15.1 Air Force Emergency Management, Disasters & Hazards
Key Takeaways
- The five DAF Emergency Management Program mission areas are prevention, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation.
- The DAF EM Program is accomplished through seven pillars of EM preparedness, beginning with risk management and the planning framework.
- The Crisis Action Team focuses on mission continuation and sustainment, not the management of the incident.
- First responders include fire and emergency services, medical, and security forces; emergency responders deploy after them to expand incident commander capabilities.
- Protective masks, ensembles, and military standard collective protection filters are not designed to protect against toxic industrial materials — the most important action is to evacuate outside the hazard's path.
Why the Program Exists
AFH 1 ties emergency management directly to the mission: "The ability of the DAF to carry out its mission of Great Power Competition directly depends on continuance of the mission in the face of adversity." Challenges include natural and man-made disasters, terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction, and hostile attacks.
The program's stated purpose is to "ensure the readiness of our forces to save lives; minimize the loss or degradation of resources; and continue, sustain, and restore operational capability in an all-hazards threat environment at DAF installations worldwide."
The primary mission is to prevent, protect, prepare for, respond to, and recover from all hazards/threats that pose the greatest risk to lives, key resources, facilities, infrastructure, and operational missions. The ancillary mission supports homeland defense and support to civil and host nation authorities; antiterrorism programs; and the countering weapons of mass destruction enterprise.
The Seven Pillars of EM Preparedness
- Risk Management
- Planning Framework
- Common Core Capabilities
- Capability Evaluation and Validation
- Program Management Reviews
- Capability Investment Strategy
- Adaptation via Information
The Five Mission Areas
| Mission area | AFH 1's definition |
|---|---|
| Prevention | Actions to avoid an incident or to intervene to stop an incident from occurring; involves actions to protect lives and property |
| Protection | Provides the capabilities necessary to protect the installation against all threats, hazards, and manmade or natural disasters |
| Response | Activities that address the short-term, direct effects of an incident — immediate actions to save lives, protect property, and meet basic human needs, plus execution of emergency operations plans |
| Recovery | Development, coordination, and execution of service- and site-restoration plans and reconstitution of government operations and services — identifying needs and resources, providing housing, addressing long-term care and treatment, incorporating mitigation measures, evaluating the incident to identify lessons learned |
| Mitigation | Activities designed to reduce or eliminate risks or lessen the actual or potential effects of an incident. Measures may be implemented prior to, during, or after an incident |
The mitigation timing rule is the trap: mitigation is not only a before-the-fact activity — AFH 1 states it may occur prior to, during, or after an incident.
The Disaster Response Force
The program is comprised of offices and responders known as the Disaster Response Force (DRF), detailed in DAFI 10-2501, Emergency Management Program.
| Element | Role |
|---|---|
| Emergency Communications Center (ECC) | A 24-hour a day, seven days a week operation incorporating the core functions of fire and emergency services, security forces, and medical dispatch. Provides emergency communications, alarm/sensor/video monitoring, tactical channel assignments, emergency notification, responder reachback, and notification to medical treatment facilities |
| Incident Commander (IC) | Responsible for all incident activities, including developing strategies and tactics and ordering and releasing resources. Has overall authority and responsibility for conducting and managing incident operations at the incident site |
| First responders | Fire and Emergency Services, medical, security forces, and other personnel who immediately engage to save lives, stabilize the incident, and prevent further property damage |
| Emergency responders | Response elements that deploy after the first responders to expand IC capabilities and perform support functions — follow-on EM elements, CBRN defense specialists, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, physicians, nurses, medical treatment providers, and mortuary affairs |
| Specialized and support teams | Formed from existing installation and unit personnel — Damage Assessment, Search and Recovery, Aircraft Crash Damaged or Disabled Recovery, Spill Response, Hydrazine Response, Emergency Family Assistance, Disaster Mental Health, Medical Response, Contingency Contracting, Bioenvironmental Engineering |
| Control centers | Activated during EOC activation; provide expertise and resource support to the EOC director and serve as the command and control node for all installation units tasked in the Installation Emergency Management Plan |
| Emergency Operations Center (EOC) | The installation's critical function to address imminent or realized threats/hazards and coordinate support to the incident command, on-scene personnel, and/or other EOCs |
| Command Post | A full-time, 24/7 command and control node directly responsible to commanders, serving as the focal point of operations for receipt and dissemination of orders, information, and requests |
| Crisis Action Team (CAT) | The top echelon of installation mission continuation and sustainment. Includes senior officers and senior enlisted leaders across the A-Staff and supporting units, and may include joint, civilian, and host nation partners. Supports the installation commander by assessing the situation, determining mission priorities, and directing subordinate units |
The CAT note is the single most tested line in Section 17A: "The CAT is intended to focus on mission continuation and sustainment and not the management of the incident." Managing the incident belongs to the Incident Commander.
