Patterns of communication during full-scale emergency/disaster drills

The motivation for developing, administering, and participating in full-scale disaster drills is multifold. Emergency drills not only test the capacity of emergency systems but also allow organizations to learn as well as improve processes and communication structures before disasters strike. They have been used as a platform to develop and maintain collaborative networks. This article examines the extent to which organizations collaborate with others during emergency/disaster drills. A social network analysis is employed to determine the patterns of communication and interorganizational networks during the planning and implementation of a full-scale emergency exercise. Specifically, we seek to understand the communication lines that stakeholders used to receive updated information, who they reached out to when standard communication channels were down, and what backup systems were in place. The research was conducted in a municipality located in north central Texas. This study was based on field observations and involved 14 face-to-face interviews with experienced public officials and first responders involved in a municipal government emergency drill/exercise. The interviews were administered after the 2017 full-scale emergency drill. Three major findings can be emphasized from this study. First, two types of organizations, namely, city fire departments and a university partaking in the exercise, played central role as a “bridge” between various organizations during the emergency drill. Second, the types of information considered important during the exercise can be categorized as strategic, procedural, and technical information. Finally, several back-up systems including ham radio, cellphones, internet back-up, and satellite were used to maintain communication channels.

GIS-Based Simulated Annealing Algorithm for the Optimum Location of Fire Stations in the Madrid Region, Spain: Monitoring the Collapse Index

Recent increases in incidents make it unlikely for emergency systems to be able to meet incident requirements. In this paper, we formulate a new territorial measurement approach for the reliability of fire departments, the collapse index, to help decision makers determine their response capability. This new index expresses the maximum simultaneous workload in a pixel over one year, measured over time. Based on this index, we propose a new fire station (FS) optimum location model by applying the simulated annealing method in conjunction with a geographic information system. The formulation of the cost function as the minimum standard deviation of the FS workload, combined with the constraint that the maximum collapse index in any pixel must be less than a certain threshold, are two contributions of this work. Five optimisation processes are developed to locate between up to five FS and create collapse index maps in the Madrid Region. The maximum collapse index in a pixel with a new FS decreases from its initial value of 10,485 min to 2500 min when five new FS are built. The conclusion is that the proposed optimisation model meets the need for reliability in the emergency services and that the collapse index is a good measure to prevent overlapping in the system.

Performance of Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis of Emergency System in COVID-19 Pandemic. An Extensive Narrative Review

The actual coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to the limit of emergency systems worldwide, leading to the collapse of health systems, police, first responders, as well as other areas. Various ways of dealing with this world crisis have been proposed from many aspects, with fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis being a method that can be applied to a wide range of emergency systems and professional groups, aiming to confront several associated issues and challenges. The purpose of this critical review was to discuss the basic principles, present current applications during the first pandemic wave, and propose future implications of this methodology. For this purpose, both primary sources, such as scientific articles, and secondary ones, such as bibliographic indexes, web pages, and databases, were used. The main search engines were PubMed, SciELO, and Google Scholar. The method was a systematic literature review of the available literature regarding the performance of the fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis of emergency systems in the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of this study highlight the importance of the fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis method as a beneficial tool for healthcare workers and first responders’ emergency professionals to face this pandemic as well as to manage the created uncertainty and its related risks.

Expanding the FDS Simulation Capabilities to Fire Tunnel Scenarios Through a Novel Multi-scale Model

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is widely used to simulate tunnels and partially substitute on-site tests. As technology advances, new application opportunities appear; some examples are the optimal operation of ventilation and emergency systems, risk assessment of tunnels and training of the operators. Even when the computational capacity of computers has grown, CFD is still constrained by the large amount of computational resources needed in long tunnels. This introduces a need for methods able to reduce the amount of time required for simulations. To face this need, a novel 1D–3D multiscale model is presented in this paper. The model incorporates the code Whitesmoke into FDS (Fire Dynamics Simulator) through a direct coupling. Whitesmoke manages the fluid dynamics, temperature and concentration of species in the 1D portion, while FDS calculates these fields in the portion where fire occurs. Using this multiscale model, the computation time for long tunnels is reduced, proportionally to the 1D length in the domain. Also, additional simulation capabilities particularly useful for tunnel analysis are obtained. Some new characteristics are pressure boundary conditions can be easily imposed at the tunnel portals or at the ventilation shafts; the characteristic curves of the fans/jet-fans can be included, also considering the degradation effects due to smoke propagation; the piston effect can be properly considered. Our research verifies most of its capabilities, also clarifying its limitations and the criteria used to set the domain for the analysis. As a final step, the model is tested in a tunnel with a cross section of 4.8 m and 600 m of length with a 2 MW fire, comparing its performance with a full 3D FDS simulation. The difference in temperature and velocity is minimal for most of the domain, making It a good way to optimize resource usage in large simulations. Furthermore, the multiscale manages to reduce the computational time of more than a 50%.

Cooperative Hypercube Queuing Model for Emergency Service Systems

As a useful descriptive tool for emergency service effectiveness, the hypercube queuing model has been applied in systems of many countries, such as the SAMU system in Brazil. However, the traditional hypercube queuing model and its extended forms assume that the service provider performs independent services, lacking a compelling description of the situation where emergency vehicles perform cooperative services (e.g., NEPPHE in China). To this end, we assume that vehicles in the same fleet simultaneously start and end services and propose a cooperative hypercube queuing (CHQ) model that can describe the state of emergency systems which apply multivehicle dispatches. In order to verify the accuracy of the model, we apply Arena simulation software in Wuhan case. The results show that the CHQ model can illustrate cooperative performance effectively. Sensitivity analyses under more general parameters are conducted to reveal insights into the model application.

Recomendaciones para la realización de procedimientos quirúrgicos de urgencia, emergencia, trauma y cuidados críticos ante la situación de pandemia por COVID-19

Conditions requiring emergency surgery and trauma care are still common in emergency systems and require immediate evaluation and timely resolution even during a pandemic as is currently happening with COVID-19, a scenario that threatens to affect their capacity to provide care5,8. In these cases, certain measures must be taken for the special care of health care workers and their patients, who are often admitted in critical condition and require an immediate surgical intervention that does not allow for any delay. For this purpose, an algorithm should be developed with recommendations which include a checklist to guide surgeons working in emergency and trauma systems about the issues to consider for the appropriate management and treatment of these conditions and for preparation of perioperative environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ultimate goal is to maintain adequate care with the necessary and required protection in each case5,8,11, raising awareness of the importance of preserving capacity to respond to these conditions that routinely occur in our community.

Circuit Breakers – a legal analysis of volatility safeguards in the rules of stock exchanges on the occasion of the COVID-19 crisis

This paper examines circuit breakers (CBs), i. e. emergency systems of trading venues that interrupt or restrain trading when significant price movements of financial instruments occur. After a description of the ratio legis and the economic fundamentals, the genesis and the different forms of CBs are presented. The European legal framework is then outlined. The relevant rules of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FWB) serve as an example.

Selective Coordination and its impact on Low-Voltage System Design & Arc Flash

This paper focuses on total selective coordination of low voltage systems for critical facilities and based on reliability requirements. Critical facilities which include Data Centres, Health Care Facilities & Emergency Systems. It also discussed the importance of achieving total selective coordination and the impact on network design and how it is related to arc flash incident energy. It also states the National Electric Code requirements for the implementation of selective coordination based on system reliability requirements. The difficulties in achieving selectivity from Grid side and an inhouse generation side and the reliability benefits on critical facilities are discussed.