12. Violent Incident Response

National protocols for response to violent incidents should be developed and championed.

From the beginning of America’s fire service, firefighters have been responding to incidents that were the result of, or caused by, an act of violence. Fire departments respond to a wide range of events from the simple Saturday night altercation at the corner bar, to the events like: Watts, Columbine, Oklahoma City, 9/11, Webster, NY, or Gwinnett County, GA. On most occasions, the fire department responds, renders service, and returns to quarters. Unfortunately, over our history, not every member has been able to return home due to factors associated with violence.

In March 2006, former Peoria (AZ) Fire Department Fire Inspector Howard M. Munding produced a thesis titled “Violence Against Firefighter: Angels of Mercy Under Attack.” In the thesis, he quotes the stunning statistic that an estimated 700,000 assaults occur on paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) annually. Additionally, according to a 2008 National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Firefighter Fatality Report, 32 firefighters died from assaults while on duty in the report’s 32-year history. At the end of 2010, that number grew to 34, or one firefighter per year. In order to ensure that we meet our mission, to make sure everyone goes home, we offer the following strategies designed to reduce the likelihood of injury or death from responding to incidents of violence.

• Improved understanding and application of Dynamic Risk Management
• Initiate or improve communication with the local law enforcement component.
• Define and expand role of dispatchers in reducing risk
• Prohibit single (person) resource response to violent incidents
• Require use of an Incident Management System
• Communicate directly with Law Enforcement component prior to operating at an incident of violence.
• De-commit personnel and equipment and leave if violence commences or reoccurs during fire department operations
• Obtain stakeholder understanding and buy-in of response and deployment policies including non-response and non-engagement at incidents of violence.

Implementing these strategies will help reduce the likelihood of fire service members being injured or killed during a response to a violent incident. The 12th Initiative expands our understanding of how and where firefighters can be injured and demonstrates the need for the development of national protocols regarding violent incidents.

Latest Initiative 12 News

• Everyone Goes Home® Program Wants Your SOPs – We’re collecting information about SOPs on cancer reduction, violent incidents, mental health, and response policies to highlight best practices.
• Strategic Vision Helps Ensure Firefighter Safety and Enhance Service – To help fire departments around the nation adopt the 16 initiatives, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has created a new handbook, The Strategic Vision Guide: An Action Plan Using the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives.
• Any incident can become violent: Preventing firefighters from becoming targets – It’s not just the tragedies in San Bernardino and Colorado Springs or the ISIS attack in Paris that should keep us alert. In the past week alone there were a handful of incidents in the U.S. where someone attempted to do harm to firefighters & EMS crews with guns or knives. Chief John Oates, who put together NFFF’s 2013 report on dealing with violence, reminds us of some of the key elements in trying to prevent firefighters from being targets.
  
• Resolve to reduce line of duty deaths for the New Year – The most important element in firefighter safety is you, the firefighter. Join the NFFF in reducing firefighter injuries and lowering the number of LODDs each year to below 50.