Great Utah Shake Out 2012
Observations and Lessons Learned
Pleasant Grove City Earthquake Exercise
17 April 2012
Introduction
On April 17th, 2012, at 10:15 a.m. the State of Utah sponsored the largest earthquake preparedness exercise ever conducted in the State, known as The Great Utah Shake Out. There were three levels of participation recommended by the State, namely… Level 1 – Simple: Drop, Cover, and Hold On, Level 2 – Basic: Life Safety, and Level 3 – Intermediate: Continuity Planning. As the Pleasant Grove City planning committee met to discuss the exercise, we decided to participate at Level 4 – Advanced: Emergency Response. We knew that there were holes in our existing Emergency Operations Plan, and we took this as an opportunity to identify and plug them.
The planning committee consisted of representatives from the Fire Department, Police Department, Parks and Recreation (Facilities), Dispatch, Public Works, Communications, CERT, Intermountain Healthcare, and facilitators. The three objectives for the exercise were: 1) To heighten the awareness and preparedness of the citizens of Pleasant Grove for the likely scenario of a major earthquake in our lifetime, 2) To review Life Safety and Continuity Planning for City offices, and 3) To test the response capability of the City’s Emergency Operations Team.
While there is a tendency for these things to take on a life of their own and grow way out of control, we made a concerted effort to keep it simple, identify a single response location, and to keep it self contained – within the response capability of our own resources. Future exercises will build upon the lessons learned from this one and will likely be bigger and more complex.
We identified the Grove Theatre as the primary casualty location and kept that as top-secret information, known only to a select few. The emergency responders did not know where they would be responding to before being dispatched, and dispatch would need to sort through a whole host of less serious calls to identify the priority location.
We enlisted the help of Pleasant Grove High School, which readily and enthusiastically provided assistance. Their students served as accident victims, looters, emergency callers, concerned citizens, and even a news crew. In all there were 153 participants from the High School. We also coordinated our efforts with Intermountain Health Care and UTA. While the most severely injured patients were transported to American Fork Hospital by our own ambulance service, the UTA Emergency Coordination Center provided a bus and driver to transport 55 of the less serious injuries.
Up front we knew that we as a city face some serious challenges in our earthquake preparedness. Among them, the City’s Emergency Operations Plan is severely outdated. We plan to use this exercise as an impetus to update our plan. Also, several city facilities, particularly facilities that we need for emergency response would likely not withstand the effects a large earthquake. Not only would these buildings be destroyed and cause harm or damage to others, but many of the vehicles and equipment that we need for emergency response would also be taken out of commission. Finally, the City’s emergency communications capability is lacking. In a major earthquake, virtually all communications systems that we use on a routine basis would be rendered unavailable. A more robust emergency communications capability is needed. These are serious issues that need to be seriously considered by our city council.
Following are our observations and lessons learned from the exercise…
Initial Response
Overall the police dispatch center handled the exercise extremely well. They followed the plan they had in place, and adapted to the various scenarios that happened with a high level of skill. The methods of prioritization and communication worked very well to handle the heavy call volume, and the coordination between all members of the police dispatch team was instrumental in the overall success of the exercise. Very impressive team.
Observation - Initial reactions involved following the plan. Each person briefly checked on their families, checked members of their department, reported to Sherri, and were ready when the calls started coming in. They also notified area hospitals to prepare for incoming wounded, and called for a building structural assessment, and contacted the county.
Lesson Learned - Having an initial strategy in place, and following it pays off in getting the key pieces in place quickly to smooth the efforts when things ramp up.
Observation - Initial calls were prioritized well. The caller was asked if there were injured, asked for an address and phone, and if necessary, any brief critical details. Then the next call was handled in sequence.
Lesson Learned - The calls will come in continually, and having a process to briefly, but accurately deal with them allows more calls to be handled.
Observation - Coordination between the members of the dispatch center is critical, and was handled well. Each operator took notes on separate incident sheets, and a police officer was able to listen on calls, dispatches, and responses and track each, and direct focus where it was needed. This allowed reminders to check up on activities such as Hazmat and helicopter response from the county, assistance from other cities, and responses to key events. Statements such as "it has been 10 minutes, where are we with the structural assessment of the pool" were key.
