Enhancing the Fire Service Response to Today’s

Terrorism Threat

International Association

of Fire Chiefs

Terrorism…

All terrorist acts are crimes. Most involve violence or threats

of violence. Targets are mainly civilians. Actions designed to receive

maximum publicity. Intended to produce effects beyond

immediate physical damage.

Once a terrorist incident is underway, the success rate is nearly 75%.

Suicide raises the success rate to

over 96%.

U.S. Fire/EMS Profile A complicated fire service

–More than 32,000 public fire departments

–More than 70% are totally volunteer fire departments

–More than 850,000 fire fighters

–17,500,000 annual fire and EMS calls• 9.8 million annual EMS calls

The 8 Terrible Realities of Terrorism

1. That law enforcement, fire, rescue, emergency management personnel may not be better trained or equipped than the terrorists.

2. That the terrorists will not have the same moral or ethical perspectives as the first responders.

3. The public now expects that an extraordinary rescue effort will occur after any terrorist incident.

4. The tactics of terrorism are constantly changing, and yet most stay the same.

5. There will be a continued

increase in the level of sophistication and technical skills of terrorist groups.

6. Money is usually not a problem for most terrorist groups.

7. Terrorist incidents will continue

to grow in scope and magnitude.

8. Secondary devices are present about 50% of the time.

Trends

60s: Aircraft hijackings 70s: Embassy takeovers 80s: Suicide bombings 90s: Combination of all previous 2000s: Chemical/biological attacks

and more (?)

What We Can Expect

Continued use of low-tech

Aircraft and transportation

Food related

Telecommunications

Computer-based

Energy related

Arson

Personalization of terrorism

Bombings

Secondary devices

Suicide terrorists

Chemical-Biological-Nuclear

Needs of the Fire Service for the New Threat of Terrorism

Continued awareness training for all first responders.

Incident command training for command officers.

Increased technical training for hazmat teams.

Immediate action by NIOSH

to certify chem/bio masks.

Rapid distribution of masks to FDs in major cities and within a 25 mile radius.

Rapid detection equipment for both chemical and biological agents.

Decontamination equipment and procedures for mass casualties.

Existing haz mat team capabilities must be enhanced rather than starting something new.

Increase the number of Metropolitan Medical Response System Teams for mass casualties.

Special units need to be trained for management of mass casualties caused by chemical or biological agents.

Urban Search and Rescue Teams need training and equipment to operate in chemical or biological environments.

Expand and upgrade the USAR

program

Establish national collapse rescue program to supplement USAR program (USAR - Lite)

Other Needs

Police must have training and equipment for chemical/biological operations.

Hospitals must have capacity for mass decontamination of patients.

Antidotes must be stockpiled in large quantities.

Every responding agency (local,

state, national) must use a standardized incident command system (ICS).

Continual coordination between local, state and national responders is essential for success in protecting our personnel and the citizens we serve.

National agencies need to involve

local first responders in every level of discussions for resource allocation…especially training and equipment.

Fire service must guard against money being spent for military terrorism preparation without including the fire service as the primary recipient.

(Name) Fire Department Needs• (Need 1)

• (Need 2)

• (Need 3)

• (Need 4)

• (Need 5)

Conclusion

The better the job the fire service

does in minimizing the impact of terrorist incidents, the more terrorists will seek new and terrible ways to make their statements.

The lessons learned must be shared among all emergency services organizations…worldwide.

It is not if, but when, the next terrorist action will occur against U.S. citizens and property.

The fire service will be there first….guaranteed!