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181 1. You have been assigned to be the technical specialist because you have lived in the community for twenty years and been through several hurricanes and tropical storms. What personal supplies and equipment would you need? [Discuss weatherârelated clothing in case of needing to make field surveys of conditions, camera/cell phone to record conditions, which State DOT vehicle to use for personal transportation to the command post and potentially around the community. How will you communicate back to the State DOT Maintenance District office for additional information or resources?] 2. It appears that the Operations Section needs some specialist information on State Highway System roadway capacity (notably Main Street), areas of historic flooding, methods that have worked for traffic management in the past. What information will you need to have with you to provide this assistance? [Discuss where you can get traffic capacity for US Route X, which is likely to be used for evacuation to the high school. Are there any other State Highway System roadways that would be useful? Could you do anything about the coastal evacuation routing to lessen its impact on Main Street? Discuss how traffic lights on the State Highway System might be managed to facilitate traffic flow, and how you would interface with that system from the Command Post. Discuss other kinds of traffic control devices and strategies that might be used and how State DOT would support the evacuation.] 3. It appears that there is no plan for people with access and functional needs to get close to the high school shelter, or for parking the vehicles of the evacuees once the schoolâs lot is full. What information would you need to bring to the command post to help develop such plans? [Discuss what kinds of maps you would need and whether they are available on your smart phone, as paper maps, and what would be the best strategy for getting information during the onâgoing storm conditions? What kinds of resources might you offer to help improve evacuation and where and how would the town get them?]
182 Scenario: Flooding State DOT in Unified Command The Mississippi River is swollen with spring melt from the snow and ice that has accumulated in communities along its length throughout the winter of 2015. Oakton is a town of 50,000 people on the western banks of the Mississippi River. It draws its drinking water from the Mississippi River at the northern boundary of the town, and disposes of its storm water runoff along the length of the cityâs shoreline, and its water treatment plant effluent in the river about five miles south of the drinking water intake. The interstate crosses the Mississippi River after it passes through Oakton and after crossing the river is in another state. The interstate roadwayâs bridge carries the electrical power grid connection cables, phone and internet fiber optic lines, and a natural gas line. This is the only bridge across the river for ten miles north and ten miles south. The bridge approach crosses some low lying areas that are prone to flooding, however most of the interstate is elevated as it passes through the commercial district of the town. About 25% of the town is below the river and protected by a levee that is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. It has only 500 year flood protection. Most of the town is in a 100 year flood plain. The main commercial district of the community is in the flood plain. The only hospital is in the flood plain, and the only large rehabilitation center is next door to the hospital, in the flood plain. The local government buildings are on raised pads but are in the commercial district in the flood plain. Two of the four fire stations are in the flood plain and the police station is in City Hall, on a raised pad but in the flood plain. The Public Safety Answering Point (9â1â1 center) is in the City Hall but on the 4th floor. There are six assisted living centers in town, of which five are in the flood plain. The only commercial day care center is in the flood plain. The stateâs hydrologist has warned that the river is flooding north of Oakton. The mayor has declared a local emergency, and has all available city resources sandbagging critical buildings. The cityâs emergency operations center is open and the police chief has just called for an evacuation of the critical facilities in the flood plain. He is discussing using the interstate as an evacuation route. The Oakton Fire
183 Chief has been appointed Incident Commander and is working with city staff from law enforcement, the building department and the streets department to create a multiâmodal evacuation plan. He has asked State DOT to join the Unified Command, and they have asked a senior field superintendent from the Maintenance District for Oakton to represent the State DOT. Discussion: [Note to Instructor: set up a table with little cars and buildings to show the location of the Command Post, the river, the flood plain, critical buildings in the flood plain (fire stations, city hall, shops, hospital/rehab center), the interstate roadway through town and across the river, the levee, rescue vehicles remaining at the Command Post and any other visuals that will help the participants understand the scenario events.] 1. Who would be the best person to represent the State DOT Maintenance District in the Unified Command? [Discuss what the purpose of the Unified Command is. Discuss who has participated in local exercises with the community. Consider what kinds of requests might come from the Unified Command to the State DOT.] 2. What would the Maintenance Districtâs objectives be for an evacuation plan? [Discuss what role the interstate plays in the local circulation pattern. What role is it likely to play in an evacuation plan? What steps would need to be taken by the Maintenance District to protect its assets?] 3. What resources does the Maintenance District have that might be useful in an evacuation of the flood plain? [Discuss the use of lighted sign board, highway emergency radio system, State DOT website and other communications assets to assist with traffic management during the evacuation. Discuss the State DOTâs priorities for evacuation â least disruption of travel on the interstate and maintenance of the interstate bridge connection. Discuss how the State DOT would get reimbursed for its costs in providing staff and resources for evacuation management off the State Highway System, like the movement of signage and traffic control devices, creation of road closures in dangerous low lying areas, facilitation of the delivery of critical supplies like drinking water.]
