InfoGram 4-08: January 31, 2008

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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ESS Family Preparedness

Frequently, the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) has written that personnel are the foremost of an organization’s critical infrastructures. Without the intelligent and resourceful attributes of Emergency Services Sector (ESS) personnel, other internal infrastructures (e.g., physical assets and communication/cyber systems) would be unsustainable and undependable. Indeed, an ESS organization’s infrastructures are completely dependent upon the people within the emergency department or agency. Therefore, the EMR-ISAC maintains that an organization’s personnel should be at the center of any critical infrastructure protection or resilience program.

The EMR-ISAC comprehends the interdependent relationships among ESS organizations, their first responders, and the families of their personnel. Since disasters may affect the status of employees and their families, it is always possible that assigned staff cannot or will not be available to respond as part of their emergency department or agency. This probability justifies why first responders must be personally prepared for a catastrophe, as well as having their family members equally prepared.

When individuals have adequately prepared themselves and their families, EMR-ISAC research indicates there is a greater chance of their earlier return to work after calamity strikes. The quicker resumption of duties contributes to the resiliency of the individual responder and his/her organization. Hence, sufficient disaster preparedness by ESS employees and their families actually enhances the ability of the emergency department or agency to restore normal operations sooner than later.

Accepting that ESS organizations desire to have all their personnel available to respond to any crisis as needed, the EMR-ISAC recommends increased emphasis and support for family preparedness and resiliency to promote a more rapid restoration of core missions following a major incident.

Social Engineering Update

The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) continues to receive information regarding instances within the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) of social engineering by telephone, electronic mail, chat rooms, bulletin boards, and face-to-face. Social engineering is a method of fraudulently gaining access privileges to an organization’s sensitive information and assets by querying personnel over the communications media identified in the preceding sentence.

Typically, the deceptive intelligence collector uses human interaction (e.g., social skills) to deceitfully obtain information about an organization (i.e., its personnel, physical assets, or communication/cyber systems). Suspicious social engineering calls usually involve a knowledgeable individual phoning the target organization and ingratiating himself with an employee of the department or agency. During casual and seemingly innocent conversation, the caller will attempt to extract sensitive information from the employee. Unfortunately, many unsuspecting victims are helpful and provide the requested information unless it is clearly too sensitive to share with an outsider.

To eliminate the potential exploitation from suspicious wireline and wireless phone calls, the EMR-ISAC recommends ESS personnel be thoroughly trained to understand what organizational information is sensitive and, therefore, must be protected from adversary collection techniques such as social engineering. ESS departments and agencies should train to actively practice information security (INFOSEC) to protect their critical infrastructures and response-ability.

Rehab Recommendation Becomes Standard

The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) learned that National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1584, Standard on the Rehabilitation Process for Members During Emergency Operations and Training Exercises, which has existed for four years as a recommendation, attained ’standard� status this month. Emergency Services Sector (ESS) organizations must begin implementing the standard this year.

Emergency operations rehabilitation protects personnel, the most critical of an organization’s infrastructures, and functions as a resilience tool that enables responders to resume readiness status quickly and safely. To comply with Standard 1584, according to �FireRehab.com,� each fire department must develop and implement Standard Operating Guidelines (SOGs) that outline how they provide rehabilitation at incidents and training exercises. Rehabilitation also must be integrated into the department’s Incident Management System.

The following are nine key components of rehab required under NFPA 1584:

• Relief from climactic conditions;
• Rest and recovery;
• Cooling or re-warming;
• Re-hydration;
• Calorie and electrolyte replacement;
• Medical monitoring;
• EMS treatment in accordance with local protocol;
• Member accountability; and
• Release from rehab.

An array of resources, including online training, case studies, clinical studies, and relevant links, are available at firerehab.com. The article Making Rehab a Requirement: NFPA 1584 is also available on this Website.

The Draft Report on Proposals (F2007), NFPA Standard 1584 (PDF, 667 Kb, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Help) can be examined at no charge. Free subscriptions to NFPA News, the association’s newsletter of detailed information on its codes and standards activities, can be acquired at through the NFPA Website. The U.S. Fire Administration’s Emergency Incident Rehabilitation can be read and downloaded at the USFA Website (PDF, 114 Kb, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Help).

Wildfire Training Aid

Skills Crosswalk (PDF, 14 pages, 559 Kb, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Help) is a performance-based methodology and learning resource guide developed by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) in cooperation with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). This Guide helps local and rural Emergency Services Sector (ESS) responders identify critical wildland firefighting skills that structural firefighters need to enhance their survival and effectiveness when making initial attacks on wildland fires in their jurisdiction, or when working with state and federal wildland firefighting agencies.

The Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) recognizes that rural development throughout the nation is encroaching into wildland areas. Since the 1980s, the rural population has more than doubled, with 140 million people now living in rural areas. Consequently, rural and volunteer responder organizations increasingly manage fires in the Wildland/Urban Interface and need information to develop the skill sets to protect their internal critical infrastructures (e.g., personnel, physical assets, and communication/cyber systems).

The Skills Crosswalk was developed by analyzing and comparing National Fire Protection Association structural firefighting standards with NWCG wildland firefighting Position Task Books. Wildland skills and knowledge not incorporated within standard structural firefighting training were identified. Four NWCG positions were paired with counterpart structural positions; then, knowledge and skills, performance evaluation and documentation, and resource kits were developed for each position (basic firefighter, advanced firefighter, driver/operator/engineer/company officer, and experienced lieutenants, captains, and chief officers). The resource kits include guides, handbooks, and relevant forms.

Wildland firefighting resources are also available at the NWCG Website.