First versus emergency responders is the other reliable discrimination: first responders immediately engage; emergency responders deploy after them to expand IC capabilities.
Categories of Hazards
AFH 1 opens Section 17B with the planning premise: disasters "can occur at any time with little or no advance warning" and "can be local or widespread, predictable, or unpredictable." Installations must develop plans for the hazards likely to affect their areas.
| Category | Definition and examples |
|---|---|
| Natural disasters | Non-routine events that cause severe damage that may require assistance — hurricanes/typhoons, tornadoes, storms, high-water, high winds, tidal waves, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, mudslides, snowstorms, fires, floods, explosions, and droughts |
| Technological hazards | Man-made events caused by a malfunction in a technological structure or human error in controlling the technology. Can be as serious as a natural disaster, causing loss of life, property damage, social and economic disruption, or environmental degradation, and can happen with little to no warning. Examples: hazardous materials release and nuclear power plant failures |
| Man-made hazards | A non-routine event that exceeds the capacity of the affected area to respond in a way that saves lives, preserves property, and maintains social, ecological, economic, and political stability. Includes technological hazards, plus acts of terrorism, active shooters, nuclear accidents, crime, arson, civil disorder, war, biological/chemical threat, cyber-attacks, pollution, fires, and transportation accidents |
Note the nesting: man-made hazards include technological hazards, so an item asking which category encompasses the other is keyed to man-made.
CBRN Hazards
AFH 1 notes that terrorist threat or use of CBRN materials is an emerging transnational threat used as asymmetric measures of intent, and points to DAFI 10-2503, CBRN Defense Program.
| Hazard | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Chemical agents | "A chemical substance intended for use in military operations to kill, seriously injure, or incapacitate mainly through its physiological effects." Categorized by physiological effect: lung damaging (choking), blister, blood, incapacitating, and nerve agents. Delivered by tactical ballistic missiles, bombs, artillery, grenades, mines, and spray attacks. Due to their persistent nature, nerve and blister agents pose the primary threat to air bases |
| Biological agents | "A microorganism (or a toxin derived from it) that causes disease in personnel, plants, or animals or causes the deterioration of materiel." Includes viruses, bacteria, fungi, and toxins cultured from living organisms, found as liquid droplets, aerosols, or dry powders. Symptoms may not be experienced immediately after contact — each agent has a different exposure (incubation) period |
| Radiological and nuclear | Nonionizing radiation (light, radiofrequency, microwaves) generally produces heat when it interacts with the body. Ionizing radiation has sufficient energy to produce ions and alters or destroys cell processes and structures. Adversaries may disseminate radioactive material without a detonation, or detonate at subsurface, surface, airburst, or high altitude. Primary concerns of a detonation: blast/shock, thermal radiation (heat), ionizing radiation, and ballistic debris; nuclear blasts may also pose an electromagnetic pulse hazard |
| Toxic industrial chemical (TIC) | A chemical developed or manufactured for use in industrial operations or research by industry, government, or academia that poses a hazard |
| Toxic industrial material (TIM) | A generic term for toxic, chemical, biological, or radioactive substances in solid, liquid, aerosolized, or gaseous form used or stored for industrial, commercial, medical, military, or domestic purposes |
The TIM Rule Every Airman Must Know
AFH 1 states it plainly, and the exam tests it:
Most toxic industrial materials present a vapor (inhalation) hazard and may also reduce the oxygen concentration below that required to support life. In the event of a toxic industrial material incident, the most important action is to immediately evacuate to an area outside the hazard's path, if feasible.
The protective mask, ensemble, and military standard collective protection filters are not designed to provide protection from toxic industrial materials.
If evacuation is impractical, implement shelter-in-place procedures.
This is the one CBRN scenario where MOPP gear is not the answer — donning the mask does not protect against a TIM, and the keyed response is evacuate, with shelter-in-place as the fallback.
What distinguishes the Crisis Action Team from the Incident Commander?
A toxic industrial material has been released near a work center. What does AFH 1 identify as the most important individual action, and why?
Which set correctly names the five mission areas of the Department of the Air Force Emergency Management Program?