By Jon Hughes
FireRescue1 Staff
The IAFC on Friday announced the release of a plan for addressing intrastate and interstate mutual aid in the event of disasters and large-scale events.
The announcement was made at Fire-Rescue International by current IAFC President Bill Killen and incoming president James Harmes, flanked by members of the task force involved in putting the plan together. The publication, titled “A National Mutual Aid System for the Fire Service: A Strategic Plan,” comes on the heels of several large-scale disasters such as 9/11 and several weather-related events in which poorly coordinated mutual-aid efforts hampered the delivery of aid to the affected regions.
The plan is the result of a year-long effort by the IAFC’s Mutual Aid System Task Force (MASTF), comprised of representatives from each of the 16 divisions and sections of the IAFC. Commissioned in October 2005 by Chief Killen, the intent of the plan was to formalize strategy for mutual aid, traditionally an informal, “smile and a handshake"-type of agreement. The primary focus of the plan is on the creation and use of formal agreements that allow the deployment of fire service based resources across state lines.
Task force members met with a number of state and division associations as well as section members and allied professional partners to ensure a wide range of input.
The plan created by MASTF focuses on six core issues:
1. the use of a national point of contact for interstate deployments
2. policies and procedures to enable rapid deployments
3. the aspects that make a department and its members eligible to participate
4. educating and training participants on the system
5. the linkages with other services that will connect the systems together
6. who will be responsible for funding the development and monitoring and supporting the system
The full 47-page report will be available in PDF format on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at www.IAFC.org. More information on related issues, recommendations, and motions can be viewed at the IAFC’s Mutual Aid topic page.