Guiding Principles Common
to All Emergencies
- SAFETY IS PARAMOUNT.
- Take care of your employees and their long term stress.
- Identify authorities. Don’t get in charge of things you’re not responsible for.
- Ensure Line Officer involvement.
- Accurately define the scope and complexity of the event and don’t underestimate the worst case scenario.
- Establish points of contact. Communicate early and often.
- Identify trigger points, risk factors, and contingency plans.
- Take advantage of experience, expertise, and existing plans/protocols.
- Engage Research and Development in your planning and response for the best available science.
- Ensure that personnel are properly qualified, trained, and equipped to do the job.
- Where appropriate, use state and local organizations along with the public to help plan and prioritize.
- Foster cooperation and a sense of service among agencies, from start to finish.
- Build flexibility into budget and planning.
- Ensure thorough, consistent, and professional business management and accomplishment reporting.
Moving From Good to Great
The Southern Region has developed an integrated model for managing large scale emergency events, from preparedness and response, through assessment and recovery, and on to closure. This model serves as a mechanism for moving from good to great - capitalizing on a history of valuable experiences and lessons learned.
This model is primarily a tool for Line Officers, Districts, and Forests closest to these events, but also serves those at the Regional level, State and Private Forestry (S&PF), and Research and Development (R&D). The model uses a set of guiding principles as a framework. This framework is built on by checklist items and references that provide the “nuts and bolts” of managing an emergency.
The goal of the model is to approach emergency events in a manner that uses reliable processes to address critical values and priorities. The most successful outcomes resume normal operations and restore impacted resources, facilities, and opportunities in the safest and most effective manner possible.
Definitions
The definitions provided below describe the five primary steps in the emergency response process. Each step is color-coded on this web site (see the colored tabs at the top of this page) as well as in the hard-copy guide.
Preparedness:Actions taken in anticipation of an event, continuing until an actual occurrence.
Initial Response:Actions taken during and immediately following the event to protect life and health, and prevent continuing resource damage. It continues until a critical infrastructure is functioning (at least minimally) and the “chaos is manageable” (NEPA definition of emergency).
Rapid Assessment: Actions taken to assess the damage to resources and infrastructure. They address key programmatic decisions, financial and resource needs, and potential strategies. Rapid assessment may begin during or immediately following the event, and can continue into the recovery phase.
Recovery and Restoration: Long term actions taken to return to normal.
Close Out and Audit:Actions taken to establish documentation, financial record-keeping, and reporting. The work should occur throughout all phases, with a clear end established.
More details about each of these phases are provided in the appropriate section within the Guide.
Icons Used in this Site
These are the icons used on this web site and in the hard-copy guide that define the five primary categories of emergency events. The color of these icons are correlated with the colors defining the five primary steps in the emergency response process. For example, the color of the icons depicted here are related to the first step: preparedness.
General Section
Fire Section
Weather Section
Insects and Disease Section
Other Events Section