Columbia Southern University Unit 3 Incident Action Plan Paper Instructions
Incident Action Plan: Phase 1
For this assignment, you will begin working on an Incident Action Plan (IAP), which is due in Unit VIII. There are five phases to the IAP, and you will complete Phase 1 for this assignment. Refer to the FEMA Incident Action Planning Guide, specifically Phase 1. See the Unit VIII assignment instructions for more details about the final requirements for the IAP.
The incident action planning process will be a way for you to plan and execute operations on any incident that may occur within the community provided in the scenario. This means that incident action planning will be more than producing an IAP. It will be a set of activities in each unit that provides a consistent rhythm and structure to incident management of any type.
In several units of this course, through the incident action planning process, you will begin developing a tool that will synchronize operations at the incident level to ensure that incident operations are conducted in support of incident objectives. The incident action planning process is built on the following phases:
understand the situation;
establish incident objectives;
develop the plan;
prepare and disseminate the plan; and
execute, evaluate, and revise the plan.
During each phase, you will prepare a well-organized and thoughtful summary/narrative consisting of two sections. One section will consist of a one-to-two-page narrative for each phase of the IAP. In this assignment, your narrative will consist of your evaluation of Phase 1 of the IAP. Phase 1 covers the operational period, which is the period of time scheduled for executing a given set of operational actions as specified in the IAP. Chapter 4 of the textbook National Incident Management System: Principles and Practice (pp. 45–46) defines the operational period and the specific incident mission requirements needed to begin Phase 1.
The second section of your summary/narrative will consist of at least three pages in which you address the following issues:
if or when the Finance/Administration section should be established during an emergency incident;
if the emergency incident requires a Finance/Administration section, determine when it should have pre-established agreements, contracts, and a procedural process with local vendors, suppliers, and contractors on equipment and/or supplies that could be required during the emergency;
if the emergency incident does not require a Finance/Administration section, determine why it does not need preestablished agreements, contracts, and a procedural process with local vendors, suppliers, and contractors on equipment and/or supplies that could be required during the emergency; and
explain the importance of a budget for fire and emergency medical services (EMS) administration in preparation for emergency incidents
For Phase 1, retrieve the ICS Form 201: Incident Briefing from the IAP Assignment Documents folder in the course menu in Blackboard, and begin entering the data from the background information documents and the scenario you choose. This information and other resources will enable you to complete Phase 1 of the IAP. Check with your instructor if you are having difficulty with any section of the form.
You will choose one event from the different incident scenarios that could occur on Little Columbia Southern Island. Please click here to view the scenarios. The background information will be the same for all five events; however, the emergency event will be different. The five incident scenarios are listed below:
fire-related emergency,
storm-related emergency,
public health-related emergency,
environmental-related emergency, and
mass shooter incident.
In addition, you are provided photos of various places on Little Columbia Southern Island to help you evaluate the conditions for the scenario you choose.
Click here for access to bay homes photos.
Click here for a map of the island.
Click here for northern side of island photos.
Click here for middle of island home photos.
Click here for south side of island photos.
Click here for unimproved roads photos.
Refer to these documents for this assignment as well as all other assignments when completing the IAP.
Use any available resource that your community has available as if it were Columbia County. For instance, if your county has 23 sets of fire apparatus equipment, then make them available if needed for Columbia County, or if your county has a mobile medical clinic and it is a part of your plan, then list it on the form. These resources will be listed on ICS Form 201. The purpose of this assignment is for you to apply the concepts and knowledge you learned in this unit to begin writing the IAP. Also, this assignment provides you with the opportunity to use your skills, expertise, and experience to enrich your response.
To supplement your discussion and support your writing, you may use information from reputable, reliable journal articles, case studies, scholarly papers, and other sources that you feel are pertinent. You should use at least three sources that can include one or both of your textbooks. All sources used, including the textbook(s), must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations in proper APA style.
