Suggestions for Developing Plans For Handling Major Emergencies
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The most dramatic incident in an earthquake that shook Goleta, Calif., last August was the derailment of a Southern Pacific freight train traveling at 40 miles an hour. Cars were thrown from the tracks and crumpled like children’s toys.
An earthquake registering 5.1 on the Richter scale had struck 6 miles off Goleta, Calif., a coastal city of 70,000 population in Santa Barbara County, at 3:55 p.m. Sunday, August 13. The resultant twisted tracks had derailed the freight train and sent a set of train car wheels airborne across the freeway, landing in the center divider. No chemical cars or compressed gas cars were involved in the accident.
Goleta is a 50-square-mile community that includes the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). It is protected by Division 1 of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department consisting of six fire stations. Twenty-six men were on duty Sunday. Seven more stations protect the northern half of the county in Division 2. Santa Barbara City, south of Goleta, is a city of 75,000 served by the city fire department with seven fire stations and 28 off-duty fire fighters.
Calls flood dispatch center
Immediately after the rolling quake, the Santa Barbara County joint fire and sheriff underground dispatch center was flooded with phone calls and supervised fire alarm systems lit up the alarm board. Because of a power failure, the dispatch center phones and radio were out for 60 seconds until emergency power came on. Two large continuous tape recorders fell over and were rendered useless. No alarms could be recorded.
Dispatchers had problems recalling off-duty personnel because of jammed phone circuits and downed phone lines. About 90 percent of the incoming calls were for gas leaks. Downed power lines started grass fires. Two public water mains were broken and many domestic pipes were broken, flooding houses and businesses. Roofs of two commercial structures collapsed. Landslides blocked State Highway 154, which left only one way into the north portion of the county and only one entrance into Goleta from the north.
Fire stations survive
No fire stations were damaged seriously. All apparatus were able to respond. Fire department radio traffic was overwhelming and nonstop, according to dispatchers. Dispatchers were unable to keep abreast of unit status. Calls were given to any unit in the area that could respond.
At the university, venomous snakes were freed from their containers by the shake. Chemicals spilled and mixed in chemical labs, but no fires occurred. Heavy machinery on the roof of the eight-story library building (new “type one” construction per 1976 UBC) shook loose from shock-absorbent springmounted foundations. Flexible hose connections on machinery piping withstood the earthquake without failure, however.
Many windows were broken in commercial buildings. One mobile home was destroyed by fire after a gas leak. Some 200 mobile homes were knocked from their foundations. Mobile homes sustained the majority of the total structural damage from the quake.
There were no fatalities, but 100 persons were injured slightly due to falls, broken glass, etc. Triage teams using paramedics were successful in handling casualties. Pesticides and cyanide containers spilled in various buildings, creating toxicity problems for fire fighters. One man was trapped in his vehicle with power lines on top of it.
Situation quiets down
By about 7 p.m., things were quieting down and an assessment could be made of the damage and number of incidents. Damage has been estimated at $11 million, including $6 million at UCSB. County fire fighters responded to 77 incidents. City fire fighters responded to 36 incidents. This was within a span of three hours. Many gas leak calls were simply referred to the gas company as fire equipment was not available.
Three United States Forest Service fire apparatus, Ventura County engines and a helicopter assisted in the disaster. Jerry Smith, State Office of Emergency Services area coordinator, was on the scene. Two county battalion chiefs responded to the dispatch center, which had no structural damage, to coordinate responses.
Approximately 234 structures, including 200 mobile homes, were damaged.
The Santa Barbara County Fire Department has just completed the development of an emergency organization plan and emergency operations plans. One of these is for earthquakes. The plans have not been enacted as yet, for they are receiving final input and revisions. Plans such as these are a necessity and will help in the management of future incidents.
Suggestions for planning
In summation, I would like to suggest some things to keep in mind for any disasters you may encounter. The best way we learn is from our experiences and the experiences of others. I haven’t heard of any fire department that has had an incident of this magnitude without problems arising. Objective, positive and honest critiques should be held after all major incidents to discover weak links in the system so that things go better the next time.
Here are suggestions for preparing for major emergencies:
- Develop and implement emergency organization plans. They should be understood by all personnel. Plans must be carried in all apparatus and cars, not left on the station shelf when the bell rings. Plans must be practical, brief and in checklist form.
- Set up a central command post at an appropriate location to manage the entire incident in cooperation with other city departments, utility companies, mutual aid, etc.
- The incident commander must take formal command and communicate this to all personnel concerned. The unity of command principle must be followed. The incident commander must be in one location so that subordinates can contact him and the command post must be identified. Don’t be tempted into responding to each incident and getting committed on individual calls if you are the incident commander. Leave those activities to your sector chiefs and company officers.
- Sector the incident or the entire community. Assign subordinate officers to each sector. Be sure they understand their assignments and carry them out.
- Mutual aid should be prearranged and summoned as soon as possible to allow for response time.
- Engine companies should not respond on their own. The battalion chief should coordinate his units and direct the surveys of his area. He should set priorities for incident handling within his area.
- Get fire apparatus out of the stations and leave them out for at least 12 hours. After-shocks are probable.
- Keep radio traffic to a minimum.
- Reduce normal response to a single engine company when practical.
- Establish a recall system using civil defense sirens and pagers. Do not rely on telephones.
- Be sure dispatch center and associated equipment is secured and quake-resistant.
- Have sufficient replacement breathing apparatus cylinders available for chemical incidents. Chemical suits may also be necessary.
- Arrangements should be made to obtain water tankers or trailer units for response in the event of water main failure.
- Local hospitals should organize and train triage teams.
- Helicopters should be used for aerial surveys of the community.
- Realize that the area from which no calls for help have been received may be the one which has suffered the most damage. Phone lines may be out of service, etc.
- Supervised alarm systems should not terminate in the fire dispatch center. They should terminate at a private alarm company office.
- Arrange in advance, in writing, for heavy equipment, food service, housing, etc.
- Conduct regular disaster exercises with all personnel and mutual aid companies.
- Assign an officer to coordinate dispatch center operations, establish priorities for department operations and help keep dispatchers apprised of unit status and location.
- Designate in advance a public information officer to immediately contact the media. He can help reduce panic, answer questions, make public statements as to size and status of the disaster, announce evacuation routes and evacuation centers, etc.
- Establish a system for fire fighters to ensure the safety of their families.
- Send personnel to disaster planning and command seminars on a regular basis, such as the one sponsored by the California Fire Chiefs Association and taught by the author of this article at Asilomar Conference Grounds, Monterey, Calif.