Chesterfield fire department response to severe storm emergencies executive analysis of fire department operations in emergency management

2. 
   How vulnerable is Chesterfield County to severe weather, i.e., thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornados, etc.?
   

Flooding is a major concern because the county is part of the drainage basin for two rivers, the James and the Appomattox. This has been dramatically illustrated in 1999 as the remnants of Hurricane Dennis and Hurricane Floyd both passed through Chesterfield County. Hurricane Floyd, which dropped more than seven inches of rain on the county over a period of several hours, created some of the most extensive small streams flooding that the county had ever experienced.

3. 
   How does severe weather affect the number of calls for service received by the department?
   

For three selected storms a six-day average was calculated for fire calls, EMS calls, hazardous conditions, public service calls, and alarm activations received for the same time period as the storms. (Hazardous Conditions, Public Service, and Alarm Activations are included in the total fire call figures). Figure 7 below compares the calls for service received during a tornado/thunderstorm that moved through the southern part of the County’s Matoaca District on August 6, 1993 between 1330 hours and 1730 hours to the same time period for three days before the storm and three days after the storm.

Figures 8 below shows the same comparison for a microburst that struck the Clover Hill District on March 8, 1995.

The 90 calls for service during that incident is a 529% increase over the six-day average of 17 calls for service (March 5-7, and March 9-11 for the same time period). The Hazardous Conditions calls and Public Service calls show an increase consistent with that shown in Figure 7 above.

Severe weather not only increases the total number of calls for service received, but also increases the rate at which those calls are received. Table 10 on the next page illustrates the increase in the calls per hour experienced during the selected storms as compared to the six-day average.

597%

Such rapid increases in the number of calls for service can quickly tax the available resources of the department as it attempts to provide service to its citizens. This is particularly true if the event encompasses the entire county as Tropical Storm Fran did in 1996. Emergency resources can be shifted from unaffected areas to the hazard area for smaller events, such as the tornado/thunderstorm and microburst.

4. 
   What policies and procedures does Chesterfield Fire Department currently have in place for response and emergency operations during severe weather?
   

Fire and EMS calls are prioritized as Priority 1, 2, or 3 calls for service. For EMS calls, priority 1 calls are those with immediate life-threatening potential, i.e., cardiac arrest, uncontrolled bleeding, altered mental status, difficulty breathing, etc.

Fire calls for service are categorized as either priority 1 or 3 (See Appendix A). Resources respond with red lights and siren on priority 1 calls only. Presently 30 of the 35 (85.7%) fire call types that can be entered into the ECC’s Computer Aided Dispatch System (CADS) are categorized as priority 1. The fire department’s present storm policy advises that during inclement weather the Senior Battalion Chief should direct the ECC to dispatch no more than three priority 3 fire calls, and three priority 3 EMS calls at any one time. The small number of call types currently categorized as priority 3 does not significantly lessen the number of calls that the ECC needs to dispatch, and to which the fire department needs to respond. This is especially true when one of the call types that increases dramatically during severe weather, the Hazardous Condition call type, is presently categorized as a priority 1 though it includes those calls, i.e., downed power lines, transformer fires, lightning strikes with no fire, etc., that should be considered as a lower priority during severe weather events that stress the emergency response system.

The department’s present adverse weather policy primarily addresses flooding that can occur on the James and Appomattox Rivers, and Swift Creek (a local waterway in the county). Addendum D to that policy addresses some tactical and task level operations during inclement weather, but focuses mainly on winter weather situations as it was developed in response to lessons learned from emergency response during severe winter snows in January, 1995. Neither the policy nor the addendum provide strategic direction to the department’s middle and upper managers to aid them in conducting fire department operations during severe weather events.

5. 
   What training do Chesterfield Fire Department officers receive for response and emergency operations before, during, and after severe weather and how well prepared do they feel they are for such operations?
   

Recently, the department completed development of its Officer Development Program Level II curriculum. That program is targeted toward those Lieutenants and Captains who have completed the Level I program. This new course, for which delivery starts in January, 2000, contains an eight-hour program covering Chesterfield County’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), the fire department’s role in that plan, and how the County’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is designed to function when activated. All fire department Middle Managers were required to attend the pilot delivery of that course. At the time this research project was completed that was the only formalized training that the Middle Managers had received on that topic and that was approximately two years ago. There has been no additional training, or scenario-based exercises directed at that group to develop and maintain their proficiency with the materials and concepts of the EOP and the EOC. Only those Middle Managers who have had to attend the yearly EOC operational drill, because they are a Division Head, or happened to be assigned to the EOC from the Emergency Operations Division on the day of the drill, have received exposure to the process.

Forty-four (67.6%) of the 65 first-line supervisors (Lieutenants and Captains) who received the survey completed it and returned it to the author. None of the respondents reported that they had completed any of the severe storm response training programs offered by the National Fire Academy and Emergency Management Institute. Table 11 below illustrates the survey results from those officers.

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6. 
   What are benchmarks for response to severe storm emergencies exist that could enable Chesterfield Fire Department to make its operations more safe, effective, and efficient?
   

Following a severe storm related event a department must be able to quickly assess the immediate impact of the storm on emergency resources and facilities. The operational plans reviewed all contain provisions for a “snapshot” or preliminary assessment by fire station personnel of their equipment, personnel, facilities, and what are the conditions in the immediate vicinity of their physical location. This initial assessment information is quickly relayed to the appropriate level of management for the event so that an initial assessment can be made as to the initial size and scope of the emergency.

Once that preliminary assessment has been completed, emergency resources are directed to systematically assess the condition of their first-due response area through the use of the “windshield survey.” Emergency apparatus and personnel physically drive predetermined routes through their response area and collecting information on storm impact based on what they can see through the windshield of their apparatus. Supervisors completing the windshield assessment should focus on assessing the status of transportation routes, target hazards, public utilities, etc., and recording significant findings for communication to department managers. Company Officers are directed to only stop and provide emergency service for obvious life-threatening situations.