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Are you ready? New incident management system allows Tinker to speak same language as civilian counterparts in times of actual emergency

  • Published
  • By Darren D. Heusel
  • Tinker Public Affairs
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE --  As a member of the Tinker Air Force Base community, would you be ready in the event of a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive attack?

Where would you go? What would you do?

Over the next month, the Tinker Take Off will embark on a four-part series on Readiness intended to educate the Tinker community on these very issues.

Today's article will discuss Tinker's transition to the new Air Force Incident Management System based on the national system, which allows military and civilian emergency responders alike to speak the same language in a crisis situation.

Future articles will touch on the various types of potential attacks and inform readers where to go and what to do in the event of an attack -- from epidemics and pandemics such as tuberculosis and the bird flu to vehicle borne improvised explosive devices and various attacks in between.

In the end, it is our hope that you truly are ready for anything!

The emergency management mission at Tinker, and throughout the Air Force for that matter, is to save lives, minimize the loss or degradation of resources and to sustain or restore operational capability in the event of a real-world incident.

The Air Force emergency management program also provides support to homeland security operations and to civil authorities in accordance with Defense Department directives.

To that end, Tinker EM officials recently implemented the new Air Force Incident Management System to allow base emergency responders to better communicate with their civilian counterparts in a crisis situation.

The Air Force adopted the new Presidential and DOD-directed AFIMS program to ensure its emergency response procedures are consistent with the National Incident Management System and National Response Plan.

In a Jan. 10 memorandum from Gen. T. Michael Moseley, chief of Staff of the Air Force, he wrote, "We developed AFIMS to meet these diverse requirements and to enable Airmen to operate under a single emergency management system whether within garrison or deployed."

The memo goes on to state, "This implementation supports a key national priority and our success depends upon the combined efforts of all Airmen and the support of leadership at all levels."

According to Paul Logan, senior exercise evaluator with the 72nd Air Base Wing's Plans and Programs office, the first Incident Command System was developed in 1970 by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in response to wildfires in the southern part of the state.

He said ICS then transitioned into the National Interagency Incident Management System in 1980. In March 2004, the Department of Homeland Security announced approval of the National Incident Management System, the nation's first standardized management plan that creates a unified structure for federal, state and local authorities to deal with incident response.

Mr. Logan said Tinker also works with the local Federal Bureau of Investigation and emergency responders from Oklahoma City, Midwest City and Del City, among others.

"Today, when we're talking with our off-base counterparts, we're all talking the same language since we've all basically adopted the same system," Mr. Logan said. "Now, when somebody transfers to another base, they'll know how the system works because we're all using the same system.

"Before, we had different systems even on Tinker Air Force Base."

Jonny Conover, a colleague of Mr. Logan's in the installation exercise program office, said in the past there was a large learning curve at every base you went to because each base had its own set of EM guidelines.

"Now," he said, "once you get certified, it's the same where ever you go because it's standardized."

Mr. Conover, who provided emergency response in the wake of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and the May 3, 1999, tornado, cited a recent Guardian Field Training Exercise with local agencies as testimony to how times have changed.

"Back then, we didn't know who was in charge," he said. "Under the new system, everything works a lot smoother. We knew that since before the Murrah bombing that we had trouble communicating, so it's taken us a while for all the different agencies to get their heads around this.

"We now use an incident commander for all exercises instead of an on-scene commander. There is now a standardized command structure so everyone knows where they fall in the chain."

Mr. Logan went on to say that today organizations requesting federal funding must be NIMS qualified or working toward that qualification.

Jack Angelo, special agent-in-charge of the Office of Special Investigations, Detachment 114 here at Tinker, has worked several major crime scenes in the past including the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and several large suicide bombings in Baghdad, Iraq.

He said he has seen first-hand how communications between agencies can be a key part to the overall success or failure to the response and investigative efforts.

"When people are unfamiliar with other agencies roles and responsibilities, the overall success of those efforts tend to suffer and communications start to break down in a crisis situation," Special Agent Angelo said.

He said the OSI detachment here at Tinker is charged by the Air Force and DOD as the primary agency to maintain lines of communication with federal, state and local law enforcement agencies for the purpose of keeping senior Air Force leaders abreast of law enforcement matters involving felony crimes, counterintelligence and counterterrorist issues.

"We primarily use a liaison program in which our local agents routinely stop by the different police and federal law enforcement agencies to discuss the Air Force's Force Protection Awareness Program called the Eagle Eyes program and to discuss items of mutual investigative interests," Special Agent Angelo said.

He said his agents routinely take part in base exercises that involve their civilian counterparts and that this practice is the primary vehicle used to define roles and responsibilities before an incident takes place.

"When each agency understands the role of the other, that tends to greatly improve lines of communication and reduces duplication of effort in a crisis situation," Special Agent Angelo said.

Since OSI's investigative jurisdiction extends to the person committing the crime and not the location where the crime took place, OSI agents regularly travel to many parts of the state to work with their local, state and federal counterparts on joint investigations.

"These joint investigative efforts build upon our relationships that in times of crisis can be used by OSI to support the Air Force and the Tinker community," Special Agent Angelo said.

Robert Swarens, FBI special agent with the Oklahoma City Division's Joint Terrorism Task Force, said Tinker does a good job of planning for events that may occur and that it is beneficial for base personnel to convert to a NIMS-like system.

"The 'outside' world communicates thru NIMS and it behooves Tinker to have the capability to communicate in the same 'language' as all of the other participating agencies," he said. "In cases like this, practice does not make perfect, rather perfect practice makes perfect!"

Mike Bower, Midwest City emergency manager, agreed that speaking the same language in a time of crisis is paramount.

"I believe training first responders in ICS is a valuable tool to utilize during emergencies small or large scale," he said. "Daily use of ICS will keep responders familiar with their responsibilities and increase proficiency."

Mr. Bower said Midwest City has always valued "a wonderful working relationship" with Tinker responders and feels that training is an excellent way to determine readiness capabilities and form relationships with Tinker personnel.

"The scene of a disaster is not the place to be exchanging business cards that should have occurred during training events," he said. "The scenario-based training we conduct with Tinker is excellent. It allows us to tactically respond to specific incidents."

Steve Ferreira, Tinker emergency manager, said Tinker AFB Plan 10-2 covers all events to include response to a WMD incident and is exercised annually IAW AFI 10-2501.

He said Tinker currently is on an implementation schedule to incorporate AFIMS to include training of responders, revising and updating plans and checklists, conducting exercises and consolidating all command and control functions through December 2008.

"We have already met requirements of training, draft plans and checklists and incorporated AFIMS into one of our local exercises to date," Mr. Ferreira said.

More information on the Air Force Emergency Management mission or AFIMS implementation can be found on the Air Force portal at https://www.my.af.mil/gcss-af/afp40/USAF/ep/ globalTab.do?pageId=681743&channelPageId=-316091.

(Editor's Note: Next week's article will delve into the different types of potential attacks, where to go and what to do in the event of an attack including a "Top 10" list of things to do in the event of an actual emergency.)