Both the summary/narrative and the completed ICS Form 202 should be uploaded into the assignment area in Blackboard.
NOTE: This assignment is a part of the Unit VIII Final Project. Your assignment will be graded according to the assigned rubric, and the professor will provide feedback to you. This feedback will help you to correct any discrepancies before compiling this assignment into the final IAP. This will help you to submit a quality IAP and achieve an overall better review and grade. Background and Scenarios for Incident Action Plan Project
Little Columbia Southern Island
Physical Attributes and Infrastructure
Little Columbia Southern Island is a bridgeless barrier island located off the Southwest Coast of the
United States. The nearest municipality is a one hour drive from the Columbia Coastal Marina, which then
takes 45 minutes to reach the island by ferry or boat. The water between the mainland and the island is
designated as a protected wildlife zone by the U. S. Fish and Game Commission. All boat traffic is limited
to 15 mph per hour. The island is approximately seven miles in length and varies between 1/8 and 3/8
miles wide. The length and width of the island changes as currents erode and deposit sand along the
shoreline. The only vehicles/equipment on the island are electric golf carts used by the residents, one
1930 jeep used to grade the main road, a Coastal Power & Light truck, one sea plane, and fire
department apparatus. There are no commercial stores or facilities on the island, which includes food or
other amenities.
The governing body of the island is an Advisory Board with one person elected from each district of the
island representing 2,724 residents. The island is divided equally into five different districts. The advisory
board communicates concerns, problems or issues to the Columbia County Commissioner who
represents the island. All Advisory Board and community meetings are held in the Coastal Chapel on the
island. Rarely do the island residents attend any of the County Commission meetings due to the time and
distance to the meetings held on the mainland. The Advisory Board provides a summary list of the issues
and considerations for their County Commissioner to present at various hearings and meetings. The
island is divided into three distinct mindsets. The northern end of the island will not utilize any
governmental agency and refuses to have potable water connected to their homes. The middle of the
island is made up of rental properties along the coast and bay. The southern part of the island is made up
of residents who have a vision for change by developing the infrastructure to include water and sewer
from the mainland.
The majority of the island is single-family homes with two condominium developments; combined, both
condominiums have 300 units. The condominiums on the bay are protected by a sprinkler system that is
supplied from a fire pump connected to the island’s only pond. The island has no public use or facilities
for public access. The road system consists of unimproved paths and dirt roads which are maintained by
the residents. Many of the unimproved paths and dirt roads only allow vehicular access that is limited to
the width of a golf cart. The main roadway system that runs the length of the island will accommodate fire
apparatus and the island’s utility truck. Residents that live on the bay side have privately owned docks
that extend out past the shallow flats for access to their home. Many of those homes are only accessible
from the dock and water. There is only one dock that will accommodate the ferry and fire boat from
Columbia County Emergency Services. The ferry is mainly used for transporting people and household
garbage from the island to the Columbia Coastal Marina.
The infrastructure is very limited with Coastal Power & Light providing electricity and the Coastal
Telephone Company providing phone services. Cellular phone coverage is limited due to a lack of cellular
towers within close range. Potable water is provided by a privately-owned water company (owned by one
of the island residents). The privately-owned water company has a deep well that provides water to 10%
of the island residents through a 3-inch water main with 1 ½ inch branches. The four fire hydrants located
in the southern part of the island are fed from the fire pump. All the homes in the northern section of the
island have individual cisterns that rely on rain as their source of water. Some homes have shallow wells
and a reverse osmosis desalinization plant that provides water to 38% of the residents and
condominiums. Single-family homes are on septic tanks and drain field systems, except the
condominiums which has a wastewater treatment system.
All parcels of the island are privately owned by the residents and there are 745 platted lots ranging in
various sizes from one tenth of an acre to five acres. The majority of the homes and structures have
native vegetation within five feet and no fuel reduction buffers. Several of the residents have pushed for
community awareness regarding Firewise principles and a defensible space, keeping wildfire away from
homes and structures, but it has been met with resistance. They want the native vegetation to remain in
place to have the old coastal look. Part of the concern from those aware of the fire danger are weather
patterns and available firefighting resources that would influence the ability to control the fire quickly.
