Personnel Safety and Site Management for Swiftwater and Flood Rescue

A presentation for the 22nd Annual International Disaster Management Conference

Orlando, FL March 31, 2001

by James F. Segerstrom

I. Incident Command--A "System," or a contradiction in terms?

A. A brief history. A military system adapted for utilization at wildland fires.

 

B. ICS Training schemes and their availability. 35,000 "hits" on the Web when

in-putting the words "Incident Command System." (!)

C. A method for delivery of clear orders from the top down, and for information

back from the bottom up. Does it work?

1. The "classic" clear order:

S.

 

M.

E.

A.

C.

 

2. What everybody at the scene needs to know continually:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

3. The critical, and under-utilized, role of the Incident Action Plan.

D. What generally happens.

1. The difference between a "successful" moving water rescue and a goat

breeding.

2. The critical role of free-lancing in ICS failures.

3. The bane of the IC--portable radios.

E. The key roles and descriptions for ICS at a moving water or flood emergency:

1. I.C.

2. Ops, (Plans at a bigger event.)

 

a. The role of the"technical specialist."

3. Safety

4. Logistics

5. The "troops," and their definitions:

Teams

Strike Teams

Task Forces

Groups

Divisions

Sectors

6. Outside support:

"Away" teams

Incident Support Teams

Overhead Teams

II. We are now called to the flood. First thing to do: Get organized. Organization

is a safety issue first, and a rescue issue last.

A. Segerstrom’s First Rule of Site Management: "Never let a sense of urgency

and emotion drive your decisions." Training and practice give rise to good

judgement calls at emergencies. Training and practice provide sound judge-

ment, and should thus drive the decisions. If you don’t have the specific

training for the type of incident incident, the first thing to do is call those

that do. The old axiom "overcome, adapt and

improvise," or "we had to do something," no longer provide adequate

justification for a rescue attempt gone wrong, particularly in court, as recent

cites point out. Rising emotions are frequently a reflection of a lack of

experience in the rescue environment. Emotion breaks down organization.

Disintigration of the organization deteriorates site safety.

Remember: 1/4 of the emergency personnel on site for this flood call don’t

know how to swim!

B. Use the pre-plan to appoint the I.C.

C. I.C. appoints "Safety" first, "Ops" second, "Logistics" third.

D. Logistics designates "Staging" All personnel at scene move to staging for

PAR.

E. IC and Ops simultaneously conduct "size-up" and "hazard assessment."

F. Safety prepares basic safety rules, and deploys safety personnel.

G. IC and Ops determine Plans 1 and 2.

1. Briefing to team leaders

2. Team leaders brief their teams

3. We go to work on Plan "A," while other personnel prepare Plan "B."

4. If A fails to work and we go into to B, then IC and Ops start considering

Plan "C."

H. SAR complete. Personnel return to staging for rehab and release.

III. The "Size-up." An expression with no clear definition.

A. Battalion Chief Tim Rogers of the Charlotte Fire Department and

noted national authority on swiftwater and flood rescue suggests the

following model for moving water calls:

T.

E.

M.

P.

O.

B. Further critical decisions:

1. Rescue vs. Recovery

2. Risk versus Benefit

IV. The Hazard Assessment. The short list of typical moving water and

flood considerations:

A. Moving water hydrology--powerful and relentless

B. Debris

Surface load

Deteriorated road surfaces

Phone poles, fences

Vehicle instability

Multiple victims

Night and bad weather

Inadequately trained boat operators

Poor communications

Incompatable training

Hazardous materials

Flash flooding

Levee failures

Poor and late evacuation planning

Disabled victims

Large animals

Poor coordination of air rescue assets

Lack of rehab at site

No assigned medical unit

Poor flood plain and topo maps at the ICP

Poor crowd control

Lack of unified command with law enforcement

Storm drains, manholes, irrigation ditches, pipes, flood channels

Dams, weirs, and low-water crossing hydraulics

Lack of search management skills on-site

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Hazard and Risk Assessment Worksheet for the IC

Evaluate the Scene,

The tasks, persons at risk

|

|

|

|

Select possible

rescue option<<<<<<<<<<<<

| ^

| ^

Proceed Consider the Consider Alternatives

chosen option

^ | ^

^ | ^

Are the risk using

this option

YES<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<,acceptable? ^

|

No ^

|

| ^

Can additional safety

measures be added

to the option? ^

|

Reassess | Don’t proceed

Rescue Options |

^ | ^

YES <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> NO

VI. Remember: The first consideration of a rescue leader is the safety of his people.

The best rescue is when everyone goes home. The next best is when all the

rescuers go home.