InfoGram

August 15, 2002

NOTE: This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the emergency services sector with news and information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information please contact the U.S. Fire Administration's Critical Infrastructure Protection Information Center at (301) 447-1325 or email at usfacipc@dhs.gov.

Still Another Threat: The Heat Wave

Heat waves arrive without the visible drama and destruction of other natural disasters. But they kill more people in the United States than all other natural disasters combined, according to the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Delaware. In major American cities, the majority of heat-related deaths are "the poor, the old, the residents of abandoned buildings, and those who live alone." Fatal strokes and heart attacks attended by physicians are typically not counted as heat-related deaths, even if they probably would not have occurred without the heat.

People usually find it difficult to consider heat a threat to critical infrastructures. Too many citizens believe that during a heat wave, at worst, roads buckle, trains derail, and livestock die. There is a general failure to recognize the added inherent dangers of over-heated cars causing traffic snarls and impassable roads, overly-stressed power systems causing outages and reduced essential services, major equipment and systems malfunctions, extremely dry fields and forests susceptible to flash fires that imperil life and property, etc. All these situations have the potential to significantly encumber rescue operations. Therefore, chief officers of the fire, police, and emergency medical services must review and adjust their response plans during these occasions.

Heat waves also endanger the survivability of emergency first responders and the integrity of their operations. The physical and mental demands associated with firefighting and other emergency operations, coupled with the environmental dangers of extreme heat and humidity discussed above, create conditions that can adversely affect the safety and health of response personnel. When individual responders become fatigued, their ability to operate safely is impaired. As a result, their reaction time is reduced and their ability to make critical decisions diminishes. USFA Publication FA-114 (Emergency Incident Rehabilitation/July 1992) states that "personnel who are not provided adequate rest and rehydration during emergency operations or training exercises are at increased risk for illness or injury, and may jeopardize the safety of others at the incident scene."

Impostor Alert

The Washington Post reported on August 10th that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) alerted the airline industry to the possibility of impostors seeking access to industry assets. TSA warned the airlines to be observant for individuals wearing stolen uniforms, citing a series of recent thefts from flight crews including uniforms, keys, and identification tags. A few days earlier, the New York Post related that law enforcement officials throughout New York were directed to watch for impostors disguised as cops or military personnel trying to enter restricted areas.

Recent reporting also suggests a growing trend in the thefts of uniforms, vehicles, and other items used by police, firefighters, and emergency response personnel. Therefore, the CIPIC advises that fire and EMS departments, both career and volunteer, inform their personnel of this trend and acquire their cooperation in securing all stations and apparatus. Emergency response personnel should be especially meticulous about keeping personal uniforms and equipment out-of-sight and locked in homes or car trunks.

Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Best Practices

During the past year, this InfoGram occasionally included brief articles discussing the CIP actions or recommendations of emergency first responders throughout the nation. Appreciating the value of sharing CIP best practices, the CIPIC will continue to collect and report on methods to protect critical infrastructures. Fire and EMS departments are encouraged to contact the CIPIC (usfacipc@dhs.gov) with their time-efficient and resource-restrained ideas to protect infrastructures that really need protection. While always espousing the process described in the CIP Process Job Aid (http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fire-service/cipc-jobaid.cfm), the CIPIC will ensure that all appropriate input is recounted in future InfoGrams. Either attribution or anonymity is guaranteed as desired.

Consistent with the message in the paragraph above, the CIPIC recently obtained the following recommendations regarding preparations for catastrophic scenarios:

• Thoroughly coordinate with the state and local emergency management community.
• Assist medical professionals with adequate response training for radiological, biological, and chemical events.
• Encourage hospitals and other health care facilities to acquire the proper equipment for catastrophic incidents.
• Coordinate with the Department of Defense (or National Guard) to provide field hospital and other medical services under each state's emergency command and control system.
• Improve communications technologies so emergency response systems are not thwarted by inadequate or outdated equipment.
• Review state quarantine laws and if necessary propose new statutory language to address likely bioterrorism contingencies.
• Produce a training video for first responders, emergency room staff, etc., on measures to protect people against the effects of a disease release or epidemic.
• Train first responders, emergency room staff, etc. regarding the specific emergency care needs of victims of different types of catastrophic events.

Infrastructure Interdependencies

Two months ago, more than 150 representatives from 70 private and public sector organizations participated in a multi-jurisdictional, cross-border infrastructure interdependencies exercise called "Blue Cascade." The purpose of the exercise was to assess the preparedness of their region's critical infrastructure systems and how an attack on one sector would impact others. The series of activities focused on the linkages between and among infrastructures that could make the region vulnerable to cascading disruptions and curtailment of essential services in the event of an attack. Special attention was given to how extensively the degradation of infrastructure linkages would complicate expeditious response and recovery.

According to the "Blue Cascade Final Report" released in mid-July, exercise participants possessed little information as to how their various sectors are entwined. The report revealed that "some organizations lacked viable contingency plans to deal with potential scenarios." Several participating agencies had no stable plan to disseminate crucial information, particularly when their systems suffered an outage, so as to minimize the impact on other systems. They became aware that "there was a big gap in how states and regions deal with the vulnerabilities in infrastructure relationships that could exacerbate rescue and recovery efforts."

The lessons learned by this exercise should provide a "wake-up call" to the owners and operators of critical infrastructures at the regional, state, and local levels. The CIPIC suggests that state, county, and municipal leaders, including those of emergency first responders, assess the status and extent of their infrastructure interdependencies. When this is accomplished, corrective actions can be implemented to eliminate vulnerabilities and ensure the continuity of all infrastructures during and after a deliberate or accidental attack.