184 Scenario: Bridge Collapse State DOT Assumes Incident Command It is November 15. Three days ago a deck truss bridge over the Old Muddy River collapsed at the end of rush hour when a truck with an oversize load ran into one of the steel beams, dislodging the gusset plate, which led to the structural failure. City Fire Department was the initial Incident Commander because there were people trapped on the undamaged portions of the bridge who had to be rescued, as well as people and vehicles in the water. During this time the State Police led the Law Enforcement Branch of the Operations Section. They detained the truck driver, did a blood alcohol and drug test and interviewed him. He stated that the wind on the span over the river caused him to lose control of the wide load, which shifted as he approached the steel girder that he hit. The State Police cleared him of drug or alcohol involvement. One State DOT engineer was a Technical Specialist in the Operations Section to advise on issues of bridge construction and failure. Other State DOT personnel were assigned to the Logistics Section where they organized bridge inspection equipment and other specialized equipment to assist with the early investigation of the failure. As soon as the victims were rescued or recovered the Incident Command was turned over to State Police on Day Two, and they did a crime scene investigation of the portions of the bridge still standing to confirm the driverâs story. Having completed their investigation they are turning over Incident Command to the State DOT today. You have been appointed State DOT Incident Commander for the first day. Discussion: [Note to Instructor: set up a table with little cars and buildings to show the location of the Command Post, the broken bridge, rescue vehicles remaining at the Command Post and any other visuals that will help the participants understand the scenario events. Encourage students to move the vehicles around or introduce more vehicles from a staging lot at the side of the table.]
185 1. Where will you go to assume Incident Command? [Discuss the location of the Incident Command Post, and what information you could get from current State DOT staff who are working in the ICS now.] 2. What documentation would you need from the departing Incident Commander? [Discuss the existence of an Incident Action Plan. Where would you get a copy? How would you document the turnover of command from Law Enforcement? Would the new IC ask the departing IC to remain for an hour until all of the transition of operations to State DOT has been completed? What about supplies that have been ordered and not delivered? Expenses from before you assumed command? Photos that have been taken? What is the prognosis for the event?] 3. Where would you get personnel to fill the ICS positions? Which would you fill with State DOT personnel and which would you request to fill with personnel from other agencies? Why? [Discuss what positions would be needed by State DOT for a complete ICS staff. How soon could they arrive? Discuss other sources of personnel to fill specialty roles. Ensure that departing ICS staff leave contact information with new staff for followâup.]
186 Instructorâs Guide: Sandbox Method of Exercises Note the engineerâs tape creating the âhighwayâ, the simulated accident with the little cars, the emergency vehicles in Staging, the student book with the scenario, and the Quick Start Card sets that are distributed to students to help them work through the scenario. The purpose of the Sandbox Method is to help students visualize the movement of personnel and equipment through a scenario as they practice their Incident Command System knowledge and terminology. This system has long been used by the US military to work an operational problem, or to explain an operational plan. Field personnel are accustomed to thinking on their feet, and are likely to appreciate a kinesthetic approach to exercising their critical thinking skills and knowledge of a problem. Adult learning theory suggests that most adults remember best what they hear, see and do. The Sandbox Method incorporates these elements. Matchbox type cars can be bought in sets from internet resources that include construction equipment, cones and signage. Emergency responder vehicles and passenger cars also come in sets. On the internet these sets are generally less than $20 for 30 or more small vehicles. You can use little buildings to complete the community, but these can be expensive. For a more flexible and costâeffective
187 approach, create a building foot print with a sheet of plain cardstock cut to relative scale to represent significant buildings, parking lots, parks and other aspects of the community. Label the cards, or draw symbols on them to identify the building or community element that the card represents. As students work through the scenario they can move the vehicles and traffic control devices, and block roads to simulate the progress of the problem. As you demonstrate scenarios you will develop a collection of community element footprint cards that can be reused. The vehicles can be used for training in many configurations.
188 CHAPTER 9: DISCUSSION-BASED SCENARIOS STUDENT HANDOUTS WITH EVALUATION SHEET
188 Sponsoring Agency Logo NCHRP 20-59(30) ICS for Field-Level Transportation Supervisors and Staff Sponsored by State DOT Discussion-Based Training Student Handouts
189 Scenario: Wildland Fire DOT Joins ICS It is September 10 at 10:00 am. There is a wildland fire burning in Hilly County near the town of Foresthill off Yankee Jims Road. Fire personnel from ten agencies have responded to the fire, and State Fire Department is the Incident Commander. They have reopened an old fire camp to support operations but access is limited. You have been assigned to join State Fire Department at their command post. Your mission is to repair a temporary road to the fire camp in support of fire operations. The existing dirt road has not been used for over twenty years and it is overgrown with brush. The area has already been surveyed and the track of the old road is visible in some sections. Your job is to restore the road for use by heavy fire equipment. You will be joining the existing Pollock Pines Incident. The DOT Task Force includes two Senior Superintendents, and field crews and supervisors sufficient to operate heavy equipment for 2 12-hour shifts each day. The Task Force has its own grader, roller, back hoe, light unit and generator. Each vehicle is on its own trailer pulled by a truck. It will need fuel for all the vehicles after the first shift. There are 18 people in the Task Force who will have to be fed and housed during the road building operation. Discussion: 1. Where do you go when you get to Yankee Jim Road? It is getting too dark to survey the camp road tonight. 2. How will you get food and lodging for tonight? 3. How will you get fuel for the road building equipment, which needs diesel? For the trucks that need gas? For the lighting trailer generator that needs diesel?