Lesson Learned - Tracking what is being done, with a trigger for follow-up on critical items allows smooth communication. An ability to listen to multiple conversations and understand where each fits is critical.
Lesson Learned - When there are 4 people taking the 911 calls, it helps to have a general facilitator to coordinate between them all.
Observation - Noting the key person to communicate with on site was done fairly quickly. EOC, Incident Commander, County, other cities. There was some lack of communication to the EOC about some of the incidents in the drill.
Lesson Learned - Quickly informing dispatch as to who is in charge at each site/incident allows communications to flow quicker, and more directly.
Lesson Learned - Perhaps designate someone that is not receiving 911 calls to filter and communicate with the EOC and others outside the office.
Observation - Preparations for media responses. Calls were received from newspapers, and TV reporters showed up. There was not a clear initial response other than to have them wait. Links with the EOC and understanding of the proper response were not necessarily in place.
Lesson Learned - Be prepared to provide public responses. We did not have parents or others show up, but there should be a plan to address the various types that may show up during an emergency.
Observation - Providing key initial responses. Dispatch initiated structural assessments of the City buildings they were in to be sure it was OK to continue working, and within 20 minutes were in contact with the county for bus, helicopter, and hazmat support if needed.
Lesson Learned - Absolutely necessary to ensure safety at the main operations center, and then to get other agencies informed of needs in advance of their potential use.
Observation - Maintaining a status of each item can be overwhelming, and can perhaps be better coordinated with the EOC and field. This was actually done very well, but there were situations of miscommunication where dispatch was not aware of some field conditions, and the EOC was not informed of some situations. One example is the looting situation was known to perhaps a few of the 911 operators, but not to all, nor the EOC.
Lesson Learned - Perhaps better define who will track the major incidents and at what level of severity they need to be tracked. This will help ensure the right people receive the right information.
Observation - Links to other cities were established quickly, and provided a good level of backup. Not sure how well this was communicated to EOC, but it was available from American Fork, Lindon, and Cedar Hills.
Lesson Learned - This is good to get in place. Critical element for handling more than the incidents we had.
Observation - Alternate communication methods were used as each major communication element failed. When radios finally failed, there was a period of discussion on what to do at that point. Car-to-Car radios and runners were eventually used, as was point-to-point radios such as FRS.
Lesson Learned - It may be good to transition to the least likely to fail method sooner than later, to minimize downtime during transitions. It may also be good to have runners and other methods ready.
Observation - Preparing alternate help was discussed including crossing between departments, cities, and even using others around the scenes if needed.
Lesson Learned - May be good to have a list of how this may occur, and who would be best to use as we run resource short in an emergency.
Lesson Learned - May also want to look into using IM or another method to get to another location, city or such and have them make phone calls or communications as necessary.
Observation - Community communication was not a focus due to time and focusing on critical items first. There would have not been time for reverse 911 before lines went down.
Lesson Learned - Perhaps create a default set of conditions that could trigger a community response quicker, with a proper message to help reduce panic or improve notification?
Lesson Learned - Items such as boil water, avoid certain areas, etc.
Lesson Learned - May want to initiate city twitter responses early, including outlining in the plan potential messages and when they should be sent.
Observation - Internet was used to communicate with many other agencies outside of Pleasant Grove.
Lesson Learned - Perhaps looking for alternate internet connectivity methods, or backup ones, and validating key equipment as backups may provide an invaluable resource in an emergency. Perhaps bringing in multiple providers, or looking at other options.
Lesson Learned - May want to look into finding IM, Twitter and other information for surrounding cities, county and state.
Communications Administrator Sherri Atwood and Lead Dispatcher Heidi Johnson were key, and may have additional insights.
Casualty Scene Actions
The police arrived at the scene first with the fire department coming close behind. It was impressive to watch true professionalism and team work in action. While it took longer for them to get into character than expected – treating this like a “real” emergency – once the transition was made, it was impressive to watch!