Emergency Services
Emergency medical services are provided by the Little Columbia Southern Island Fire Department. The
fire department has two fulltime career personnel which includes the fire chief and a firefighter/paramedic.
Four volunteers from the community provide assistance to the fire department on emergency incidents.
The fire department is funded through a non-ad valorem assessment levied on each property and
contributions from island residents and visitors during special events held on the island. Law enforcement
is provided by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Department.
The Little Columbia Southern Island Fire Department was formed after a fatal fire that killed four island
residents. The delayed response from Columbia County Emergency Services to the fire occurred after the
9-1-1 call was dropped. The fire was so intense that fire investigators from the State could not determine
the cause. Following that fire incident, the island’s Advisory Board met and demanded fire protection.
After several meetings with their County Commissioner a solution was proposed to provide limited fire
protection and emergency services from the county. The Little Columbia Southern Island Fire Department
was able to maintain on-duty status of at least one or more persons 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. In
addition, the fire department had to initiate measures to control the emergency while the county provided
a full response to the incident, if needed. The Little Columbia Southern Island Fire Department had to
also submit a proposed budget for approval during the budgetary process beginning each October 1st.
The island’s Advisory Board also serves as the Fire Board with oversight for the fire department. The total
budget for the fire department is $220,057.78. Twenty thousand dollars is raised by the volunteers and
Advisory Board from the sale of tee-shirts and hats during special events on the island.
The fire department is temporarily using one of the rental homes on the island as their station. The station
has a small generator which provides power to the radio, refrigerator, and some emergency lights during
power outages. Most emergency calls are received by a cellular phone which is carried by the on-duty
person at the fire station. Many residents do not trust the Columbia County 9-1-1 Public Address System
(PAS) since the communications center dropped the emergency call that resulted in the fatal fire. The fire
department utilizes two all-wheel drive pickup trucks converted to fire apparatus and two all-terrain
vehicles (ATVs) to access the beach and remote areas of the island.
Environmental-Related Emergency Scenario
Red Tide
Along the coastal area of Little Columbia Southern Island, the largest red tide bloom in more than five
decades occurred, killing thousands of fish.
Long-term island residents have never seen such a magnitude of devastation to the fish and marine
organisms as is occurring with this bloom. As the dead fish and marine organisms begin to wash ashore,
many of the residents have begun to develop health issues. According to the Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Columbia Marine
Laboratory, this red tide bloom threat is expected to last for three months.
A researcher with the Ocean Technology program at the Columbia Marine Laboratory suggested that the
phenomenon of red tide blooms has existed for centuries and many times the bloom remains offshore.
However, this bloom is impacting the health and safety of residents and commercial fishing for the entire
coastal area. The Department of Environmental Protection obtained a sample of the red tide bloom and
discovered the bloom is the harmful algal bloom (HAB). As a result, multiple manatees, sea turtles, and
bottlenose dolphins are being washed up on the northern side of the island.
Columbia County health officials, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the Columbia Marine
Laboratory have issued warnings of brevetoxin exposure from the HAB. However, each agency’s warning
does not exactly contain the same information. Nonetheless, they all agree that inhalation of aerosolized
toxins or the consumption of any fish or marine life in the area may be dangerous to one’s health. They
stated clinical symptom signs are respiratory illnesses followed by lethargy and muscle weakness
including death. They have ordered a voluntary evacuation; however, residents of the island refuse to
leave.
The Department of Environmental Protection and health officials began monitoring the potable water from
the reverse osmosis desalinization system and found HAB have penetrated the purification
semipermeable membrane, allowing the toxin to be disseminated into the potable water. In fact, several
residents had complained that the potable water tasted salty at times and county officials refused to
investigate the complaints because of it being a private system. Within a week after the red tide bloom
began to occur, 45 deaths resulted from people drinking the water and eating shellfish from the bay.
