DHS releases National Response Framework
On January 22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the National Response Framework (NRF) (National Response 3.0), which focuses on response and short-term recovery, preparedness, and jurisdictions’ readiness. The NRF replaced the National Response Plan and reflects almost 5,700 comments received from federal, tribal, state, and local governments; nongovernmental agencies and associations; and the private sector. It also reflects commenters’ preferences for a more streamlined, less bureaucratic, and user-friendly document, according to the DHS.
The document, says Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, “is a national response framework designed to operate at all levels of emergency management and to deal with the smallest localized disaster, scalable all the way up to a major national catastrophe.” He added, “In a nutshell, the NRF boils down the key elements of what it means to have a unified and coordinated response.”
The NRF, according to DHS, is built around the core principles of engaged partnerships, tiered response, scalability (the document or elements of it can be expanded or contracted based on the nature and scope of the event), and unity of effort (the NRF leverages on the core of the National Incident Management System). In addition, it is always active and emphasizes readiness to act, instead of waiting for some formal legalistic threshold is crossed before it is implemented.
The NRF also restores the role of lead agency in disaster response to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA Administrator David Paulison will serve as a primary adviser on disaster response to the President. According to an Associated Press report, Homeland Security officials will retain management responsibilities in a disaster, but FEMA would decide where federal resources should be allocated. Also, the NRF states that it is no longer necessary that a disaster be declared an incident of national significance before the federal government can respond. The new document also presents outlines for different responses to natural disasters and incidents involving national security.
In addition to the NRF base document, the Emergency Support Function Annexes and Support Annexes will be posted at the NRF Resource Center (www.fema.gov/nrf). The annexes are composed of 23 documents that provide the concept of operations, procedures, and structures for achieving response directives for all partners under the NRF.
An intensive nationwide training and exercise program will be initiated for local officials after the above documents are finalized and published. The program will include awareness training, position-specific training, tabletop and functional exercises, and sustainment training. Paulison says training courses will be available starting February 5 (after press time) and all 24 individual courses will be on the Web site by April 11. He added that starting June 1, all the federal family should be trained and all the federal responders and as many first responders and emergency managers as possible should understand how the system will operate in the United States before hurricane season. In addition, Paulison says, after the training is completed, there will be exercises to ensure all participants are comfortable with how the system will operate. “This is truly a long-term project,” he emphasized. “This isn’t one shot in the dark. We want to make sure this is a sound system and it’s the system we’re all going to use.”
Paulison described the NRF as a “national endeavor.” He referred to the presence of representatives from public works, fire, police, emergency management, private sector, and tribes.
The newly established NRF Resource Center will facilitate revising the NRF as necessary to reflect real-world events and lessons learned.
USFA releases provisional 2007 firefighter fatality statistics
There were 115 on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States in 2007, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). “This past year will be remembered by the entire fire service as one of the most tragic years for firefighters in recent memory,” says Greg Cade, USFA administrator. “We are committed to continuing our dedicated efforts with the International Association of Fire Chiefs, National Volunteer Fire Council, International Association of Fire Fighters, and National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to make sure 2008 is not a repeat of 2007,” Cade added.
The USFA statistics broke down as follows:
- Heart attacks and vehicle accidents were responsible for the deaths of 54 firefighters (47 percent) in 2007, down from 54 (51 percent) of the 106 firefighters in 2006.
- In 2007, 10 on-duty firefighters died in association with wildland fires.
- 64 percent of all firefighter fatalities occurred while performing emergency duties. Almost 42 percent were at structure fires; 19 were caught or trapped (16.5 percent).
- More than two of every 10 firefighter fatalities in 2007 occurred when responding to or returning from an incident. While seat belts and speed were not necessarily factors in all of these fatalities, they were contributing factors for most of them.
These fatality statistics for 2007 are provisional and subject to change as the USFA contacts state fire marshals to verify the names of firefighters reported to have died on-duty during 2007. The final, annual firefighter fatality report for 2007 is expected to be available by early June.
Additional information on firefighter fatalities is available at http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fatalities.
Congress passes FY 2008 appropriations bill
The U.S. Congress signed into law at the end of December legislation that appropriates Fiscal Year 2008 (FY 2008) funds for all federal agencies except the Department of Defense. According to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), funding for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of State and Local Programs, including the Assistance to Firefighters Grant and the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant programs, increased from $2.53 billion in FY 2007 to $3.2 billion. This figure includes $950 million for the State Homeland Security Grant program and $820 million for the Urban Area Security Initiative.
The FIRE Grant program received $560 million, an increase of $13 million; SAFER received $190 million, an increase of more than 65 percent. These programs are top priorities for the NVFC.
