This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.
The Department of Homeland Security Disaster Management (DM) Transition Team recently initiated a service improvement project that realigns elements of the DM e-Gov program including DisasterHelp.gov. Individuals subscribed to receive critical infrastructure protection (CIP) information from the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) through DisasterHelp.gov will be affected by the system change. While the DisasterHelp website will remain intact, by 30 September 2007, a new email content delivery system will replace the CIP information delivery service provided by DisasterHelp.gov.
Throughout this month, the DM Transition Team will continue to ensure that this important system change will have minimal impact on all those receiving CIP information from the EMR-ISAC. Team members are committed to the continuation of current processes and do not expect a disruption to existing EMR-ISAC services for the departments and agencies of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS). However, the understanding, cooperation, and patience of all end users will be greatly appreciated.
Additional details regarding this CIP information delivery system change will be provided in the next two InfoGrams dated 20 and 27 September. The EMR-ISAC requests ESS personnel hold their questions to the last week of September, when much more will be known about the technical aspects of this transition.
The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) continues to receive information about incidents of stolen or cloned emergency vehicles. Although it is not an indication of a major crisis among Emergency Services Sector (ESS) departments and agencies, it is still a matter for concern and correction. Federal officials have repeatedly stated that domestic and transnational terrorists may use stolen or cloned emergency vehicles to deceive force protection measures and transport weapons and explosive ordnance to their targets without delay or discovery.
According to law enforcement authorities, the use of stolen or cloned vehicles to facilitate criminal activity is not a new tactic in the United States. Numerous bulletins have been released in recent years detailing this growing problem. These bulletins warned that the appearance of an official vehicle frequently reduces the inquisitiveness of emergency responders and security personnel. Furthermore, international experience demonstrates that official vehicles operating in sensitive areas will draw less scrutiny from first responders, security guards, and the general populace.
Counterterrorism experts believe it is no longer sufficient to simply lock the parking lots, stations, and garages where emergency vehicles are parked, stored, and repaired. They maintain it is now necessary to be actively observant for responder vehicles that have been stolen, cloned, or purchased to exploit vulnerabilities, destroy critical infrastructures, and harm people.
To prevent the unauthorized or illegal use of actual emergency vehicles, the EMR-ISAC encourages ESS organizations to review, improve, and enforce SOPs pertaining to the employment and security of department or agency vehicles. Although there must be reasonable exceptions, such as at the scene of a major ongoing incident, ESS leaders should expect that all vehicles will be locked properly wherever and whenever unattended.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) providers are assessing current levels of 9-1-1 calls and engaging in strategic planning to manage continuing increases in service to assisted- and long-term care facilities.
As the population ages, Emergency Services Sector (ESS) organizations are realizing that growing demand from these facilities could require innovative measures to avoid adverse impacts on ESS personnel and physical critical infrastructures. The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) reviewed several strategies being tested in jurisdictions concerned that resources could be significantly strained.
The EMR-ISAC learned that in some areas, calls from nursing homes and assisted-living facilities account for one in ten of all 9-1-1 medical requests. However, the calls often are non-emergency in nature and divert resources away from true emergencies. ESS leaders are noting that non-emergency calls occur most often because employees at the facilities fail to distinguish between routine conditions and true emergencies, for example, requesting the public ambulance system to transport patients who have "abnormal lab values," changes in mental status (dementia sufferers), and cases of low heart rates that are not life-threatening.
Some jurisdictions assign an EMS officer to each nursing home so that if the incidence of non-emergency 9-1-1 calls increases, the officer can work with facility staff to correct the problem. Other jurisdictions are drafting guidelines to help workers at long-term care facilities decide when calls to 9-1-1 are necessary and to make it easier for medical staff to rely on private ambulances, according to an article at EMSResponder.com.
Among the departments poised to be most acutely affected by increased non-emergency 9-1-1 medical calls are those staffed exclusively by volunteers. In addition to the strain on personnel and equipment resources, some volunteer departments experience difficulties in being fully reimbursed for what are ultimately routine transport calls. The EMR-ISAC encourages ESS leaders, owners, and operators to watch for indicators of this trend in their communities and consider outreach efforts exemplified in the previous paragraph to forestall potential degradation in operations and deterioration of "response-ability."
Although Emergency Services Sector (ESS) critical infrastructures remained intact and operational after the collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis last month, rescue and recovery operations at large incidents subject ESS personnel, the most critical of infrastructures, to highly dangerous conditions.
The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) reviewed a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) update issued after the bridge collapse. The report highlights the rigors of such operations and reinforces the need to protect responders from potential hazards. Generally, rescue and recovery operations that involve work among structural debris and in or underwater expose personnel to physical injuries, heat stress, infection, and other hazards.
Contributing to the hazards and exposures at disaster sites are the often unstable physical nature of the sites and the potential presence of hazardous substances. An accurate assessment of all hazards may not be possible if they are not immediately obvious or identifiable to command personnel, who could be required to select protective measures based on limited information.
To prevent work-related injuries and illnesses at rescue and recovery sites, NIOSH recommends strategic planning to anticipate potential hazards, and strategic operations management based on conditions at the site as exemplified below.
The NIOSH Update can be viewed at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/updates/upd-08-02-07.html.
Additional information and resources on ESS response to disaster sites are available at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/emres/natural.html, or by calling the NIOSH toll-free information number at 1-800-356-4674.
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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