High-threat events, although not a new phenomenon for the first responder community, continue to increase in incidence and complexity. To address this evolving and growing risk, new response paradigms and elevated levels of operational interagency coordination must be embraced among all public safety disciplines. The traditional linear stovepiped single-agency response is not only ineffective, it may even be dangerous in these unpredictable, chaotic, and fluid events.
This resource introduces the first steps in implementing the concepts of integrated emergency services response to high-threat events, based on current best-practice operational models from Arlington, VA; Los Angeles, CA; and New York, NY. The concept, known as “escorted warm zone care,” often referred to as “Rescue Task Force,” utilizes an integrated team of law enforcement and fire/EMS personnel operating under a unified command structure to rapidly access, stabilize, and extricate the wounded. A further examination of these approaches will be conducted by the InterAgency Board and will produce follow-on documents.
Source: InterAgency Board