i HOW FIRE DEPARTMENTS RESPOND TO DISASTERS by Student X This Thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science degree in Public Safety Management Great College Jacksonville Jacksonville, Florida Fall, 2015 ii DEDICATION I would like to thank my wife Lindsey Perrotta for all of the help she has given me throughout this research proposal, she was phenomenal in helping me complete this project by answering questions for me and taking care of the children while I worked on the project. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge Lindsey Perrotta for helping with the project, and Professor Davis for providing guidance and the template for the project. iv ABSTRACT This research proposal will answer the question of how prepared fire departments are to respond to major disasters, by utilizing SOP’s SOG’s and mutual aid. It will discuss problems that lie within these guidelines, such as communication issues, and different equipment issues. The research proposal will also take a look at how well the local fire department is prepared for any major incidents that arise, based on a small population group, and a survey provided by the researcher to this group. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ii Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Chapter 1 Introduction 6 Chapter 2 Review of Literature 8 Chapter 3 Methodology and Procedure 13 References 16 6 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Often times disaster strikes on an extremely large scale, a scale that is too big for one agency to handle. When these types of disasters strike multiple agencies come together to mitigate the incident. One of the biggest challenges to mitigating incidents when multiple agencies are brought together is finding the middle area based on how all the agencies operate, since many agencies have different operations. Scoppetta (2008) stated that having capability and flexibility are vital components of being prepared for natural disasters and when multiple agencies that come together have these qualities disasters are mitigated with relative ease. Background Context Often time’s major disasters are too large for one municipal fire department to handle and these departments call upon mutual aid. The mutual aid will almost always have different literature and training on how to respond to these incidents, which can lead to major complications on scene. By utilizing national models and outlines on how to respond to incidents these problems are often curbed, however the challenge is getting all agencies to have training once and a while to cover these models. This research project w ...

1. i
HOW FIRE DEPARTMENTS RESPOND TO DISASTERS
by
Student X
This Thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the
Bachelor of Science degree in Public Safety Management
Great College Jacksonville

2. Jacksonville, Florida
Fall, 2015
ii
DEDICATION
I would like to thank my wife Lindsey Perrotta for all of the
help she has given
me throughout this research proposal, she was phenomenal in
helping me complete this
project by answering questions for me and taking care of the
children while I worked on
the project.

3. iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge Lindsey Perrotta for helping with
the project, and
Professor Davis for providing guidance and the template for the
project.

4. iv
ABSTRACT
This research proposal will answer the question of how prepared
fire departments
are to respond to major disasters, by utilizing SOP’s SOG’s and
mutual aid. It will
discuss problems that lie within these guidelines, such as

5. communication issues, and
different equipment issues. The research proposal will also take
a look at how well the
local fire department is prepared for any major incidents that
arise, based on a small
population group, and a survey provided by the researcher to
this group.

6. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
Abstract iv
Chapter 1 Introduction 6
Chapter 2 Review of Literature
8
Chapter 3 Methodology and Procedure 13
References 16

7. 6
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Often times disaster strikes on an extremely large scale, a scale
that is too big for
one agency to handle. When these types of disasters strike
multiple agencies come
together to mitigate the incident. One of the biggest challenges
to mitigating incidents
when multiple agencies are brought together is finding the
middle area based on how all
the agencies operate, since many agencies have different
operations. Scoppetta (2008)
stated that having capability and flexibility are vital
components of being prepared for
natural disasters and when multiple agencies that come together
have these qualities
disasters are mitigated with relative ease.

8. Background Context
Often time’s major disasters are too large for one municipal
fire department to
handle and these departments call upon mutual aid. The mutual
aid will almost always
have different literature and training on how to respond to these
incidents, which can lead
to major complications on scene. By utilizing national models
and outlines on how to
respond to incidents these problems are often curbed, however
the challenge is getting all
agencies to have training once and a while to cover these
models. This research project
will help highlight some ways this can be accomplished easier.
Comment [SP1]: se the essay you wrote for the
Critical Incident assignment to describe the
background of the problem.
7

