Pearls

Preparing EMS Agencies for Terrorist Attack

Multiple-casualty incidents may result from terrorism or the threat of terrorism. Biological terrorism, such as the threat of anthrax contamination, is one of many ways terrorists may strike.

Preparing EMS Agencies for Terrorist Attack
Terrorism is here today in the U.S. and no longer something that happens only overseas.

When on February 26, 1993, a car bomb at the World Trade Center in New York City exploded, killing six people, injuring thousands and causing extensive damage, we were reminded of the devastation that terrorism can cause. The FBI quickly arrested four radicals, who were convicted in 1994. More members of the radical group were tried beginning January 16, 1995, for a wide-ranging plot of terrorist attacks.

When on April 19, 1995, at 9:02 A.M., a bomb ripped through the Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing at least 168 people and injuring more than 600, we were reminded again of the devastation that terrorism can cause.

Consider the damage that could easily occur by a terrorist release of anthrax spores in a major population area. The ultimate death toll would be similar to that of a nuclear bomb!

So, what are the emergency services doing to prepare for these incidents in the future? In 1998, Congress directed the Attorney General and the Director of FEMA to undertake an exercise that involves all key personnel, federal agency personnel and state and local emergency responders, including law enforcement, fire and emergency medical personnel, who would participate in the crisis and consequence management of a domestic-weapons or mass-destruction terrorist attack.

In May of 2000, an exercise was conducted by the Department of Justice and FEMA, with the participation of other federal agencies. Mayors, city managers, state governors, and local and state personnel were key participants and played active roles throughout the exercise. The goal of the exercise, called "TOPOFF" because of the involvement of top officials, is to assess the nation's crisis and consequence management capacity under extraordinarily stressful conditions. The TOPOFF exercise simulated a chemical and a biological attack in Denver, Colorado, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The exercise consisted of a combination of weapons of mass destruction incidents, but there was no release of any actual weapons or agents.

At the same time, the FBI, Department of Energy, and FEMA conducted National Capital Region 2000 (NCR-2000), a separate, but concurrent domestic counter-terrorism exercise in the D.C. metropolitan area (Prince Georges County, Maryland, and Washington, DC), with state and local emergency responders. NCR-2000 consisted of exercises that were designed to complement the TOPOFF activities occurring in Portsmouth and Denver and also involved a weapon of mass destruction.

The Department of Justice's Office for State and Local Domestic Preparedness Support in conjunction with FEMA, established a group of federal, state, and local interagency partners to develop the concept and conduct planning for the exercise. Federal representatives in this group include: Department of Defense; Department of Agriculture; Department of Energy; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Transportation; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; Federal Bureau of Investigation; National Security Council; Central Intelligence Agency; Environmental Protection Agency; General Services Administration; and state and local representatives including officials from the offices of governors, mayors, emergency management agencies, other high-ranking local officials, and the first responders themselves.

The Emergency Management Institute has developed a series of courses intended to help senior local government officials prepare for and improve their ability to manage and respond to mass-casualty terrorism incidents involving the use of weapons of mass destruction.

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