Preparing for the worst possible scenario
Explosives management training for first responders
By RYAN McGARRY
SAYVILLE — Is Islip Town, and its
surrounding communities, prepared for
a potential explosives attack on the
transit system or any other local area of
high civilian concentration?
With the increased use of the Long
Island Railroad and the emergence of
large public gatherings at beaches or
festivals, such as next month's Sayville
Summerfest, that come with the summer season, emergency preparedness
was exactly what was on the mind of
Jamie Atkinson,1 assistant chief of the
Sayville-based Community Ambulance
Company.
Atkinson, who recognized a threat,
found it prudent to prepare by coordinating a Transit Explosive's Incident
Management Seminar through the U.S.
Department of Transportation and the
Transportation Safety. The federally
funded seminar was held on Wednesday, July 11and Thursday, July 12 at the
Sayville Fire Department
"In our territory, we have two railroad stations [Oakdale and Sayville],
Islip MacArthur Airport, and several
bus drop-off and pick-up locations "
said Atkinson, who is also a Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Police
Officer and an officer in Suffolk County's Department of Fire Rescue and
Emergency Services' Office of Emergency Management. "It is important
that we continue to train, prepare, and
plan in the event of a terrorism incident," he added.
Because a possible threat can come
from anyone, ranging from a terrorist
organization to a disgruntled citizen, the
training provided instruction in preparing, evaluating,and responding to any
act of aggression involving explosives.
The two-day seminarwas led by Bob
Lower, a retired director of the U.S. Air
Marshals who was present at the Oklahoma City bombings, and Larry Nevin,
a FBI certified bomb technician from
the St. Paul Police Department hvMinnesota.
Relying on past incidents and attempted attacks, the instructors aimed to
teach the class of police officers , firefighters, EMS workers, and Homeland
Security officials how to adequately
identify potential threats to transit systems and other public places to increase
security at these locations. ,
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The group of first responders also
learned how to check the reliability of
threats to avoid panic or hysteria that
can ensue from false alarms. Lower noted a past incident in which a major
international airport received a phony
bomb threat by one of its own employees hoping to avoid lateness.
However, for legitimate threats and
incidents, Lower and Nevin emphasized
the importance of communication
between departments and agencies. The
course identified the responsibilities of
each agency in the event of an explosives attack or threat and demonstrated
how first responders hadto be prepared
for events that may progressively worsen with time.
Emergency response agencies are currently drilled in hypothetical scenarios
with progressive changes that force
them to learn every possible alternative
route of procedure, according to Lower.
Lower and Nevin also encouraged
localities and transit systems to apply
for federal grant money to purchase better equipment not only for response, but
for prevention as well.
The use of bomb-retardant garbage
cans, for example, can save lives by containing blasts from spraying outwards.
Although this equipment is expensive,
the money is there already, local governments just have to take advantage of
the grants that exist, said Lower.
"Tills training's a tremendous
resource that every first responder
should take advantage of," said Brian
McCormack, an officer of the MTA
Police Department's K-9 Unit, after completing the first day of the two-day training seminar.
McCormack, who primarily works out
of Grand Central Station, often patrols
the LongIsland Railroad and, specifically, the Montauk Branch, which"services
Long Island's South Shore.
The explosives course was one of five
responder preparedness seminars setup by Atkinson and the Community
Ambulance Company.Recently, courses
in transit hijackings and hazardous
material response were held at the Bayport Firehouse.
"We usually hold four classes per year
based on what's relevant at the time, our
area, and our regional, needs," said
Atkinson, who seeks to train responders in explosives management specifically for events like Summerfest.
Also attending the two-day seminar
were members of the Patchogue
and'Commack fire departments, and
officers and officials from the
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outside the Sayville firehouse during the Transit Explosives Incident Management Seminar.
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