Is your town Ready?

[larrycook]

It may be too soon to think about this, but are we ready in our hometowns for terrorist attacks. We are 80 miles from a major US city and have 3 lakes in our area that could be a terrorist target. I know that we are not ready and other folks thank that it would never happen in a small rural area. Is your town ready for something that would tax your fire dept. like it did FDNY?

[ 09-17-2001: Message edited by: larry cook ]

[ 09-17-2001: Message edited by: larry cook ]

[firebuzz]

NOPE....

Need I say more...

[Catch22]

Not even close...

[Fire Eater 07]

I dont think you could ever be ready for this type of situation......I have had emergency response to terrorism classes and that wouldnt even touch a real incident.......I just hope our government finally realizes that we are vulnerable to attacks and stop cutting our military in half..
stay safe

[mtnfyre21]

never are you readyto loss over 5000 people at one time
2197
god bless america
lets get revenge
stay safe,have fun stay halthy

[firecat1524]

How can anyone be prepared for acts such as this? The sheer scale of the WTC attacks alone goes beyond anything that any of us have been trained for.

[NYSmokey]

Just a word of caution. I wouldn't post anything on here that could reveal your readiness to deal with terrorism or your tactics. There's nothing to say that the scum that did this couldn't be reading our posts. They'd love to know how ready we are. Call me paranoid but that might be for the best at the moment.

[Dalmatian90]

To answer Larry: We're probably as prepared as is likely needed and practical for my town and location. On a broader spectrum, as a State we're not prepared. CT lacks US&R capabilities; this past winter's storms proved the state highway & transport systems are woofully inadequate and easily overwhelmed; most fire departments in the state lack the ability to communicate fire truck to fire truck/staging area beyond their local mutual aid group. On the positive side, given 8 hours or so we were able to organize formal "resource lists" of assests that were ready to be deployed to assist NYC if needed -- with practice, that can be improved dramatically.

NY Smokey: Very good point, and one I've been meaning to bring up. People should always think about what there posting on the internet.

Certain pre-plans or SOPs like how you respond to bomb threats should never be put on a website, posted to a forum, or emailed to a newsgroup. I'm not paranoid, and I would email such things to a known individual (such as a chief of a neighboring town who has a need to know). In our case, we protect a State Correctional Institute and I'm very careful on what I post regarding our operations and plans there -- not worried about terrorism, but aiding a jail escape attempt.

Similiarly (for example) an individual preparing a bomb and doing there homework finding out that in the event of a bomb threat the FD responds an engine to standby at the nearest hydrant now has an excellent location for a secondary explosive.

Expanding that slightly, I do feel we need to brush off our "county task force" plans that say who will provide what when a major incident takes place that may require substantial unit move-ups. What you don't want is a plan, especially published, that says, "We'll all meet at the East Brook Mall and convoy to the xxx County were we stage at Giants Stadium for assignment." That's way too many specifics.

The plan, and the plan itself shouldn't be on the internet, should essentially be, "Upon activation of the Emergency Plan, the County Coordinator shall designate the rendevous location. All apparatus and manpower shall assemble there before proceding a staging location nearer the area of deployment; the location of such staging area to be told to the County Coordinator by the State Office of Emergency Management. The Staging Location being sent to shall remain confidential to the County Coordinator and his assistants." Not much someone could go on to pre-position secondary devices other than knowing the redevous location is probably a big parking lot in County X and the destination is a big parking lot in County Y.

Sorry about rambling about staging areas...but a lot of security measures are fairly simple and cheap -- they just need organization and people who know they're roll in the plan.

Executing a good plan now is better then waiting for the perfect plan...I think that's badly quoted Schwatrzkopf -- but the sentiment is right. Even if you're not prepared, at least have a plan that says this is how you will start dealing with stuff.

[Chief79]

Our department would be hard pressed to mitigate a terrorist attack. We simply do not have the resources available necessary to handle the situation alone. We have a plan in place that provides for mutual-aid from surrounding departments. Our plan does assign certain responsibilities. Our initial actions would be to identify and secure the affected area. Implementing our plan quickly would initiate a response from the appropriate agencies to begin mitigating the incident. It would look like chaos at first, but things would eventually smooth out and the proper personnel would be positioned to minimize the confusion. Securing the scene would be the first major task. Once the scene is secure and the plan is initiated, I think the other needs would become obvious.

Only my opinion

[CollegeBuff]

Ny Smokey and Dal90

Great points! Loose lips sink ships!!!!

[EMTwants2b911]

of course were not ready, not because we haven't planned for the worst case senerio, but because we don't have the people to carry it out. half the time we can't get enough people for a non emergency call let alone one where it hits the fan! I have faith that we can pull through somehow but i really don't know how we would.
everyone have faith, stay safe, and support the military who will have the job of beating the hell out of those responsible for the world trade center, the pennsylvania plane crash, and the pentagon!

[ 09-18-2001: Message edited by: EMTwants2b911 ]