InfoGram 46-07: November 29, 2007

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.

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Exercising Interdependencies

Emergency Services Sector (ESS) departments and agencies provide vital lifeline assets to protect, defend, and preserve societal functions essential to health, safety, and security in addition to economic well-being. Therefore, the degradation or loss of first responder capabilities in any catastrophe can potentially result in widespread disruption to patterns of civic and human activity.

The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) recognizes the interconnectivity and interdependency of community critical infrastructures. For example, it is common knowledge that responder organizations depend on the availability of other critical infrastructures such as water, communications, transportation, electricity, and fuel. This is why the EMR-ISAC supports activities by communities and regions to capitalize on the strengths of local infrastructures and to minimize their weaknesses.

A preferable way to thoroughly and reliably integrate prevention, protection, response, and recovery efforts is to conduct periodic workshops and exercises. According to an article in the October 2007 George Mason University CIP Report, a quality training program will include the following major objectives edited by the EMR-ISAC:

• Increase participant understanding of the interdependencies among local critical infrastructures.
• Identify the likely outcomes associated with disturbances to those infrastructures.
• Develop and execute measures to reduce or eliminate any negative impacts from disruptions.
• Assess current communication procedures and interactions among the infrastructures.
• Ascertain opportunities for increased collaboration among the critical infrastructures.
• Enhance decision making in emergent situations.

The Department of Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) offers standard policy and guidance for exercise development, execution, and evaluation. Standardized information, related templates, lessons learned, and best practices are available at the HSEEP Website.

Creating a Regional Task Force

The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) accepts that it is impossible to deter all attacks on people, physical assets, and communication/cyber systems. Despite the best preventive measures by communities and their first responders, a man-made or natural disaster will eventually occur and destroy critical infrastructures upon which citizens depend for health, safety, and security. The EMR-ISAC further asserts that a single jurisdiction alone cannot completely prevent this devastation from happening.

The ability of different departments, agencies, businesses, and services in a geographic region to work together before, during, and after a catastrophic incident provides significantly increased opportunities to protect against or mitigate the threat from all hazards. Therefore, the EMR-ISAC suggests emergency managers and the chief officers of the emergency services create a regional task force. The task force should ensure their counterparts, major regional stakeholders, as well as local business owners from outlying communities are represented at the emergency preparedness planning table. The entire region will benefit from this approach with direct benefits for critical infrastructure protection.

From the strategic perspective, the EMR-ISAC proposes that this task force exists to coordinate and facilitate the development of regional solutions to regional problems and response scenarios that may exceed the capabilities of local government agencies. For consideration, EMR-ISAC also offers the following missions adapted from regional task forces in the State of Pennsylvania: (1) To foster and advance the capabilities of public safety providers, elected officials, and other stakeholders throughout the region to protect lives and critical infrastructures from all hazards; and (2) To take a leadership role in the development of a comprehensive regional emergency preparedness program that addresses planning, prevention, protection, response, and recovery issues.

Emergency Services Sector personnel interested in advocating regional solutions to emergency planning may find value in FEMA's State and Local Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning.

NTIMC National Unified Goal

Vehicle-related incidents, which account for approximately 20 percent of fatalities and hundreds of injuries in the Emergency Services Sector (ESS), endanger personnel, the foremost of critical infrastructures. The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) learned that the National Traffic Incident Management Coalition's (NTIMC) National Unified Goal (NUG) for Traffic Incident Management proffers 18 strategies intended to mitigate roadway traffic-related hazards.

In what is described as "an unprecedented show of unity" among EMS professionals, law enforcement, the fire service, 9-1-1 call centers, highway agencies, and tow truck operators, 19 national organizations announced the pre-holiday launch of the National Unified Goal: responder safety; safe, quick clearance; and, prompt, reliable, interoperable communications.

The NTIMC, organized in 2004 to promote the safe and efficient management of traffic incidents, plans to work toward achieving the three major objectives of the National Unified Goal through 18 strategies. Key strategies include recommended practices for multidisciplinary Traffic Incident Management (TIM) operations and communications; multidisciplinary TIM training and communications; goals for performance and progress; promotion of beneficial technologies; and partnerships to promote driver awareness. Although the NUG is not mandatory, it is a unified national policy that was developed by the 19 major organizations.

Questions about how to achieve the National Unified Goal, and thereby protect the critical infrastructures of the responder community, are available at the NTIMC Website. To read the 18 strategies, view information about state and local TIM training, partnership activities and workshops, download NTIMC publications and examine the organization's products, sign up to receive daily email notifications of timely information, and participate in the TIM Community of Practice (COP), the EMR-ISAC encourages the personnel of all ESS departments and organizations to visit the NTIMC Website.

NTSB Investigation of Hurricane Rita Bus Tragedy

A Department of Transportation (DOT) National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation of a fatal fire aboard a motorcoach that transported Hurricane Rita evacuees to Texas on 23 September 2005, yielded important recommendations for personnel of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS).

Fire in a rear wheel well quickly engulfed the bus, killing 23 passengers, and injuring 21 others and the bus driver. The passengers were members of the nursing staff and the elderly residents of an assisted-living facility, many of whom used wheelchairs, walkers, and medical oxygen cylinders. In fact, 18 cylinders were loaded into the vehicle's luggage compartments, and, during the trip, a number of full oxygen cylinders were retrieved from the compartments for use by passengers. The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) acknowledges that medical oxygen cylinders are carried on EMS vehicles, are transported in bulk quantities on roadways by commercial vehicles, and are encountered by responders during responses to vehicle fires, and to fire incidents in occupancies where cylinders are present.

NTSB investigators found numerous hazards related to the vehicle, dangerous practices associated with vehicle maintenance, and driver issues. However, among the findings most relevant to the protection of ESS personnel is that "the exposure of an aluminum cylinder with less than 78 percent of its original quantity of gas (about 1,570 psig at room temperature) to temperatures exceeding 400� F reduces the strength of the aluminum to a point where the cylinder structurally fails before the pressure within the cylinder is great enough to activate the burst disk." (Burst disk, in this case, is the cylinder's pressure-relief device.) Three days after the accident, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued guidance for the safe transportation of medical oxygen for personal use on buses and trains.

The NTSB report concluded that, "The possibility of structural failure in partially pressurized aluminum cylinders when exposed to heat and fire, as occurred on the accident motorcoach, poses a danger to the general public and emergency responders." PHMSA will work with the response community to develop and disseminate guidance and training concerning the risks associated with fires involving aluminum cylinders and the steps that should be taken to protect both emergency responders and the general public when such cylinders are involved in a vehicle fire. The EMR-ISAC will publicize the guidance as soon as it becomes available.