Observation – The earthquake scenario was acted out appropriately; fast yet controlled. Police arrived first, then fire and paramedics. The scene was identified, evaluated and called in quickly. Many things happened in rapid succession.
Lesson Learned – Keeping police in charge of the scene is invaluable to allowing paramedics to use their expertise. Additional EMT training for police might be valuable in the future as they are the likely first responders.
Observation – Chain of command was established early on and never in question. Triage was coordinated smoothly. Victims were evacuated to safety very quickly and reassessed in a safer location.
Lesson Learned - As per an earthquake scenario, you need to do basic assessments inside but concentrate on extracting victims as quickly as possible from an unstable environment. This way you reduce the likelihood of more victims. Once in a safe environment you can do a more detailed assessment.
Observation – At one time victims were left alone outside. Very quick eye triage, not much physical triage. Perhaps some evaluations were a little hasty. Many hazards and blockages – chairs and bodies clogged the hallways and needed to be navigated around by those that were removing victims. Once triage was better established, all participants worked together seamlessly and were able to remove all victims and conduct a sweep of the building within 45 minutes of arrival.
Lesson Learned - Responders are overwhelmed very quickly and need many helpers to look after victims, be there to clear their path and do all that is necessary so they can concentrate on carrying out their trained expertise accurately assessing patient injuries.
Once you establish a quick and efficient Triage, more lives will be saved by getting victims to safety in a shorter amount of time.
Observation – Communications. EMT’s and police used mainly verbal communications inside, with Triage (Inside) and IC’s using radios. It worked very well. They passed along verbal messages to team members and remained very calm and in control.
- Outside - Triage IC - moved back and forward between victims, continuously assessing, talking to team members. Once CERT arrived they were able to more easily cope with the vast number of victims.
- Amazing attention to victims, and being conscious of safety - under shelter and back out after the first after shock.
- Car-to-car meant complete communications was not lost when phones, radios, and cells went down.
- Media was successfully corralled and kept busy most of the time. They did enter from the back of the building, breaking security – though they were quickly ushered off the premises by firm EMT’s.
Lessons learned - Designating a specific person or persons to deal with Media is crucial to security and control of information. Creating a link to the public – via twitter etc. would be a great idea to reduce anxiety and questions from the public and free communication lines for more vital procedures.
Observation - Prioritizing and evacuating victims to the hospital via ambulance was time consuming and was coordinated by both Police and EMT’s. All three of the city’s vehicles were being utilized; one was called away on a real emergency. UTA was called in and effectively transported remaining injuries to the hospital.
Lesson Learned – The city’s limited emergency transportation assets will be severely inadequate in a large-scale disaster. Relationships with outside sources such as UTA, the Alpine School District, and others need to be established and nurtured in order to have access to their transportation resources when needed.
Observation - CERT teams were called in and worked to assist Emergency Responders. They worked together well. Once Triage was complete they assisted with evacuating and securing the victims.
Lesson Learned - We have highly trained individuals who know how to act in a given situation but need outside help to continue to use their skills effectively. Consider calling in the CERT teams early on in an emergency.
Observation - Looters were completely ignored in the scenario, even with broken windows reported.
Lessons learned - Life-threatening injuries come first, though it would have been good to have the police play-along and ‘process’ the students and businesses who had prepared for their roles.
Observation - The dead were left in place. Once all victims were evacuated from the building it was secured by an officer. No effort was made to cover the bodies or the faces of the deceased.
Lesson learned - The dead are lowest priority. However, we should still be sensitive to those around by covering the bodies.
Observation - Pleasant Grove emergency responders are operating at the highest level in their trained expertise, though they would be quickly overwhelmed in a large-scale disaster situation.
Lesson Learned – A good community response capability is essential for dealing with large-scale disasters. Pairing community responders with the city’s trained professionals in a controlled training environment is an ideal way to prepare the city for emergency situations. This effort can and ought to be expanded through community (CERT) and religious based organizations.
