News
Tuesday December 13th George Mason University Founders Hall Room 120
0830 - 0900 Coffee and sign-in0900 Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance
0900 - 0930 Welcome and Introductions (Smith/Tang)
-- Key Note Welcome: Deputy Chief John Snider, Arlington County Fire
0930 - 1000 Board of Directors Report (Smith/Tang)
- Bylaws
- New Members
- Changes to Committee Structure
- Website
1000 - 1030 Update: ACEP High Threat Committee (Piazza)
1030 - 1100 Discussion: TECC as a part of the Model EMS Guidelines (Kamin)
1100 - 1130 Discussion: Boston Fire Department and TECC implementation
1130 - 1230 Working Group Reports
- K9 TECC working group (Lee)
- First Care Provider (Bobko)
- Psychiatric care working group (Kamin)
1230 - 1345 Lunch (on your own)
1345 - 1415 TECC and CBRNE Operations (McAvenia)
1415 - 1730 Guidelines Discussion
- Discussion and approval First Receivers with a Duty to Act Guidelines
- Discussion and approval ALS/BLS Guidelines
- Discussion and approval TECC ALS/BLS training slide deck
- Open guidelines discussion
1730 Save Rounds and Happy Hour (location TBA)
Wednesday December 14th George Mason Founders Hall Room 121
0830 - 0900 Coffee and sign-in0900 Call to Order
0900 - 1200 Continued: Open Guidelines Discussion and voting
1200 Adjourn
Linked below are directions, maps and pertinent logistics as well as information regarding the recommended hotel.
The agenda for the meeting is being developed and will be forthcoming.
We will be populating a Dropbox with materials for review prior to the meeting to facilitate a productive discussion. This will be distributed to members out a few weeks prior to the meeting.
Special thanks to Guidelines Committee member Mark Anderson for coordinating the planning and logistics for the meeting. Please let Reed or Mark (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) know if you have any questions or need any assistance with your planning.
Meeting Logistics
Directions to Founders Hall
Directions to Hyatt Place
Directions to the Arlington Campus
Founders Hall Floor Plan
GMU Arlington Campus Map
- Between 2000 and 2013, the FBI performed a study of the 160 active shooter incidents that took place in the United States. In these incidents, there was 486 lives lost as well as 557 wounded.
- An average of 11.4 incidents took place every year, with an increasing trend. This alarming data point shows the ever growing chance of this incident occurring within your jurisdiction.
- Nearly all active shooter events involve only 1 shooter. In fact, of all the 160 events studied by the FBI only 2 incidents involved more than 1 shooter.
- In 40.6% of all active shooters studied during this timeframe, the shooting was over prior to police arrival. In fact, law enforcement has engaged a suspected active shooter with gunfire 28.1% of the time.
- 60% of active shooters utilize pistols, followed by 27% utilizing rifles. In 41% of the events, the shooter had multiple weapons. Further data collected shows assailants have worn body armor in 4% of all events and utilized IED’s in 2%.
- According to the Washington Post between 1/1/15 and 10/1/15, there were 294 mass shootings in only 274 days. The data categorized mass shootings into events where more than 4 people were injured or killed.
- According to Newsweek, there have been 45 school shootings in 2015. This number would have been significantly higher if not for the early detection of potential attacks. Nearly all school shootings have an extensive planning period in which early detection can lead to the prevention of an attack. Some pre-attack indicators are; acquisition of new weapons, social media postings, as well as maps of the target. According to Dr. Gonzalez-Mayo from the VA Medical Center, 93% of all school shooters displayed some form of the above mentioned indicators prior to attacking.
- In the month of October alone, there was multiple failed school shootings with at least 3 of these shootings involving more than 1 gunman. One incident was in Spotsylvania County involving 2 high school students who planned calling in a bomb scare. Other examples include 3 teenagers in Michigan who planned attacks on multiple schools, as well as 4 individuals planning an attack on a Northern California high school.
Bringing It Home
- Rescue Task Force equipment should be designed in a specific way to treat the average number of victims in active shooting events. The median range found for these events are 0—5 injured and 0-5 killed.
- Responding personnel should be mentally prepared to encounter various obstacles enroute to their RTF location.
- IED’s as well as Fire utilized as a weapon are growing trends that can easily become a reality.
Download the PDF
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- Webster, New York (2012) - A lone gunman ambushed firefighters as they responded to a house fire. The gunman was a 62YOM who set fire to the house and vehicle to lure in firefighters, and then opened fire on them from across the street. Two firefighters were killed and two others injured.
- Tallahassee, Florida (2014) - Police and Fire responded to a report of a structure fire which was intentionally set by the gunman. Police arrived first on scene where an officer was ambushed and killed immediately. The gunman then took the officer’s service weapon and began shooting at the responding fire department units. One police officer was killed and one officer was shot and wounded.
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2015) - A firefighter was grazed with a bullet to his head, and the ambulance shot multiple times as crews tended to a medical emergency. The firefighter was transported to a local hospital where he was later released.
- Baltimore, Maryland (2015) - A firefighter was shot in the hand by a male suspect outside of a cell phone store. The suspect reportedly had an argument inside the store and when he left, shot at the on duty firefighter as well as a civilian nearby. Both suffered non life threatening injuries.
- New York, New York(2015) - As a warrant was being served, a suspect barricaded himself in his home and set off a smoke bomb. Police officers called for the fire department unaware it was only smoke. The FDNY lieutenant entered the apartment and was shot twice by the suspect.
Best Practices
- Fire and rescue members should never travel alone, regardless of the situation. Utilize a buddy system at all times in uniform.
- Ensure radios are within reach. Members often store the radio in their back pocket with no lapel mic, making it difficult to access in a time of need. Members should consider attaching lapel mic to radio to be able to communicate quickly.
- Members are reminded that the fire department must now consider ourselves as potential targets and act accordingly. We are not only targets of international terrorism, but also from homegrown violent extremists.
Download the PDF >
The suspect then traveled 7 miles down the road to a nearby US Navy / Marine Reserve Center, opening fire and killing 5 service members before being shot and killed by responding law enforcement.
This is not the first time a military recruitment station has been targeted within the US. In 2009 a service member was killed in Little Rock, Arkansas at a recruitment station and in 2012 Yonathan Melaku shot at sev-eral military installations across the region including the Pentagon .
The shooter had two long guns in his possession as well as a handgun, the multiple weapons indicates the shooter was prepared for a gunfight with his targets and first responders.
Summary
- As indicated in prior bulletins the military recently raised their security level to FPCON Bravo, indicating an in-creased probability for terrorist attacks.
- Military recruitment stations are a soft target for a shooter to attack military personnel. The service members are often unarmed, and there is no security between the recruiter and the outside world.
- Practice and become familiar with TECC equipment and concepts prior to attacks, you will fall back on your training during a time of crisis.
We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr. Norm McSwain. He was a pioneer in the field of EMS and prehospital medicine. His legacy will not be lost.
The Interagency Board has recently released a white paper on the need for all Law Enforcement officers to be trained in TECC. Read it here.