9. Purpose of Research
The purpose of the research is have a better understanding of
the fire departments
preparedness for disasters. The primary research question is:
How prepared is the fire
department for disasters? The sub-questions for research
include: 1) how do firemen
respond to disasters? 2) What kind of standard operating
procedures are in place for
disaster planning? 3) What kind of training is incorporated in
the local fire department for
preparedness if or when disasters occur?
Significance of Research
The research that is performed in this paper will benefit any
agency that utilizes
mutual aid, and the members of those agencies. It will also
benefit the citizens in the
respective jurisdictions and areas that these agencies respond to
by having the disasters
that take place mitigated with the least amount of loss of life,
and property damage, by

10. having multiple agencies come together working with one
another to successfully bring
any disaster under control.
Summary of Remaining Chapters
The next four chapters will discuss the review of literature,
methodology, data and
analysis, and conclusions.
Comment [SP2]: Write a paragraph explaining
how you, your co-researchers, and your research
subjects will benefit from your findings.
Comment [CaL3R2]: The research that is
performed in this paper will benefit any agency that
utilized mutial aid. The
Comment [SP4]: Tell the reader what the next
four chapters contain.
8
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Whenever a natural disaster, terrorist’s attacks, or mass
casualties occur in the

11. United States, it is the Fire department that is the first
responder on scene. Scoppetta
(2008) stated that having capability and flexibility are vital
components of being prepared
for natural disasters. The amount of training, education, and
preparedness are
detrimental in successfully saving people’s lives. There have
been various studies that
have researched disasters and Fire fighters preparedness for
when disaster strikes. The
question to be addresses is if Fire Fighters are responding
appropriately when disasters
occur. What can be done differently from disasters such as
Hurricane Katrina, 9/11
Terrorists Attacks, and mass casualty incidents. Is it safe to
assume that fire departments
across the nation are implementing the National Incident
Management System (NIMS)
that is mandated when responding to disasters?
A qualitative survey study by Jensen & Yoon (2011) was
mailed out to 365 fire
chiefs at volunteer (rural) fire departments within North Dakota.
The survey questioned
them regarding their personal perception of mandated policies

12. associated with NIMS and
federal policies when responding to emergent situations. It was
extremely alarming to
learn that the Jensen & Yoon (2011) study determined that
NIMS was not acknowledged
by majority of the Fire Chiefs and their level of education
regarding the federal mandated
policies were not implemented when responding to emergent
situations. Some of the
participants felt that because they were volunteer fire fighters
that they did not
necessarily need to meet all of these NIMS requirements when
responding to
emergencies. If this is how one selected group of Firemen feel
towards federal mandated
9
policies when responding to disaster situations, are other
departments having similar
feelings and could it be why some disasters were not
appropriately handled?
The most recent disaster that most millennials might be more
knowledgeable

13. about is the 9/11 terrorist attack on the New York Twin Towers.
Dearstyne (2007) stated
that the New York Fire Department was the first responding
agency to the Twin Towers.
The Dearstyne (2007) article is a collaboration of interviews
from firemen, EMS, and
responding agencies. Also, oral transcripts from the surviving
responders are also
integrated into the scholarly article. There are numerous areas
of error that occurred
during the 9/11 response from the Fire Department, some which
could have been avoided
and possibly saved the lives of Fire and Police men. Dearstyne
(2007) stated that
communication failures, disruption in command structures,
extreme fear, communication
with other responding agencies such a police or news crews, and
lack of areal/helicopter
reports of status of towers during the attacks all contributed to
Fire Fighters not
responding appropriately to the disaster area.
Hurricane Katrina affected not only New Orleans but several
surrounding areas

14. due to needing help from outside resources. There were several
areas of error through the
government and chain of command when responding to a state
of emergency. However,
the Cave (2008) study discussed the public safety agencies
within New Orleans and how
they responded to the disasters. The Cave (2008) study entails
a collaboration of over
300 interviews and oral history archives that are analyzed. The
study describes the New
Orleans police department and how they inadequately responded
to Hurricane Katrina.
Several Police officers were traumatized by the hurricane that
they committed suicide the
following weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck.
10
Another department that was analyzed by Cave (2008) study
was the St. Bernard
Parish Fire Department, which was abandoned during Hurricane
Katrina partially due to
it being the area that was hit hardest by the Hurricane. The
Firemen were primarily