Fire-Related Emergency Scenario
Wildland Fire
The coastal area surrounding Little Columbia Southern Island is under water restrictions due to an
extreme drought condition with a deficiency of as much as 10 inches below the average rainfall for the
island. Even native plants that can tolerate drought are showing signs of significant damage. Columbia
County Wildland fire managers have issued burn bans for the entire coastal area and placed suppression
resources on high alert. Fire units are dispatched to any calls reporting smoke. After eight months of
being on high alert, the county had to restrict response to every call involving reported smoke because of
budget constraints. Currently, all the calls have been false reports of islanders and those on the mainland
burning household waste in burn barrels. Columbia County Emergency Services (CCES) developed a
scenario-based standard operations guideline for responses of only one apparatus for reported flames
showing until its arrival, and then units could be dispatched based on the scene size-up. The tradeoffs of
responding only to flames showing have reduced expenditures and proved to be effective.
Little Columbia Southern Island Fire Department (LCSIFD) had responded to multiple calls involving
smoke from burn barrels despite the request not to burn household waste. However, the northern part of
the island refuses to abide by the request. After responding two to three times a day to the northern area,
the fire department adopted the same guidelines as the county for only responding to visible flames.
Moreover, due to the large amount of natural vegetation many times smoke was not noticed and the fire
department was not even alerted.
Drought conditions continued to worsen and resources available to respond to incidents became even
more restricted due to multiple small fires occurring in the county. Columbia County petitioned the Federal
Government for aid; however, due to the number of other disasters occurring across the Nation, requests
were denied, unless there was a true disaster. After weeks of responding to small fires caused by human
carelessness, CCES sent a memorandum to LCSIFD reminding them of the agreement that the county
would provide a full response to the incident if needed and only after they attempted to mitigate the
incident first. One reason listed in the memorandum was due to the daily number of fires not receiving a
full response in the county because of limited resources.
Small fires began to increase on the island, taxing the career firefighter and fire chief, as well as the four
volunteer firefighters. The volunteers decided to respond only when notified by career personnel instead
of the county dispatcher for working fires and emergencies. The volunteers’ only means of contact were
through cell phones on an already taxed system of family members calling to check on loved ones.
Weather conditions began to change and the normal weather patterns of the morning sea breezes
moving inland and the land breeze moving toward the coast in the evening were making it impossible to
predict fire behavior based on weather and time of day. Wind gusts up to 30 mph became a norm for the
area, causing white caps in the bay, which was unheard of for decades.
The LCSIFD responded to a small grass fire on the most southern part of the island where the only
means of fire suppression was a float-a-pump that had to be hand carried to a canal in order to mitigate
the fire. The fire was approximately covering a ¼ acre in moderate fuel. While fighting the fire on the
southern part of the island, reports came in of a large fire that had developed in the northern part and was
moving south. Multiple residences, including the volunteer firefighters, started to call the fire department
cell phone to report multiple structure fires. The LCSIFD called CCES for mutual aid and were denied due
to CCES working a 45-acre fire involving multiple structures in the eastern part of the county and they
requested mutual aid to assist them. The LCSIFD fire chief left the southern fire to investigate the
northern fire. A total of 12 structures were already lost and two more were involved. As nightfall was
approaching, the winds had died down and the fire was near a natural fire break.
Storm-Related Emergency Scenario
Hurricane
During the month of January, high winds and heavy rain caused localized flooding throughout the island.
The majority of the homes are on stilts due to building codes, and the flooding only impeded the use of
golf carts on the unimproved paths and dirt roads and drives of homes built in 1950s. Septic tanks were
backing up and overflowing into stagnate flood waters. The only wastewater treatment plant on the island
was affected due to the increase in rainfall, which caused the plant to exceed its capacity.
