San Diego County Fire Disaster Management Plan
Scenario: San Diego County Fire Disaster Management Plan
You are applying for an internship within the Emergency Preparedness and Response department at your local county health department. The application process requires that you submit a public health disaster management plan for a natural or man-made event in the community.
What are the gaps?
What was the impact of the event on the school and community?
Who was involved?
Who collaborated?
What were the challenges in responding to or managing the event?
What was the plan in case it happened and was it followed?
After the event, what was the outcome?
What can you do to improve or answer your initial question?
Who, what, and how will you develop a plan, execute, and evaluate so that what happened in the past is prevented from affecting your organization and community?
Who are your community resources? Closest law enforcement, fire department, NGO, CERT response, FEMA, Red Cross, and hospital that you can work with for your plan?
How will you measure your goals and objectives? (examples of action items are)
I want to train 70% or 70 out of 100 staff within 3 months
In 6 months, I will have trained 150 out of 200 staff
I will develop an online training video for the instructors on the basics of responding to an active shooter event that will be a mandatory assignment completed every year
I will conduct a drill every 3 months for an active shooter in collaboration with the Kearny Mesa Sheriff and Fire Department. Kaiser Kearny Mesa and Red Cross will participate in managing triage patients within the NU parking lot.
Develop a pre and post-survey measuring perception of knowledge and readiness.
Provide an action item report to all stakeholders of what went well and opportunities for improvement 1 week after the drill.
Sample Answer
Identifying the Gap: The 2007 Witch Creek Fire
The 2007 Witch Creek Fire, one of the largest wildfires in San Diego County history, highlighted several critical gaps in the region’s disaster management plan:
- Insufficient Early Warning Systems: Delayed notifications hindered timely evacuations.
- Limited Resource Allocation: Inadequate resources, particularly firefighting personnel and equipment, hampered containment efforts.
- Poor Coordination: Lack of effective communication and coordination between agencies hindered response efforts.