15. stationed at the two shelters during the hurricane and focused
primarily on saving lives.
There is no mention of implementing federal mandated policies
during the natural
disasters, just focusing on keeping the citizens alive. They also
didn’t have a system to
properly store or place deceased bodies, they would place them
in bins or closets. The
New Orleans Fire Department according to Cave (2008) was
labeled as the most prepared
department among all of those involved with Hurricane Katrina.
Some of the firemen
would bring their personal boats so they could recover people
when it was safe to venture
outside after the storm. Many lives were saved by the effective
communication and level
of preparedness the department implemented following
Hurricane Katrina.
The Boston Marathon Bombings was one of the most recent
mass casualties that
have occurred in our Nation. Due to the incident occurring not
long ago, there have been
only a select few articles that are peer reviewed that study the
responses by emergency

16. medical staff. Fleming (2014) complied a time line of the
responses by the Boston Fire
Department and what new strategies they have implemented due
to them learning from
the mass casualty of the Boston Marathon bombings. Some of
the strategies that have
improved since the bombings include aggressive deployment
posture, planning process
with stakeholders, continuous briefing, adequate amount of
equipment, effective radio
communication, and maintaining interagency relationships. The
Boston Fire department
did an outstanding job responding to the Boston Marathon
Bombings, however they are
11
implementing new policies and protocols to ensure optimal
safety and life saving
strategies are utilized during high occupancy events.
Some scholarly articles have discussed ways that the Fire
department can improve
to disaster relief protocols. Parker (2007) provides a

17. collaboration of ways the Fire
department can be prepared for disasters on properties that have
high occupancy. The
primary tool to being effective when responding to a disaster is
maintaining
communication, having a plan, and practicing the plan. Events
such as 9/11 and
Hurricane Katrina were unfathomable and the unexpected had
occurred which made
some Fire Departments more aware of their weaknesses and how
they can better prepare
themselves for other possible disasters. The Parker (2007)
reiterates the important factors
to making a response to an emergency successful and effective.
Addressing the importance of preparedness and planning
process for Fire
departments across the United States needs to be implemented
and discussed more.
Burgess et al. (2014) is a study based off of a selection of 13
Fire Departments in various
countries and there level of on the job Fatalities over a 6 year
period. The United States
alarmingly was ranked 2
nd

18. highest with on the job fatalities out of various countries. The
3
rd
highest ranking injury among Fire Men in the US was on the
job training, some partly
because of physical fitness and lack thereof. Weinschenk
(2008) survey study among the
Austin Fire department states that there is an unspoken
connection between
noncompliance of standard operating guidelines and Firemen
while performing on the job
training, which can be correlated with the United States high
occurrences of on the job
training injuries.
12
An example of the United States preparing its federal, state,
and local public
safety agencies is preparing them for worst case scenarios. One
of those scenarios is a
Cyanide attack which according to Eckstein (2008) Cyanide has
been used throughout

19. history during various wars and terrorists attacks. The article
describes the different
forms of cyanide and how terrorists have used it as weapons.
The CDC
recommendations are also incorporated into the scholarly article
along with ways to treat
an exposure. Hazmat teams have to readily be available and up
to date with training to
properly respond to such an event. This is one of the many
examples of how Fire
departments and other public safety agencies are trying to train
and stay knowledgeable
about disasters that might occur in the United States.
There is no doubt that Fire Departments have been training for
all sorts of
disasters. The Johnsons & Matthews (1997) is an older study
but even determined that
almost 20 years ago the Fire Departments needed to implement
new strategies and better
prepare themselves through these simulation training exercises.
Throughout the disasters
such as 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Boston Marathon
Bombings Fire Departments

20. have been heroic in saving lives but have also learned that
mistakes occurred and how to
more forward and stronger than before. The key here is to have
all Fire Departments
participant with the federal mandated training and protocol
implementation along with
effective communication skills. Fire departments are
responding to disasters as
appropriately as they have been taught and trained how to
respond. The only thing we can
do is continue to train and educator ourselves on better ways to
safely respond to all sorts
of disasters.
13
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
The purpose of the research is have a better understanding of
the fire departments
preparedness for disasters. The primary research question is:
How prepared is the fire

21. department for disasters? The sub-questions for research
include: 1) how do firemen
respond to disasters? 2) What kind of standard operating
procedures are in place for
disaster planning? 3) What kind of training is incorporated in
the local fire department for
preparedness if or when disasters occur?
Rationale for Research Methods
I will use action research because research has showing that
through quantitative
and qualitative studies on fire department preparedness, that
preparedness has saved lives
when disasters occur. Cave (2008) stated that the New Orleans
fire department was the
most prepared fire department when hurricane Katrina made
landfall, and they were able
to rescue numerous people that were stranded because of the
flooding. For my research I
will analyze quantitative data that will be personally collected
and then through a survey
analyze qualitative data. Then come to a conclusion like
various other studies such as
Cave (2008) have regarding fire department preparedness.

