I live and work in the Southern California city of El Cajon. Maybe you heard of it because of a high school shooting incident recently in El Cajon (and another in Santee, next door to us). Firefighters and paramedics from the local fire departments, did not expect it to happen here. However, it did happened to kids in our community. An act of domestic terrorism occurred; a shooting incidents which injured and killed students.
A couple years back, I taught a domestic terrorism program to personnel throughout the region. Therefore, they were prepared, to some degree, when the incident occurred. Little did I now when presenting this program that we would be involved with domestic terrorism. In addition, we didn't have just one in the area, but we had two!
- Santana High School in Santee, California
March 5, 2001 at 9:22 AM - Granite Hills High School in El Cajon, California
March 22, 2001 at 12:54 PM
Theses two events were senseless tragedies. As a firefighter I am upset, sadden, and troubled by these events. The world of high school has sure changed since I went to school! The Grossmont High School District will spend $1.2 million next year for a law enforcement presence on its campuses in 2001-2002. Everyone is preparing for these types of events; the school, fire service, law enforcement, and emergency medical services.
As first responders we continually prepare for our next emergency. The fire service has changed a lot over the last 25 years. Twenty-five years ago we were trained to American Red Cross standards with Advanced First Aid training to handle our medical aid calls. We have been prepared over the years now to handle a myriad of emergencies. Below are examples of some of the types of training we now training and drill on:
Training for Firefighter's 25 years ago
- Fire Suppression
- First Aid
Training the Firefighter of Today
- Fire Suppression
- Emergency Medical Technician
- EMT-D (Defibrillator) Training
- Paramedic Training
- Extrication Equipment
- High Rise Fire Operations
- Hazardous Materials
- High Angle Rescue
- Swift Water Rescue
- Incident Command System
- Liability Issues
- Employee Issues
- State Compensation Claims
- Urban Search and Rescue
- Earthquake Training
- In Service Fire Inspections
- Fire Safety Classes
- CPR Classes
- Computers
- Escalated Disciplinary Actions
- Physical Agility Testing
- Wildland Fire Training
- Urban Interface Training
- Air Bags
- Change Saws
- Safety Issues / Safety Training
- Blood Borne Pathogens
- TB Protection
- Secondary Barrier Protection
- NFPA Standards
- OSHA Requirements
- Rapid Intervention Crews
- Two In and Two Out Requirements
- Accountability
- Stress Training
- Critical Incident Stress
- Psychological Services
In addition to our ever changing job and adding new subjects continually, we add one more today "Emergency Response to Terrorism." We need to prepare ourselves to respond to these types of emergencies. They are and will occur in the United States. The threat whether a Domestic Terrorist event (an armed attack with multiple-casualties) or a Weapons to Mass Destruction event with (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) we need to be prepared.
The National Fire Academy has prepared programs to do just this for the Fire Service. If you haven't attended an Emergency Response to Terrorism training program -- attend one as soon as possible. A good start is to obtain the self-study guide offered to members of the fire service entitled "Emergency Response to Terrorism Self-Study." You can obtain your copy utilizing the following methods:
United States Fire Administration Publications Office:
In addition, there are outreach classes every year in every state. Two of these classes that I teach are titled:
- Emergency Response to Terrorism:
Tactical Considerations - Company Officers - Emergency Response to Terrorism:
Strategic Considerations - Command Officers
The above programs use to be exclusively taught by the National Fire Academy (NFA). Now, the NFA allows their certified instructors to be independent contractors allowing them to teach outside of the NFA assigned programs. Therefore, you can now contract directly with the instructor and obtain the training that is provided by NFA at your location. The NFA will also provide a certificate for the program taught.
Now that we know how to prepare ourselves; what about the schools? What can we do prior to a domestic terrorism event? I believe we need to be proactive and to suggest training to the school districts. Not just on terrorism response training either. We need to take a multiple-disciplinary approach, training in a variety of areas. The above question led me personally to develop a program outline and then suggesting to school districts throughout San Diego County that they train on the following:
RESPONSE TO TERRORISM IN SCHOOLS
- Terrorist Activities Today
- Violence in the Work Place
- Conflict Management
- Mediation for Teens
- Stress Management for Teachers
- Strategic Planning for Terrorism
The above program should be not pure didactic, but should be interactive where you create a dialog with the teachers. The programs would be presented to all the teachers of a particular school at one time in a one-day Seminar/Workshop. The teachers in turn need to train children in certain subjects examples are: conflict management, stress management, mediation, and others.
