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Communications Lessons LearnedGalena, IllinoisTrain Derailment and FireMarch 5, 2015
A Celebration of Mr. Murphy and his Laws.
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•Communications is a key element of any response.
• We have put a lot of effort into:• Technology• Training• Exercises• AAR
• We expect things to go as planned when we respond
…Sometimes they don’t
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Mr. Murphy and his Law
“Anything That Can Go Wrong? – WILL Go Wrong!”
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The Incident
• On March 5, 2015, tank cars of a BNSF train carrying crude oil derailed near Galena, IL.
• A tributary of the Mississippi river• One of the tank cars came to a stop only 20 feet from the water.
• Three of the cars caught fire.
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The Incident
• Multi-agency emergency response to mitigate and clean up the scene.
• Law Enforcement, Railroad, Illinois and US EPA, Coast Guard, and several other agencies.
• Requires fast and effective interoperable communications in order to safely coordinate all facets of the response
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The Incident
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The Incident
•Extremely Fortunate•No Fatalities•No Serious Injuries•Little Property Damage•Small Environmental Effect
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Early!)
• Illinois’ Starcom21 radio system provides 98% mobile - 90% portable radio coverage.
• The incident occurred in a low area in a valley, the terrain shadowed the nearest Starcom21 towers.
• Incident Scene:• Trunked portable radio coverage was nonexistent. • Trunked mobile radio coverage was OK. • Cellular coverage was spotty to say the least.• Fireground in IL is VHF simplex channels
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Early!)
• Incident commend post at the Galena River Park (Directly underneath the US20 bridge.)
• Suffered from the same coverage issues suffered at the incident scene.
• Extensive high ground between the ICP and incident site, making direct (non-repeated) radio communications difficult
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Early!)
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Early!)
Chris Farley
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Lesson Learned #1
• Chiefs and their Staffs, Incident Commanders and Command Staff should consider communications requirements when planning their incident response
• If they want to communicate, higher is better.• “…not located in an area that will inhibit effective Comms”
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
• Starcom21 network is the designated interoperability platform in IL
• Coverage was lacking at the incident scene and ICP, due to the low elevations
• The COML planned to use VHF simplex as a command channel for the incident scene.
• The RC was insistent that Starcom21 be used.
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Lesson Learned #2
• Chiefs and Incident Commanders should know the COML’s in their areas.
• They should train and exercise together, and attend the same meetings.
• We want to make sure the commanders know and understand what a COML can do for them
• Their first meeting should not be at 02:00 • Need to Rely on the COML and Comms Unit!
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
• Early in the response, a Starcom21 Site on Wheels (SOW) was requested for deployment to Galena.
• This should have taken no more than 4-5 hours from the time of the request.
• However, the actual time turned out to be over 24 hours due to a long series of ever-compounding issues:
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
• The only qualified driver for this vehicle / trailer in Northern Illinois had to be recalled from vacation
• SOW snowed in / iced in• SOW’s on-board diesel generator would not start• A portable generator had to be requested and sent to meet the SOW
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
• The original site for SOW placement did not have the property owner’s permission, resulting in immediate ejection. Another site was selected after another delay.
• The SOW’s external generator connection on the SOW was damaged.
• Satellite aiming errors. • Once the SOW went into operation, it provided good coverage to both the Command Post area and the Incident scene.
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Lesson Learned #3
• Carry out routine maintenance on your deployable assets.
• Account for human nature
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
• The portable generator requires shut-down for refueling and maintenance every 24 hours of operation.
• The generator was refueled and restarted without incident. • The satellite modem did not resume the backhaul link upon power-up. Four hour outage for a technician to reprogram the link.
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Lesson Learned #4
• Keep the equipment experts at the incident, don’t let them get away!
• If something goes wrong, their knowledge is critical
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
• When the satellite modem is shut down, it powers back up in a minimum power mode.
• Prevents accidental interference to other satellite users.
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Lesson Learned #5
• Perform realistic training on your assets
• Try to break it during training, see what causes problems.
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The Communications Situation(Murphy Strikes Often!)
• There was only one COML at the incident.• Other than RADO’s, no other COMMS positions were filled.• The workload was overwhelming, especially initially.• Having a second COML for planning input.• Minor problems recovering cache radios
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Lesson Learned #6
• Know when to change direction (HARD to do.)
• Don’t be afraid to ask for more help.
• ADAPT!
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Emergency vs. Construction
• Emergency Communications• Response• Safety of Lives and Property• All responders that needed a radio got one.
• Construction Communications• Private company• Directing Workers & Equipment• Railroad or Business Band
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Things Did Go Right
• Simplex Fireground• Cellular carriers corrected coverage issues quickly (BDA at the bridge)
• The SOW filled the coverage gap• Excellent Cooperation
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Action Items
• Develop Comms Teams for deployment • Independent calculation of satellite azimuth• UPS for satellite modems• Improving our inspection process• Outreach and Education for Chiefs, I/C’s and others
• Mobile Radio Caches
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Lessons Learned:
• Communications, Cooperation, Coordination • You only get what you Inspect, not what you Expect• Customer Relations• Realistic Training is KEY!
• (Break it if you can!)• Honest Communications - Focused After Action Report(AAR)
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Thank You!
“Anything That Can Go Wrong? – WILL Go Wrong!”