22. Definition of Study Population
The Participants in the study will be men and women that are
current employees
in a local fire department. Diversity will play an important
factor in collecting a sample
of the population. I will incorporate various ethnic
backgrounds to try and obtain an
14
adequate sample population.
Procedures for Data Collection
Data will be collected in a confidential manner and no subjects
will be exposed
during the research process. I will start with a qualitative
survey regarding what the fire
department staff feel in regards to their preparedness for
disasters on a scale of 1 to 5, 5
being most prepared. Then I will interview members to see what
type of preparedness
training is incorporated in their job description for disaster
planning. Lastly I will
perform a quantitative research in regards to any injuries that

23. might have occurred while
on the job.
Procedures and Methods for Data Analysis
Once data has been collected I will maintain confidentiality by
utilizing alphabet
assigned to participants and creating pie chart with the amount
of people that feel
prepared with their jobs. Then I will create a table to describe
the different trainings fire
department staff endure for disasters. Finally with the
quantitative research I will have a
bar graph to review on the job injuries.
Limitations of Study
The limitations of this study will be that the population will not
represent the
general population in the US. It is only a handful of members
that work at the fire
department. I will reduce bias by selecting individuals that
work at the fire department
and on all shifts at one station. Implementing various
techniques in collecting data
regarding questions with the fire department preparedness will
help me in validate the

24. authenticity of the research being conducted. Also, having
another person review the
15
data that is collected and interrupted will also be included,
however; she will not have
access to the participant’s names or personal information. The
data collected will be
compared to previous studies that have been performed
regarding this topic.
Timeline for Data Collection
In November the surveys will be handed out to the fellow
firemen at the station.
After that the data ill then be interrupted appropriately and
safely into a graph. After that
an interview will be conducted to learn the type of preparedness
that is incorporated into
their job descriptions while at the fire department. Finally, the
firemen will be asked
about on the job injuries. After all of the data has been
collected and interrupted, the
final synthesis of data will be compiled into a final paper for

25. instructor review at the
beginning of December
16
REFERENCES
Burgess, J. j., Duncan, M. m., Mallett, J. m., LaFleur, B. b.,
Littau, S. s., & Shiwaku, K.
s. (2014). International Comparison of Fire Department
Injuries. Fire Technology,
50(5), 1043-1059.
Cave, M. (2008). Through Hell and High Water: New Orleans,
August 29-September 15,
2005. Oral History Review, 35(1), 1-10.
doi:10.1093/ohr/ohm003
Dearstyne, B. (2007). The FDNY on 9/11: Information and
decision making in crisis.
Government Information Quarterly, 24(1), 29-46.
Eckstein, M. (2008). Enhancing Public Health Preparedness for
a Terrorist Attack
Involving Cyanide. Journal Of Emergency Medicine (0736-

26. 4679), 35(1), 59-65.
doi:10.1016/j.jemermed.2007.03.040
Fleming, J. (2014). One Year Later: Lessons from the Boston
Marathon Bombings. Fire
Engineering, 167(5), 43-56.
Jensen, J. A., & Yoon, D. (2011). Volunteer Fire Department
Perceptions of ICS and
NIMS. Journal Of Homeland Security & Emergency
Management, 8(1), 1-19.
doi:10.2202/1547- 7355.1808
Johnson, W. H., & Matthews, W. R. (1997). Disaster plan
simulates plane crash into
high-rise building. Disaster Prevention & Management, 6(5),
311.
doi:10.1108/09653569710193745
Parker, J. (2007). Preparing for the Worst. Journal Of Property
Management, 72(2), 34-
37.
Comment [SP5]: List at least 30 references in
APA Style in alphabetical order, double-spaced

27. 17
References Continued
Scoppetta, N. (2008). Disaster Planning and Preparedness: A
Human Story. Social
Research: An International Quarterly, (3), 807.
Weinschenk, C., Ezekoye, O. A., & Nicks, R. (2008). Analysis
of Fireground Standard
Operating Guidelines/Procedures Compliance for Austin Fire
Department. Fire
Technology, 44(1), 39-64.