During-Incident Example Coordination Issues Example Coordination Goals Example Coordination Phase Mechanisms and Support

Standard Operation Procedure (SOP), tasks assignments were made and assumed as predetermined plans with minimal specific direction

Interior fire attack operations on the fire in the tunnel, support operations dealing with water supply, security, medical services, and so forth

Task Flow

Resources utilization of personnel, heavy and light rescue equipment, water supply, and communication frequency from Baltimore City Fire

Mini- Department, City Police Department, Second Resource City Emergency Management, Baltimore Coordination County Fire Department

Cycle

Resources were deployed as per predetermined plans, and priority-based cause-effect analysis

Communication between the IC, the fire Information attack teams and the supportive teams

(such as police, EMS, and Haz-Mat)

Decision making for ground operations such as immediate fire suppression and containment

Task division and scheduling such as:

- Interior attack teams laid hose lines and entered the hazard area to find and extinguish the fire - During the interior attacks, the “second in” engines functioned as water supply to support interior attacks - The police secured and blocked the surrounding area and ensured that only the response resources went through - While the 5”-diameter hose was lowered into the tunnel through the manhole, firefighters entered the tunnel and attached their hose lines to the 5”-water supply and started firefighting - Individual cars from the end of the train were removed to enable firefighters to attack the fires in the other cars

Efficient and effective use of resources

- Allocation of a specific radio frequency for ground operations, maintenance, and management functions - Allocation of water resource, supplied through a 5” water supply manifold through a manhole among interior attack teams - Efficient use (distribution and refill) of personal protective equipment such as Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) among firefighter shifts who entered the tunnel - Efficient use of rehabilitation services, provided by EMS, for the firefighters - Allocation of crews (engines, trucks, and battalions) among the Camden sector (north end), Mt. Royal sector (south end), and Tower sector

Real-time information exchange among the interior attack teams for safety Baltimore Fire Department 800MHz awareness and assistance, fast information sharing between the interior radio systems, hand signals, narratives attack teams and incident commander for situation report

Effective interpretation of operational challenges (sizing up the situation and making resource assessment) to develop rapid intervention schemes with appropriate level of personal and operational safety

Incident priorities (life safety, property conservation and extinguishment), Standard Operation Procedures (SOP), Haz-Mat precautions (flame and chemical contact

Decision protection, supplied air respiration, the
hazards of Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor
Explosion), building safety guidance (in the
face of weakening structural integrity of the
tunnel and immediate surrounding areas)

Confident and trustful relationships among the responders and among the The opportunity of response partners to helpers, clear accountability, accurate expectations of team members’ exercise together in pre-incident training and actions and capabilities drills, to instill personal and team confidence

Supervise and support the ongoing Timely and necessary operation interventions to ensure the personal safety Goal selection, task decomposition, tunnel firefighting and public welfare (responders and the public) and task progress of the entire response effort plug-and-play teaming, coordination

- Appropriate interruptions of the attack on the fire to avoid both exposure by expertise to risks and waste of resource

- During the response, the U.S. Coast Guard deployed a series of floating booms to protect the Inner Harbor against contamination and potential hazardous runoff from the derailment site

- While fire was occurring, citizens of Mount Royal Station were offered the choice to leave for the “shelter-in-place”

Management of additional response re- Efficient acquisition of additional resources Need-based request (multiple alarm sources from the City of Baltimore - Apply mutual aid resources to support fire scene operations and stand-by calls), plan of mutual aid

Department of Public Works (DPW); from services in event of additional alarm calls the Representatives of the South Baltimore - Allocating and maintaining the resource staging area for rapid distribution

Resource Industrial Mutual Aid Plan, CSX Transport- and demobilization of resources ation, the Maryland Department of

Environment; the National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Coast Guard

Global information collection, analysis, and dissemination

Responders and helpers learn to Responder work together

Task Flow

Efficient management of task-critical information among stakeholders Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD)

- The on-site command team kept in close contact with the CSX system, Baltimore City Transportation companies for train- and cargo-related information Communication Center, dispatch - Hazard analyses of smoke, air, and water were quickly delivered to the service, public and private networks on-site command team from the Maryland Department of Environment

(MDE), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Coast Guard and

CSX contractor continually during the response process

- Public announcements (including civil defense sirens) were made over radio and television to alert citizens and to initiate a “shelter-in-place” advisory

Effective evaluation of the response situation and timely transitions of Protocol breaking, joint decision overall response strategies for higher effectiveness making, cost-benefit analysis

- From initial aggressive attacks (initial direct attacks through both ends of the tunnel) to passive attack (waiting for the fire to burn out) to defensive attack (by taking advantage of the rupture of the water main) to aggressive

Decision attack (attack through manhole on the street)

- With the reported water main rupture on the street right above the tunnel, the on-site management team negotiated with the Baltimore DPW to keep the water flowing from the ruptured water main into the tunnel for two hours. This decision effectively cooled the tunnel and prevented a

Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion.

The on-site management team placed confidence on the information Working experience with related provided by the MDE, Coast Guard, CSX contractor, EPA while issuing agencies through training; develop orders to the interior fire teams. The onsite management team and the city strong partnership with agencies management trusted each other to utilize the water breakout for responsible for responding to incidents; firefighting at the cost of massive impact on the city’s water supply and risk institute predefined plans of necessitating reconfigurations of the city water systems.

¹ James Guy (Ex-Fire Chief and now Chief of Environmental Affairs at the State University of New York at Buffalo) and Dave Humbert (Fire Chief – North Bailey, Amherst, New York) provided valuable insight into the Baltimore train derailment incident.

Many-Second Coordination Cycle Information

Effectiveness of the action plans (response progress and resources capability), develop a strategic response with critical stakeholders involved (such as city management) to control and limit the damage to property, the environment and the welfare of the citizens of Baltimore

Management of relationship with the external agencies