Focus on NBC/HazMat
Terushige Fukunaga examines Tokyo Fire Department’s most recent developments in strategy, response units, taskforces and equipment.
The Tokyo Fire Department protects 12 million residents with its 18,000 personnel. In addition to firefighting, rescue, emergency medical services and fire prevention, it is now partially responsible for protecting people from armed attacks, including terrorism. Ever since the Sarin attack of 1995, Tokyo Fire Department has continually upgraded it NBC and HazMat response capabilities.
Steve Doel looks at improvements in the UK’s CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) terrorist attack response capabilities, underlining the focus on police preparedness, multi-agency debate, policy and equipment development, training and exercising.
The terrorist attacks in September 2001, together with the ‘anthrax letters’ in October the same year, meant that what was intended to be a measured and gradual development took on a new dimension. It was overtaken by a clear need to establish an ability to respond to use of CBRN agents as soon as possible. In the light of this, the UK Government formulated its counter terrorist strategy (CONTEST) which aims to “Reduce the risk from international terrorism so that people can go about their business freely and with confidence.”
Mike Hall explains how a review project team from the New Zealand Fire Service led to the development of combined hazardous substance and command vehicles, and how these are being rolled out across the country.
The last three years have seen a marked increase in weather related responses, and a particularly severe test in 2004 found our incident command capability needed some work.
NZFS has eight regions which, in the past, were encouraged to be semi independent. This resulted in a wide variety of solutions, some good, some not, and little of the standardised approach you might reasonably expect from a national service.
A particular challenge in NZ is the wide variety of national topography and weather extremes, ranging from a typical temperate city environment to the alpine remoteness of some areas, including the Southern Alps which exceed 3,658 metres (12,000 feet) in places.
Photo courtesy of Terushige Fukunaga
The full text appears in Volume 2 Issue 4 of the Crisis Response Journal.
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