Don’t Confuse “First Responder” with “Public Safety”
By: Frannie Edwards, Deputy Director
National Transportation Security Center of Excellence, Mineta Transportation Institute
Police and fire service members are usually the first professionals on the scene to an emergency. People recognize the shiny red vehicles and flashing light bars as a sign that help is on the way. However, these sworn personnel are only able to reach the site of the emergency because the transportation professionals have already done their jobs designing, building and maintaining passable streets. The California Highway Patrol has as its motto, “All roads, all codes.” But as Dan Goodrich of Mineta Transportation Institute points out, “No roads, no codes.”
Disasters may also include the critical infrastructure of the roads, bridges and tunnels. They may be inundated with mud and debris, damaged by fire, flood or shaking, or blocked by damaged motor vehicles. In these cases the Department of Transportation (DOT) is the first responder when the road itself is also a victim and unusable by the sworn public safety personnel.
In most states DOT owns the roads. Only they have the equipment and expertise to clear, clean and repair the road surface. In most states only DOT can declare the road, bridge or tunnel safe for travel, and reopen the road for use.
In the iconic response to the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center on 9/11, transportation employees constituted the largest segment of the “first responders” working on the pile. They engineered, fabricated and installed the shoring under the plaza that supported the heavy rescue equipment. They operated cranes, dozers, loaders and trucks that removed the sifted debris. They used cutting tools to separate and remove the destroyed steel beams. As a result, Homeland Security Presidential Directive-8, “National Preparedness” stated, “(d) The term "first responder" refers to those individuals who in the early stages of an incident are responsible for the protection and preservation of life, property, evidence, and the environment, including emergency response providers as defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 101), as well as emergency management, public health, clinical care, public works, and other skilled support personnel (such as equipment operators) that provide immediate support services during prevention, response, and recovery operations.”
Sworn public safety personnel must recognize DOT personnel as first responders when working together at the scene of a routine accident or a catastrophe. Give them space in the base camp on an extended event, feed them with the police and fire personnel on shorter events. Make sure that the common purpose of service to the community, including disaster victims, is the focus of field relationships, so the community can get back to “all roads” in service.
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