While recognizing there are areas we could improve on, it was very reassuring and impressive to observe the high level of skill and training demonstrated by first responders and community volunteers. These types of exercises are a great tool to help our Emergency personnel, City and community, become better prepared for what could be a highly possible event for our region.
EOC Operations
Going into this exercise challenges were identified in advance relative to an outdated emergency plan. Most of the activity in the EOC related to identifying areas of concern and making notations to use in the rewrite of the city plan and procedures. The real value of an EOC in reality would be born out over time, hours or days into the incident, with initial response decisions being handled by on-scene incident commanders. That said, it is still valuable to test the ability of the EOC to form and make basic decisions concerning the management of a large-scale disaster.
Observation - After the majority of city officials arrived, the City Manager took charge and later command was formally established with the Police Captain.
Lesson Learned - Command needs to be established early and formally so it is clear to all who is in charge.
Observation - As communication systems went down and others were established, there were some difficulties identified. Examples - Lack of communication options to Public Works, County EOC, UTA, and CERT Contacts. There was a challenge on receiving local broadcasting.
Lesson Learned – A better means of emergency communication is needed.
Observation - The facilities were sufficient for the exercise but there was discussion that it may not be the right place for an EOC in a real emergency.
Lesson Learned - More study is needed to determine the best, survivable location for the City Emergency Operations Center and alternate.
The following notes were made in the EOC in discussions with members of the key City managers and decision makers…
- Pleasant Grove City Emergency Management Plan needs to be updated immediately.
- Public Works needs to be able to have radio communications so their Director can be present in the EOC.
- Need to assign duties to City Engineer for structural stability of city facilities (mainly the EOC).
- Need ID badges for key personnel.
- Need City Recorder (or assigned person) to log events.
- Need consideration of a back-up site for EOC.
- Need redundancy (power, radios, etc.) in EOC.
- Need clear authority of who is allowed to allocate additional funds.
- Need emergency declaration updated.
- Need list of all city resources.
- Need to track volunteer’s time.
- Need to define ways to communicate with citizens.
- Need to define media response plan.
- Need to get neighborhood chairs involved in the plan.
- Need basic triage training for employees
Public Works
See separate Public Works report attached.
Conclusion
While this was obviously a contrived situation and kept simple by design, it was a good first effort towards improving our emergency preparedness, and a good stepping stone toward additional, more difficult drills in the future. This was a good exercise and a tremendous success! We can benefit from the lessons learned.
We believe that we are destined for a major disaster with multiple casualties in our lifetime, and an earthquake is the most likely disaster scenario. 80% of Utah’s population lives along the Wasatch fault. The Wasatch fault has a major shift every 350 years or so. The last big one?… About 350 years ago. We need to be prepared. Ensuring that we have the right equipment and resources available along with regular practice and exercise is the best way that we can be sure that we are in the highest state of emergency preparedness.
I have run a lot of drills like this over my 30-year military career. Some have turned out better than others, but I’ve got to say that I encountered as professional a group of emergency responders and employees in this one as any I have ever run. I’m glad that I live in Pleasant Grove, Utah and I hope that we can make this an annual event.
Rich
R. A. Guernsey
Lead Exercise Facilitator
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
801-787-2130
Facilitators: Videography Team: CERT Volunteers:
Richard Guernsey Doug Ellis Darren Rollins - Lead
Jennifer Baptista Brian Halladay Bruce Cline
Steve Wager Gordon Gudmundson Ruth Ann Evans
Jo-Anne Riley Chris James (H.S.) Anita Freeman
Chris Frary Seth Donaldson (H.S.) Kenneth Law
Britt Hawley Trey Sparks (H.S.) Donald Anderson
Yvette Hawley Erik Rytting (H.S.) Shane Curran
John Scheiss (P.W.) Kabeb Barrus (H.S.) Suzanne Bullock
Roger Nielson (P.W.) Jacob Berry (H.S.) Matthew Hailstone
Chris Jones (H.S.) Patti Rosquist
Ashlyn Ellis Darla Phillips
For more information:
