First Responder Response Paper

682 Words2 Pages

Loch H Alsgaard
688
Dr. Garth den Heyer

Inadequate Preparations: the Primary Threat to First Responders Responding to an international Terrorist Event on US Soil

In Risks to Emergency Medical Responders at Terrorist Incidents: a Narrative Review of the Medical Literature, Thompson, Rehn, Lossius, and Lockey describe two categories of threats to the responder: direct and secondary. Direct threats include secondary explosives, small arms fire, as well as chemical, biological, and radiological hazards (Thompson, Rehn, Lossius, & Lockey 2014). As dangerous as those threats are, the authors contend “that the dominant causes of mortality and morbidity in responders after such incidents are the indirect environmental hazards” such as airborne …show more content…

Failure to conduct a proper threat and hazard identification and risk assessment (THIRA) exposes the first responder to the direct threats described by Thompson et al, for which the responder is ill prepared.  Furthermore, even if the first responder is prepared to protect herself from direct threats, she may very well be unprepared to deal with the environmental hazards. Additionally, failure to properly conduct the THIRA will likely result in the responder having inadequate or inappropriate resources on hand, on mission, or in reserve to meet the demand incurred by the incident’s scope or method.  While failing to properly conduct a THIRA will expose the responder to harm and negatively impact her ability to succeed in her mission, planning off of a well executed and THIRA is not a guarantee for safety or success. No matter how well the THIRA is accomplished and no matter how complete and rehearsed the derived plans, the responder will likely be situation a situation significantly departed from the plan.  In such times, the responder will look to her jurisdiction for resources and other …show more content…

As the National Response Framework advises, “[if] local resources are inadequate, local authorities may seek assistance from the county emergency manager or the state” (Homeland Security, 2016, p. 29). "Upon receiving a request for assistance from a local or tribal government, state officials may,” among other things, distribute stockpiled supplies, provide technical support and resources, and reach out to private sector and NonGovernmental Organizations (Homeland Security, 2016, p. 29).  Should the responder’s jurisdictional authority conduct the proper liaisons or pre incident coordination, he may well receive the support and resources he needs to survive the direct and secondary threats described by Thompson et al, as well as satisfactorily execute his

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