InfoGram 51-12: December 27, 2012

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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Enhancing Fireground Situational Awareness

Information is still being released about the tragic shooting of several N.Y. firefighters. EMTs often encounter belligerent patients during calls, but shootings like the one seen in Webster, NY, are very uncommon.  Initial reports show they were responding to what looked like a typical house fire in the early morning darkness, and they could not have seen anyone waiting for them. 

Preparing for something this rare and calculated is nearly impossible; however, departments can train by teaching personnel how to best shield themselves, how to park apparatus for maximum coverage, and how best to call in such an incident to dispatch.

An Associated Press article about this incident states: “several firefighters went beneath the truck to shield themselves as an off-duty police officer who was passing by pulled his vehicle alongside the truck to try to shield them, authorities said.”

Enhancing situational awareness during initial fireground size-up and operations can also help. Multiple fires set in different places, signs of arson, or any other signs of suspicious activity should always be reported even if it turns out to be nothing.

(Source: Firefighter Nation)

Preparing for Blast and Bomb Injuries

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has available 17 topical fact sheets related to bomb and blast injuries.  Created specifically to aid medical professionals, the fact sheets were created by the CDC as part of a mass casualty response program.

The fact sheets include: blast injury basics; ear, eye, abdominal, or thermal injuries; pediatrics or older adults; radiological incidents; crush injuries; and mental health concerns. They are available individually or collectively in a comprehensive booklet. (PDF, 9.5 Mb).

Some of the basic considerations discussed for dealing with blast injuries:

• Patterns of injury are seldom seen outside of a combat situation; if your staff does not have this type of familiarity, extra training may be helpful.
• Signs and symptoms of some injuries may be delayed for up to 48 hours.
• Increased likelihood of secondary injuries such as skin infections or fluid management complications must be considered.
• In a confined space blast, inhalation burns are common; early intubation is recommended before the airway swells.
• If more than one EMS agency responds, different triage plans may be used. Interagency triage training before an event will help eliminate confusion.

In addition to the fact sheets, several podcasts, webinars, and courses are available on the CDC site, including “Bombings: Injury Pattern and Care,” “Blast Injuries: What Clinicians Need to Know,” and “Surge Capacity and Terrorist Bombings.”

(Source: CDC )

Minimally-Interrupted Cardiac Resuscitation

In January, the Northwest Fire District (NWFD) began using a new resuscitation technique on EMS calls for “Sudden Cardiac Death” patients. Through the direction of the University of Arizona Medical Center (UAMC) medical directors, they are now using Minimally-Interrupted Cardiac Resuscitation (MICR) and have had very impressive results so far.

Preliminary findings from the first 8 months of MICR use show the survival rates more than tripled when compared to the system the NWFD EMS providers had previously been using. MICR has been used more in the past few years, probably due to both the increased survival chances and a lessening in neurological damage due to increased blood flow to the brain.

Officials have been promoting resuscitation methods that have a ratio with higher numbers of chest compressions to the number of breaths given to the patient. In fact, the American Heart Association has been promoting hands-only CPR for adults since 2008.

(Source: Tucson Citizen)

FBI Releases 2011 Hate Crime Statistics

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released their cumulative 2011 statistics on hate crime.  The data are organized by jurisdiction, incidents or offenses, victims, offenders, and location type (residence, park, etc.). 

The statistics are presented to give enough detail to show trends or patterns for a given area over time without giving raw data, law enforcement sensitive information, or specifics on individual cases. This gives law enforcement agencies, social services organizations, and legal rights groups an overview of reported cases for their jurisdictional area.

Congress mandated the FBI to collect data “about crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity” starting in 1990. Crimes against people with disabilities was added in 1997. Over 18,000 law enforcement agencies voluntarily report information to the FBI yearly.

(Source: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting)