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Attention Wisconsin veterans! The gas explosions
in Ellison Bay, Wisconsin appear to be over and
the Incident Commander (Chris Hetch) indicated
he'll be releasing resources. Congratulations
Door County fire fighters, law enforcement, and
Emergency Government for a job well done. Thank
you Wisconsin veterans for the role you played
during this international incident. I've
received comments from around the world.
While it might be time to stand-down and
regroup, it's also time to remain vigilant and
prepare reinforcements incase we're hit by
another disaster (tornado, gas explosion, wild
fire, BLEVE, etc.). Experience has taught us
that terrorists target already stressed
communities, using disasters to trigger attacks
where resources have been depleted. Their goal
is to spread panic, traumatize victims, and
benefit from an already in place global media
blitz.
If the Ellison Bay incident had gone past 14
days, there had been more explosions or
escalation in "scope creep," we would have
automatically surveyed Wisconsin veterans in
order to create a data base of resources for the
Incident Commander. All things being considered
(We're in the middle of our tourist season, our
first responders need a rest, we're already in
the news, etc.) I think it's prudent to at least
survey veterans, identify resources, and write
an incident action plan to implement should it
be needed.
Please click here and complete our survey. Note
you don't have to be a veteran or live in
Wisconsin to help.
We can can all now stand-down, breath easy, and
prepare for the next community and all
breath e, our county first responders are tired,
under stress I've written an "Incident Action
Plan" that musters the support of Wisconsin
veterans during a disaster or terrorist attack.
While the gas explosions in Ellison Bay,
Wisconsin appear to be over and the Incident
Commander (Chris Hetch) is standing down and
releasing resources, provides
incident commanders with backup personnel when
the incident escalates to level III or exceeds
14 days. While the gas explosions in Ellison
Bay, Wisconsin appear to be under control and
the Incident Commander is standing down and
releasing resources,
Caution!
The
role veterans play during this or any future
incidents must only be under the expressed
direction and control of the Incident Commander.
Unless otherwise told, the Incident Commander is
always the local Fire Chief.
The reason for this has to do with laws that
hold municipalities responsible for all response
and recovery efforts. Failing to respond under
the direction and control of the Incident
Commander can endanger recovery personnel,
frustrate the recovery process, and expose you
to personal liability for your actions.
For additional information, refer to my white
papers on Katrina best and worst practices and
Incident Command System tutorials.
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Veteran' Incident Command Structure
- County Level: At the
county level the County Service
Officer (Scott McFarland/Jayne Buelow)
will be the Incident Commander. The
members of the Veterans Service
Commission (Kenny Wendt - Chairman,
Edson Stevens, and John Mahoney,
Jayne Buelow - Secretary) would serve
Command Staff. Members of the
Veteran's Service Council (Terry
MacDonald - Chairman) would
represent each veteran post in Door
County.
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Veteran' Incident Command Structure
- Post Level:
Considering the incident involves
Liberty Grove I'll us my VFW Post
#8337 as an example: The Post
Commander (Carl T. Carlson) is
automatically the Incident
Commander. Our "Safety Officer"
would handle Safety (John Mahoney),
Post News Chairman (Jeffery Budzis)
would handle Information, and
Adjutant (Lee Burnett) would be our
Liaison. The Incident Commander
would designate an Operations Chief
(Richard Woldt), Planning Chief
(John Mahoney), Logistics Chief
(Jeffery Budzis) and Finance Chief
(Lee Burnett). Operations Chief
would designate a Staging Area
Manager (Col. Richard Davis).
-
Preparing Troops to be
"Mission-ready!" All
veteran's should receive Incident
Command System "Basic Training."
There are many excellent tutorials
on the web sites for emergency
government and homeland security.
I'll volunteer to brief all posts in
the county on Incident Command. I
recommend veterans, download and
read the instructions for Katrina'
First
Responders,
Evacuees,
Contingency Planners/Victims, and
for
Fighting Wild Fires. These were used
during Katrina and in western states
during the 2005 - 2006 wild fires.
-
Inventory
"potential"
Veteran' response personnel and
recovery assets: The goal
is to catalog
"potential"
personnel and recovery assets by zip
code
so the Incident Commander can
mobilize resource as close to the
scene as possible.
This reduces response time
and costs. It also, allows the
commander to bring in temporary
relief for those needing downtime or
replacements for professional first
responders needed somewhere else.
Door County Veterans should all
complete the "Survey
of Veteran' Response and Recovery
Assets."
Note:
Completing this survey does NOT
mean you are committed to respond.
It only provides the Incident
Commander with your contact
information and pre qualifies your
response.
CLICK Here To
Complete the Survey!
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Attention Veteran who plan to respond!
It
is important for you to monitor the
incident on an hourly basis. To
do this I recommend you place a hot
links to all local news media web sites
as well as web sites for Door County
Emergency Government and the Red Cross
on your desktop. Take time now to
familiarize yourself with each site so
you can quickly navigate sites when
you're called on to respond.
Here are some local news media links:
http://nbc26.com/
http://www.wbay.com/
http://wfrv.com/
Also, download and study the
Instructions for First Responders.
These are general instructions so expect
them to be periodically updated by the
Incident Commander or Chief of
Operations. You are also welcome to use
my Risk Management R&D Library to learn
what to do and how to respond to other
natural disasters, terrorist attacks, or
pandemics. I encourage you also to read
our white papers on executive protection
and Katrina' best practices.
Click here for a
link to the R&D center: You are also
welcome to download any handouts I'm
using at the management schools in Texas
and at the WOCCU security conference in
Dublin, Ireland.
Know that I'm using your response to the
explosions in Ellison Bay as a role
model for others to follow. Thank you
for making us all look so good! |
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