USFA-NWCG offer wildfire training aid for rural firefighters
“The Skills Crosswalk (PDF, 572 Kb), which can be downloaded at the Wildfire section of the U.S. Fire Administration’s Web site, identifies critical wildland firefighting skills structural firefighters need to be safe and effective when making an initial attack on a wildland fire in their jurisdiction or when working with state and federal wildland firefighter agencies,” according to the. U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). The National Wildfire Coordinating Group has joined with the USFA in making this learning aid available.
“Our nation’s firefighters already have the necessary skills for fighting fires in all structures in a community,” says USFA Administrator Greg Cade. “Structural training does not, however, always address the critical wildland fire suppression techniques, which differ from structural firefighting techniques. The new Skills Crosswalk highlights the differences in order for structural firefighters to be able to address wildland fire suppression challenges.”
The USFA points out that rural and volunteer firefighters increasingly manage fire in the wildland/urban interface. It refers to a U.S. Census Bureau 2006 report that cites that since the 1980s, the rural population has more than doubled and that 140 million people are now living in rural areas.
USFA initiates public safety campaign
The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) initiated, in January, a Smoking & Home Fires Campaign to help reduce the number of home fire deaths attributed to smoking materials. The campaign urges smokers to “Put It Out. All the Way. Every Time.” Smoking materials is the number one cause of preventable home fire deaths, according to the USFA. About 1,000 people are killed in smoking-related home fires every year, and, according to the USFA, one in four people killed in home fires is not the smoker whose cigarettes caused the fire. Children of the smokers (34 percent) and the smoker’s neighbors and friends (24 percent) are the most common victims, as is the firefighter trying to save them. A video that shows how quickly a smoldering cigarette can turn into a raging fire is at www.usfa.dhs.gov/smoking. The campaign materials include a CD toolkit with English and Spanish posters, brochures, fact sheets, public service announcements, PowerPoint® presentations, and the video. To order the free materials, go to www.usfa.dhs.gov/smoking
States seek improved relationship with DHS
States have reported unsatisfactory progress in their relationship wth the federal government, specifically the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to the 2007 National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center). State and territorial homeland security advisors who comprise the Governors Homeland Security Advisors Council were polled. About 80 percent of Council officials, representing 44 states, completed all or part of the survey, conducted between August and September 2007.
Respondents suggested that the DHS do the following to improve its relationship with the states: (1) designate a single point of contact in each state and use that contact as the information channel into the state, (2) improve the timeliness of information coming from DHS, and (3) ensure that the information provided by DHS to the states is consistent with information coming from other agencies.
Participants identified the following top five priorities for 2007 (in order of importance):
- Developing interoperable communications.
- Coordinating state and local efforts.
- Protecting critical infrastructure.
- Developing state intelligence fusion centers (central locations where local, state, and federal officials can work together to receive, integrate, and analyze information and intelligence).
- Strengthening citizen preparedness.
The first four items have been cited as top priorities in surveys for the past several years.
Other issues raised by survey responders included the following:
- Federal homeland security grant programs are not adequately funded and do not represent a balance among preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery.
- DHS policies should be coordinated with the states before they are released or implemented.
Stress raised heart disease risk after 9-11
People who experienced high levels of acute stress reaction following 9-11 had a much higher incidence of cardiovascular ailments over the three years that followed than people who did not have the high acute stress reaction, according to a University of California, Irvine, study. Lead researcher E. Alison Holman, an assistant professor of nursing science at the university, and her team found an increase in cardiovascular ailments during the three years following 9-11, including high blood pressure, heart problems, and stroke.
The study sample was a national probability sample of 2,729 adults (78.1 percent participation rate), 95 percent of whom had completed a health survey before 9-11 (final health sample, 2,592), and completed a Web-based assessment of acute stress responses about nine to 14 days after the terrorist attacks. Follow-up health surveys reassessed physician-diagnosed cardiovascular ailments 1 (n = 1,923, 84.3 percent participation rate), 2 (n = 1,576, 74.2 percent participation rate), and 3 (n = 1,950, 78.9 percent participation rate) years following the attacks.
Among other findings were the following:
- People who had high levels of stress immediately after the attacks reported an increased incidence of physician-diagnosed hypertension (rate ratios, 2.15 at one year and 1.75 at two years) and heart problems (rate ratios, 2.98 at one year and 3.12 at two years) over two years.
- Individuals reporting ongoing worry about terrorism post-9-11, high 9-11-related acute stress symptoms predicted increased risk of physician-diagnosed heart problems two to three years following the attacks (rate ratios, 4.67 at two years and 3.22 at three years).
The study was published in the January 2008 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.2008;65(1):73-80. http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/65/1/73
Line-of-Duty Deaths
December 15. First Assistant Chief Alphonse Germano, 60, Derry (PA) Volunteer Fire Department: apparent heart attack.
