Mass-Casualty Incidents
As the military saying goes, “Prior planning prevents poor performance.” This phrase can be applied to preparing for mass-casualty incidents (MCIs). The FireRescue1 MCI resource page details best practices for significant incidents, including active shooter and terrorist events, transportation incidents like bus crashes or train derailments, and other incidents that could involve many victims.
Hennepin EMS official said the police’s swift, accurate tally of victims let medics move the wounded quickly to three hospitals
Minneapolis Police say the shooter opened fire through church windows toward the children sitting in the pews during school Mass before dying at the scene
Experts say Katrina’s communication breakdowns, coordination gaps and aid delays still shape policy and should guide today’s debates over FEMA’s future
Authorities said a 22-year-old man named as a person of interest in the shooting was taken into police custody Monday evening
Mo. firefighter Todd Covington described the derailment and aftermath, saying, the scouts “probably saved 20 or 30 people’s lives”
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For two weeks, rescue crews from near and far helped local teams dig through the Champlain Towers South pile in the search for victims
A grocery store assistant manager said she was berated for whispering; the call taker said she is “being attacked for one side of the story”
Focusing on swift triage, mastering the basics and having a plan for exfiltrating the wounded are essential steps to immediate lifesaving measures
It is important that you process the loss and what you experienced with your support network
An outpouring of support from the first responder community follows the fatal shooting of 19 children and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school
“Sadly, this isn’t the last time we will see these headlines, but for us, today, put the tourniquet away and focus on the heart and soul of those in our charge.”
Public safety leaders: invite and encourage your personnel to get support from mental health clinicians, peer-support teams and other resources as they have a need
Reflecting on the pain of 10 killed in a hate-driven shooting, 100,000 dead of drug overdoses and 1 million lost to COVID-19
Erie County Sheriff: “This was pure evil. It was straight up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community.”
Our approaches to MCI response and management need to evolve to reflect their increasing complexity and danger
View this virtual tabletop webinar to help prepare you to respond to the next mass casualty incident in your jurisdiction
5 victims are in critical condition; NYPD found a U-Haul van sought in connection with the shooting
A deeper dive into Unified Command and its common terminology, plus best practices
Personnel from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, the Sheriff’s Office, American Medical Response and other organizations responded
Police say that 24 people were injured in the fiery chain of crashes
Test your ability to apply the START algorithm to a collection of simulated MCI patients
Emergency personnel from four counties responded and transported approximately 20 patients to area hospitals
It’s time for ICs to reevaluate the first-arriving transport options and coordination with the facilities that will receive patients
The best way to avoid analysis-paralysis during an MCI is to ‘get some of your thinking out of the way’ beforehand
We must not exclude low-frequency events from our training, particularly when there is the potential for such high-risk consequences
After a tornado tore through Mayfield, fire crews searched for survivors, evacuated the local jail, and mourned a friend
The Weather Channel released footage of a tornado that appeared to touch down in a New Orleans suburb and would later cross the Mississippi River
Oscar Monterossa served in the U.S. Army for four years as a combat medic, but it was the Route 91 Harvest music festival shooting where the paramedic felt most vulnerable
An honest and objective community assessment will highlight the many potential MCI events that could occur in any jurisdiction
Simple ways to build collaboration among agencies and involve the community
Real challenges of an MCI from a metropolitan city’s perspective
It’s time to make MCI training part of the regular rotation
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