TERT: Answering 9–1–1’s call for help
The commitment of emergency communication pros to assist those in need
On the day we begin our career in emergency communications, those charged with the important task of training us demonstrate their overwhelming sense of pride in the profession. They want us to understand the important role we play in protecting the community, as well as the awesome responsibility associated with keeping America’s first responders safe. While their first goal might be to get us ‘up to speed’ and ready to hit the operations floor as quickly as possible, ensuring we have the same sense of pride and responsibility likely runs a close second.
As dispatchers, whether we come from a public safety background or not, one of the first nationally recognized certifications we (generally) obtain is FEMA’s IS-700/700a. IS-700/700a, National Incident Management System (NIMS), An Introduction. This familiarizes those in the public safety and emergency management community with the fundamental elements of the NIMS, as well as the five mission areas of the National Response Framework: Prevention, Protection, Mitigation, Response, and Recovery. Of the many concepts discussed in this nationally recognized course of study, one of the most vital pieces for telecommunicators and dispatchers to understand is the mutual aid/mutual assistance program. NIMS describes the concepts of mutual aid/mutual assistance in the following way:
“Mutual aid agreements and assistance agreements are agreements between agencies, organizations, and jurisdictions that provide a mechanism to quickly obtain emergency assistance in the form of personnel, equipment, materials, and other associated services. The primary objective is to facilitate rapid, short-term deployment of emergency support prior to, during, and after an incident.” (FEMA, 2014)
Why is it so critical for public safety communications professionals to understand the mutual aid/mutual assistance concept? For starters, public safety professionals in all disciplines are being asked to do more with less. Where officers and deputies might at one time have been paired up in single car, or had a number of back up units in relatively close proximity, today’s law enforcement professionals are often forced to go into adverse situations on their own, advising on the need for additional assistance once they arrive at the scene and find out what’s going on.
Municipal and Career Fire Departments are running into similar situations with staffing, as engine and truck companies which previously had a full complement of personnel on board are now leaving the station with only two or three firefighters. Volunteer Fire Departments and EMS providers continue to struggle due to a nationwide decline in volunteerism. Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) and Emergency Communications Centers aren’t immune to these cutbacks. In some cases, police, fire, and ems agencies which at one time may have had their own dedicated radio channel are now being asked to consolidate radio communications to a single channel. The result of this nationwide staffing dilemma — increased radio traffic and response times, added concerns for responder safety, and ultimately, a decreased level of service to the community.
Law enforcement, fire, and ems administrators nationwide have addressed this staffing dilemma by incorporating elements of mutual aid/mutual assist into their everyday response protocols. Arrangements might be made on a small scale at the single department or agency level, or cover an entire county or municipality on an enterprise wide scale. Regardless of the scope or size of the arrangement, PSAP/Emergency Communication Center staff must be aware of the language of the agreement to fully understand how the terms of the agreement are to be implemented.
Mutual aid/mutual assist agreements for public safety communications are a little bit more complicated. Agency head’s and directors may have provisions in place to roll excess/all inbound phone traffic to a secondary answering point in the event of a local or system wide failure. But what happens if the PSAP or Communications Center is completely destroyed by a man made or natural disaster? What if the agency experiences a pandemic illness that renders fifty to sixty percent of its workforce out of commission? In the same way law enforcement, fire, and ems administrators pre-plan to address staffing concerns during a large scale incident or following a natural or man-made disaster, PSAP and Communications Center administrators must come up with a plan to adequately staff their centers or backup facilities under similar circumstances. The Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce or ‘TERT’ was created to address this very need.
What is the Telecommunicator Emergency Response Taskforce (TERT)?
“TERT involves a comprehensive program that includes assistance to individual states in developing programs that would lead to the establishment of predetermined and selected trained teams of individuals who can be mobilized quickly and deployed to assist communications centers during disasters. The National Joint TERT Initiative (NJTI) is a partnership between APCO and NENA that has worked to develop the many facets of a TERT program and to help states develop who do not yet have an active TERT program.” (njti-tert.org)
PSAP’s and Emergency Communications Centers nationwide have contingency plans in place to address periodic mechanical issues and system interruptions. Do those plans take into consideration a large scale loss of essential dispatch personnel as a result of a natural or man-made disaster? What if 30percent of your personnel didn’t show up for work one day? How about two days? Three days? Could your agency continue to function at an acceptable level if thirty percent of your personnel weren’t available for a week?
Far too often, we attribute 9–1–1 service interruptions to mechanical or system failures without considering the critical role our own personnel play in the day to day operation of our agencies. The shining stars of the TERT program are those states and agencies that train and prepare to help in times of crisis and have a plan to receive assistance when disaster hits home.
To learn more about the National Joint TERT Initiative, LLC and its efforts to prepare America’s emergency communications centers to provide and receive assistance in times of need, visit them at njti-tert.org
WeSeeHSE: Seeing, Sharing, Informing
References:
http://njti-tert.org