December 16. Firefighter Donald Wallis, 68, Forked River (NJ) Volunteer Fire Company: heart attack suffered on December 8 while on-duty for a special holiday detail that involved fire prevention, recruiting, retention, and fund-raising.
December 19. Firefighter Raymond Simonis, 48, Wissahickon Fire Company, Ambler, PA: heart attack.
December 29. Firefighter Walter C. Fagan, 48, East Greenwich Twp. Fire/Rescue, Mickleton, NJ: heart attack.
2008
January 1. Firefighter Donald G. Paterson, 65, Kimball Township (MI) Fire Department: heart attack.
January 1. Firefighter Paul Lewis Ellington, 36, Oregon Hill Volunteer Fire Department, Reidsville, NC: accident while operating personal vehicle in response to a residential structure fire.
January 3. Lieutenant John H. Martinson, 40, Fire Department of New York: heart attack.
January 6. Captain James L. Robeson, 50, Scranton (PA) Fire Department: electrocution.
January 7. Firefighter Harvey Jordan, 71, Penn Hills #1 Volunteer Fire Department, Pittsburgh, PA: heart attack.
January 12. Fire Apparatus Driver Operator, Jarrett A. Dixon, 36, Baltimore County Fire Department, Towson, MD: heart attack.
Source: USFA Firefighters Memorial Database
News Glimpses
Congress approves funding for first responder training. The U.S. Congress approved almost $1 million in funding for the University of Nevada, Reno Fire Science Academy, in the federal omnibus appropriations bill, signed by President Bush for fiscal year 2008. The bill earmarks $984,000 for first responder training and scholarships, as well as infrastructure development. Information about the Reno Fire Science Academy is at www.fireacademy.unr.edu/. ● Rapid blood test for MRSA. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared for marketing the BD GeneOhm StaphSR Assay, manufactured by BD Diagnostics, a subsidiary of BD of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, which uses molecular methods to identify if a blood sample contains genetic material from the Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or the more common, less dangerous staph bacterium that can be treated with methicillin. Test results are available within two hours. The FDA cleared the assay based on the results of a clinical trial at five locations. The test should be used only in patients suspected of a staph infection and should not be used to monitor treatment for staph infections, because it cannot quantify a patient’s response to treatment. The test results also should not be used as the sole basis for diagnosis; they may reflect the bacteria’s presence in patients who have been successfully treated for staph infections. Nor will the test rule out other complicating conditions or infections. http://www.fda.gov.bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01768.html 1/8/2008. ● DOT urges states to check bridge gusset plates. “States should calculate how possible changes in bridge weight, capacity, or evolving bridge conditions will affect gusset plates as part of ensuring bridge safety,” Mary E. Peters, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, urged in an advisory to state transportation officials in January. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) had indicated that stress on gusset plates, which hold individual girders together on some bridges, may have been a factor in the August 2007 collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis. The NTSB has not yet determined a definitive cause for the collapse. The advisory, Peters says, “makes it clear that state highway officials should go beyond the current standard practice and include gusset plates when calculating load capacity on the nation’s 13,000 steel truss bridges.”
● ASCE and IAEM join to promote awareness of the condition of nation’s infrastructure. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) has formed a partnership that will promote awareness of the condition of our nation’s critical infrastructure and to encourage the engineering community to support emergency managers. The organizations recognize that there is a need for the engineering community to support the preparedness, response recovery, and mitigation phases of emergency management. For additional information, contact Karen Albers at [email protected]/. ● FEMA awards AFG grants. In January, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) awarded $8,223,887 in Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) to fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical organizations throughout the United States and territories. The full list of Fiscal Year 2007 AFG recipients is at www.firegrantssupport.com. ● FDA reviewing data on ESAs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is studying data from two studies on anemia drugs known as erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs). The studies provide further evidence of the drugs’ risks, which include more rapid tumor growth or shortened survival for patients with breast, nonsmall cell lung, head and neck, lymphoid, or cervical cancers who received ESAs, compared with patients who did not receive the treatment. The FDA had revised labeling in November 2007, which strengthened warnings about the use of ESAs in cancer patients. Janet Woodcock, M.D., the FDA’s deputy commissioner for scientific and medical programs, chief medical officer, and acting director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, says the FDA may take additional action. In the meantime, she adds, health care providers should review the risks and benefits of ESAs outlined in the product label and discuss this information with their patients. The FDA approved revised boxed warnings and other safety-related product labeling changes for ESAs in November and March 2007. ESA safety concerns were also discussed during advisory committee meetings in 2004 and 2007; labeling that reflected new safety information was revised in 1997, 2004, and 2005. http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/anemia010408.html.