Flood waters migrated to the unimproved paths and dirt roads as a result of years of use, causing the
sand and dirt to displace lower than the existing island. Most of the telephone and communications cables
were buried along these paths and the flood water began to infiltrate into the weak points along the cable.
In February, a hurricane warning notification was issued by the National Weather Service for Columbia
County and most of the coastal areas. The hurricane named Andrea was the first named storm of the
year even though hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. Many of the islanders did
not heed any of the warnings even though Hurricane Andrea was a Category 3. After all, they survived
Hurricane Donna in the 1960s, when they had no real warnings.
The storm’s initial onslaught began at approximately 2:30 p.m. on February 21. The heavy rains
continued until 3 a.m. on February 22. These torrential rains added to the already saturated ground from
the previous rains. The warning system, established to alert sleeping citizens in the rural areas on the
mainland, proved to be totally inadequate for people living on the island since they could not hear the
warning due to the island’s distance to the mainland. Virtually all deaths on the island occurred as a result
of failure of the Columbia County Emergency Operations Center (CCEOC) to initiate timely warnings and
to implement evacuation of the low-lying areas along the coastal area and Little Columbia Southern
Island.
The Columbia River overflowed its banks in the early morning hours of February 22, causing $8.3 million
worth of damage to the area around Columbia Coastal Marina. The evacuation of 5,000 people from lowlying areas caused access from the marina to Little Columbia Southern Island to be shut down.
Communications systems proved to be totally inadequate to cope with the devastation generated from
Hurricane Andrea.
There were no procedures established for evacuating and sheltering residents from the island or the
marina area; which led to confusion. The following shortcomings were noted:
Evacuation traffic control procedures were not coordinated among state police, county sheriff,
and local law enforcement officials. This resulted in a traffic gridlock that delayed evacuation on
the only main road leaving the marina.
Red Cross was not tasked to operate the opened shelters north of Coastal Marina. The
management of the shelter directly depended on the management skills of the school system.
There was no previous training of school system personnel on shelter operation. In addition, there
were no written materials available on shelter operation.
Shelter management was marginal, at best, and there was no registration and systematic
processing of evacuees. This was believed to be the underlying cause for the rumors that
developed on February 21 that Hurricane Andrea caused hundreds of deaths. These rumors
resulted in hours of anxiety for relatives and close friends of the evacuees.
The Columbia County commercial telephone facility was damaged, as were many of the
telephone lines. There was no prior effort to organize radio amateur civil emergency service
(RACES) personnel and to incorporate their systems and capabilities into the emergency plan.
The county does not have a communication plan that integrates the fire service, law enforcement,
emergency management, and emergency medical service personnel into the overall
communication plan.
Public Health-Related Emergency Scenario
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
One of the island residents returned to the island after being overseas and volunteering in several rural
hospitals. During this time, the person was unknowingly carrying Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS). The man spoke at several island events during a seven day period and at neighboring
humanitarian events throughout Columbia County. He even spoke at a July 4th event on the island where
just under a thousand visitors made contact with him during the two-day event to raise money for another
humanitarian trip.
The next day, he suddenly became ill with shortness of breath, flu-like symptoms, gastrointestinal
discomfort, muscle ache, and a cough. Over a two-day period, several more people on the island began
complaining of similar symptoms to include lethargy and a sore throat. There was a small red tide
outbreak that causes the same symptoms in many patients. Paramedics from Little Columbia Southern
Island Fire Department responded to the emergency and a patient was transported via boat to the closest
hospital. As a result of the red tide bloom, many patients believed the symptoms were just that. The local
hospital misdiagnosed SARs as the side effects of the red tide bloom and released the patient to return to
the island. As a result, the disease spread rapidly throughout the tight-knit community with a total of 12
deaths.
Mass Casualty Incident Scenario
Mass Shooter Incident
This scenario is based on active shooter and Mass …
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