: A Case Study

In 2003, possibly one of the worst wildfires in California’s history occurred. This fire, referred to as the Cedar Fire, spread across 273,246 acres.

As stated earlier, the 9/11 attacks revealed the indomitable spirit of the US and awakened a sleeping giant, which was very reminiscent of the US response following the attacks by the Japanese on US forces in Hawaii. Both 9/11 and Pearl Harbor attacks galvanized the American people into action and caused the government to heavily invest resources to combat enemies of the US; the Axis enemies during World War II and “the terrorists”, wherever they may be located, following 9/11. One of the first NIST deficiencies to be corrected were the operational protocols for intra- and inter-agency communication. This, in part, has been addressed in the Incident Command System (ICS) since the purpose of ICS is to integrate operations between public safety entities at all levels of government.

The tactical firefighting operation, mass notification process, evacuation plans and emergency operations command and control were readied by noon of 21 October, after timing estimates of the rapidly growing fires showed them fast approaching city limits. Starting on October 21st at 1030 hours, the Sheriff’s Department Operations Center (DOC) was activated, and reverse 911 calls were started to begin evacuations. On the 21st, eight reverse 911 calls were made, notifying 20,992 residences to evacuate. On the 22nd, 23 reverse 911 calls were made, notifying 210,156 residences to evacuate. On the 23rd, 14 reverse 911 calls were made, notifying 47,992 residences to evacuate. Finally on the 24th, one reverse 911 call was activated, notifying 900 residences to evacuate (SD County, 2008).

Face-to-face communication is how firefighters knew where to go to save more people. Captain Alexander Whitaker states that most firefighters often still used radios instead of face-to-face communication as they put more trust in technology. At times, some radio communication was able to function properly and worked well during the attack. Not always did it happen though, medical staff often used radios to set up portable clinics for survivors coming out of the buildings in waves. Some communication was handled well through radio systems.

The attacks of 9/11 in 2001 shed a light on many different weaknesses relevant to the security of the United States regarding communication, and disaster response. On every level of government— federal, state, and local— substandard communication methods contributed to the deaths of nearly 3000 people, as well as the growing number of people dying from illnesses that resulted from participating in the cleanup at Ground Zero. There were many communication challenges faced by agencies tasked with responding to the incident, and particularly in the case of law enforcement, these problems likely resulted in more fatalities than would have occurred had better systems been in place. This paper will discuss the communication problems that

The Mentor Fire Department has not been able to meet the goals of annual pre-fire planning. By not meeting these goals we could be placing firefighters at risk because they may not have the information necessary to safely, efficiently and effectively handle the fire emergency presented. The issues seem to affect each emergency incident differently. If the incident commander had knowledge of the building and how to use the preplan information that might be available, the situation was handled safely, efficiently and effectively. If the incident commander lacked knowledge of the building, and did not know how to acquire any preplan information, the incident was handled, but might not have been handled as safely, efficiently and effectively as possible.

September 11, 2001 is commonly thought of as the next major disaster in the United States. So I prefer to choose this real incident. The event that shook the world like a thunderstorm, thousands of people died in the terrorist attacks they did not resemble the catastrophic disasters previously discussed. Unlike all of the natural disasters previously detailed, the attacks in New York City and Washington, DC did not completely overwhelm the emergency response capabilities of entire regions. The attacks caused brief mass confusion and overwhelmed individual emergency response agencies but did not paralyze the entire emergency response network. The primary first responders were the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the New York Police Department (NYPD) and the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD. While federal officials participated in rescue operations and helped provide security after the attacks, the immediate rescue efforts were orchestrated by local responders. The local response networks were overwhelmed and resources were strained, but there was no system-wide breakdown in organization or authority. Nonetheless, emergency responders encountered many of the same problems that responders experience during catastrophic disasters. Communication systems

Due to the size and complexity of the Cedar fire, there is not one single agency’s emergency operation plan, but rather several plans from different agencies of all levels that influence the tactical decisions and resource utilization. FIRESCOPE, the Incident Command System, and the National Fire Plan resulted from lessons learned from previous fires and benefited the fire service and citizens of the Cedar fire.

This paper will explain an overview perspective of the September 11th attacks, as well as examine the response of local emergency personnel to this incident. I will discuss the lack of coordination amongst emergency personnel, and also analyze the connection between this event and the National Incident Management System (NIMS). This paper will also reveal the challenges faced due to interoperability and the ways in which improvements were made and improvements many believe still need to be made.

i think it is necessary to use controlled fires so it can prevent actual fires Plants germinate and flower following a fire and This growth provides cover for small mammals and young turkeys and quail. Fire supression reduces the diversity in plant species and has led to the disappearance of some plant communities. It contributes to energy, water, and nutrient cycling. Few species are shown to suffer population declines due to not burning regularly. Prescribed fires acts as natures gardener by trimming overmature shrubs that shade out sun dependent plants such as grasses and prairie flowers, Prescribed fires are good.So if you are against the prescription of fires in forests you are a hypocrite because there are a lot of benefits coming from

The incident I am going to be talking about in this paper is the 9/11 incident and the communication challenges law enforcement agencies dealt with. We all know what happen on September 11, when a terrorist group al-Qaeda hijacked planes and crashed them into the world trade center. When the buildings were collapsing helicopters was flying around and giving warnings to the police and fire department on one of the building they were in was about to collapse. Most of the police officers in the North Tower heard those warnings and were able to evacuate (Sasso, 2015). But that information never reached firefighters, for a simple reason: Radio systems for the Fire Department, the Police Department, and the Port Authority Police were all incompatible with each other (Sasso, 2015). The reason why firefighters and the police department could hear or talk to each other was the technical problems with the radios did not go a long range. “As soon as they went five or ten floors up in the buildings, they couldn’t talk to each other,” recalls Chuck Dowd, who was the head of New York’s 911call center (Sasso, 2015). The communication was so bad that one of the firefighters had to call 911 instead of using his radio to call them to help another firefighter that was hurt due to know one can hear on the radio.

Today’s technology has enabled communication to various parts of the world a 24-hour service, which means that, in any emergency response circumstance, there will always be a continuous claim for information (Haddow & Haddow, 2013).

Today, the Incident Command System (ICS) is a major component of NIMS and is widely used in emergency management response. However, this was not always the case. According to David A. McEntire and Gregg Dawson, authors of the article, “The intergovernmental Context,” ICS was originally developed by the fire service in 1970. Its purpose was to assist in the command of wildfire events. It was unique because it standardized operations, yet offered flexibility so that it could be used on any number of events, regardless of size or type (McEntire & Dawson, 2007, p. 63).

During emergencies, the importance of our country’s communications systems becomes clear. These communications systems include the wire line and wireless telephone networks, broadcast and cable television, radio, Public Safety Land Mobile Radio, satellite systems and increasingly the Internet. For example, in an emergency, we may dial 911, call our family members to make sure they are safe, and turn on our televisions and radios to get breaking news and important updates (FCC, 2012).

Transmitting data in locations with sporadic connectivity is a huge challenge. The Select Bipartisan Committee that investigated the Hurricane Katrina concluded that communication provides a critical path for relief in emergency and disaster situations. It was observed that the rescue efforts as well as the command and control awareness, was greatly affected by severe network failures and interoperability issues. This paper aims at analysing the requirements of such a network and suggests a completely wireless communication solution that can be deployed reliably.