"Engine-2, I want you to catch the plug, advance a deuce and a half to the door and go offensive. Ladder-1, I want you to stick the AB corner, and send two in for primary search." What a job, right, riding around in the Fire SUV, donning the pristine white helmet and spotless white bunker coat. Orchestrating a chaotic ballet, and being the one that folks turn to for guidance during one of the most dangerous situations that citizens may ever face. You know, just another day in the life of an Emergency Manager...wait, what?!?!
As regular readers of this web log know (hey Mom!), I am currently enrolled (and will be done in June) in an Emergency Management bachelor program via an online college. *NOTE: I would also like to thank Uncle Sam for the GI Bill, as I will graduate without any student debt at all. $1200 and a four year commitment for a B.S. degree is one hell of a ROI. Take that Med students!!* Going to school via an online college has its perks, as well as its downfalls. It is convenient, I can login 24/7 and complete my work, and with my schedule, it is the only option that works. The downsides are that you cannot actually converse with folks in real life, you cannot bribe the professor with cookies, and hashing out an argument is much tougher online than it is in real life. Which brings me to the point of this web log, the difference between an IC and an EM.
Far too often I see folks at this college state that they would simply take command of the scene, order firefighters to fight the fire and police officers to police the situation. They tend to see the EM as a tactical asset, the one making key decisions, the one who folks look to. In my experience, this has not been the case, and as far as I can tell it is not the true role of an EM. The EOC is not a tactical element, it is a support element. It supports the responders; getting them supplies, resources, manpower, etc., that allows them to tactically control the incident. In one post I likened the role of a modern EM to that of a lower ranking enlisted military person. When you enlist, and are fresh out of tech school, AIT, etc., you are the new "guy" on the block, the FNG, and your job is to learn and fetch things for the senior members. While I'm not suggesting that an EM is new, or needs to sit back and learn, but the last part, I feel, is apropos to the mission that an EM and the EOC serve.
When a fire company arrives on scene, and realizes that the scene is too great for them to deal with alone, they radio dispatch and request additional units. Typically when this happens, a Chief Officer (Battalion Chief, Assistant Chief, Deputy Chief) will respond and assume command. When the situation grows in complexity and they can no longer handle the scene, they call the next higher Chief until eventually the chain works it way up to the top. When the Fire Chief is on-scene, it is truly a serious incident (or he/she is looking to get out of a meeting) and often times will need additional resources from outside agencies, either through Mutual Aide Agreements or some other quid-pro-quo arrangement. It is at this point that the EOC, under the direction of the EM is utilized. The EOC is not a tactical asset, the EM is not making incident decisions. I don't understand how folks seem to constantly get these two areas confused. One is the Officer making the call, and the other is the Enlisted man bringing the Officer their coffee. In this case, the IC is the Officer making tactical decisions and asking for resources, and the EM/EOC are the Enlisted folks supplying them with the "coffee" (manpower, resources, money, or perhaps even a Starbucks Venti Americano).
It has been said that one cannot lead from the rear, so why do some folks feel that the Emergency Manager should be the one leading the troops?
No comments:
Post a Comment