190 Scenario: Hurricane State DOT as a Technical Specialist in Operations Hurricane Lulu has developed from a tropical storm into a Category 2 hurricane as it passed over Cuba. Florida has been hit with 120 mile per hour winds and driving rain as the hurricane passed through, and the storm, which is over 500 miles in diameter, has already begun to cause storm surge, flooding and wind damage in your state. Your stateâs emergency operations center has been activated, mandatory evacuations of the coast have been underway for several hours, and the State Highway System has traffic jams along most routes moving away from the coast. One of these State Highway System routes is the main street of Leafville, where your State DOT Maintenance District headquarters is located. Leafville, a community of 10,000 people, 25 miles from the coast, has declared a state of emergency for the impending storm, and begun the evacuation of low lying areas of the community to a shelter at the high school. The high school is located one block from the townâs Main Street, which is US Route X, and part of the State Highway System. There are no interstates in the area. Traffic is beginning to build up in the community as residents leave their homes with multiple vehicles per household, heading for the high school shelter, and some feeder streets are clogged. Residents are fearful and driving aggressively. The local streets department director is new to the area, and has never been through a hurricane before. He is asking for a traffic control specialist from the State DOT Maintenance District to join the Operations Section at the Incident Command Post to advise on improving traffic flow through the community to the high school. Discussion: 1. You have been assigned to be the technical specialist because you have lived in the community for twenty years and been through several hurricanes and tropical storms. What personal supplies and equipment would you need? 2. It appears that the Operations Section needs some specialist information on State Highway System roadway capacity (notably Main Street), areas of historic flooding, methods that have worked for traffic management in the past. What information will you need to have with you to provide this assistance? 3. It appears that there is no plan for people with access and functional needs to get close to the high school shelter, or for parking the vehicles of the evacuees once the schoolâs lot is full. What information would you need to bring to the command post to help develop such plans?
191 Scenario: Flooding State DOT in Unified Command The Mississippi River is swollen with spring melt from the snow and ice that has accumulated in communities along its length throughout the winter of 2015. Oakton is a town of 50,000 people on the western banks of the Mississippi River. It draws its drinking water from the Mississippi River at the northern boundary of the town, and disposes of its storm water runoff along the length of the cityâs shoreline, and its water treatment plant effluent in the river about five miles south of the drinking water intake. The interstate crosses the Mississippi River after it passes through Oakton and after crossing the river is in another state. The interstate roadwayâs bridge carries the electrical power grid connection cables, phone and internet fiber optic lines, and a natural gas line. This is the only bridge across the river for ten miles north and ten miles south. The bridge approach crosses some low lying areas that are prone to flooding, however most of the interstate is elevated as it passes through the commercial district of the town. About 25% of the town is below the river and protected by a levee that is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers. It has only 500 year flood protection. Most of the town is in a 100 year flood plain. The main commercial district of the community is in the flood plain. The only hospital is in the flood plain, and the only large rehabilitation center is next door to the hospital, in the flood plain. The local government buildings are on raised pads but are in the commercial district in the flood plain. Two of the four fire stations are in the flood plain and the police station is in City Hall, on a raised pad but in the flood plain. The Public Safety Answering Point (9-1-1 center) is in the City Hall but on the 4th floor. There are six assisted living centers in town, of which five are in the flood plain. The only commercial day care center is in the flood plain. The stateâs hydrologist has warned that the river is flooding north of Oakton. The mayor has declared a local emergency, and has all available city resources sandbagging critical buildings. The cityâs emergency operations center is open and the police chief has just called for an evacuation of the critical facilities in the flood plain. He is discussing using the interstate as an evacuation route. The Oakton Fire Chief has been appointed Incident Commander and is working with city staff from law enforcement, the building department and the streets department to create a multi-modal evacuation plan. He has asked State DOT to join the Unified Command, and they have asked a senior field superintendent from the Maintenance District for Oakton to represent the State DOT. Discussion: 1. Who would be the best person to represent the State DOT Maintenance District in the Unified Command? 2. What would the Maintenance Districtâs objectives be for an evacuation plan? 3. What resources does the Maintenance District have that might be useful in an evacuation of the flood plain?
