More Web 2.0 Swine Flu stuff

In addition to the Twitter sites I mentioned in the last post, this new Google map of suspected and confirmed cases is interesting to follow. We should remember that user-generated content is often (usually?) unreliable, but the more widely it is disseminated the quicker inaccuracies are debunked and salient points reinforced. Firegeezer has written several times about having an Internet Intelligence Officer at the command post for very large, very public incidents. Twitter and RSS readers can keep you updated very quickly from a tremendous amount of sources and go a long way toward maintaining situational awareness using a resilient and durable platform.



View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map

Swine Flu in New York, Kansas

New York public health officials are confirming around 200 cases in Queens* centered around a school and CNN has reported cases in Kansas. Texas Department of State Health Services is closing certain schools around San Antonio and recommending people avoid public gatherings in those areas.

This is a great case for Twitter. Go sign up and follow @BreakingNews, @Veratect, and @CDCEmergency for some really bleeding-edge coverage.

I sent a memo up my chain of command this morning recommending a few actions.

1. Locate and inspect our previously issued N95 HEPA masks
2. Consider writing a standing order, to be issued later, ordering company officers and battalion chiefs to relieve from duty any members reporting sick (our guys hate using sick leave for actual sickness!)
3. Send someone to the store to stock up on Purell now (the City buys this, but they probably don't have a lot of reserves in the warehouse)
4. Issue a standing order directing members to wear their N95's when treating dyspnea patients and to wash hands after every EMS call, regardless of actual patient contact
5. Issue a standing order banning members from lingering in public places until further notice
6. Suspend all public ed and PR events until further notice

Don't hang out close to a patient if you don't have to, wash your hands frequently and thoroughly (or use alcohol-based sanitizer), and, if your patient is not on a NRB and has a respiratory problem then put a surgical or dust mask on his/her face.

This is the sort of thing that can push this teetering economy into a depression as business' continuity of operations begin to strain. That will definitely include fire departments, since this appears to be something that disproportionately affects healthy adults (vice kids and the elderly and infirm).

Oh, one other thing. When you sneeze, sneeze in the crook of your arm and not your hands (that actually is a CDC recommendation!). Sneezing on your hands just transfers that crap to doorknobs, keyboards, mice, and light switches

* (UPDATE at 15:20 on 4/26): That number has come down significantly, with under 20 being confirmed but others suspected.

Threat Forecast: The next five years

The big HLS talk around Christmas has been the leak of an FOUO (For Official Use Only) report from DHS on the threat environment over the next five years. The AP ran the story, helpfully noting that these sorts of reports are usually distributed to "law enforcement, intelligence officials and the private sector."

This is illustrative of my point about the fire service failing to engage the professional community. If we are the ones who will respond for mitigation purposes, then why are we not included in the discussion about the trends we will face in the future? We talk about what the car companies will introduce in their airbags, crumple zones, and electrical systems over the next several model years and we talk about all the new and shocking ways the construction industry exposes us to danger. We need to be in on these conversations because we are the ones who will be in the thick of things at every one of these incidents, closest to the hazard and with the most pressing responsibilities. The homeland security community neglects the vital first 12 hours of response, before elaborate federal and state plans can come into play and regional and national resources can make the scene. In that interval between disaster and meaningful assistance from the guys with the big budgets (and authority), will our fire departments be able to function?

One common criticism of military strategy is that it focuses too much on "preparing for the last war." Are we preparing for 9/11 (v.2)? Or OKC2.0? Are we preparing at all?

The AP report is worth reading, as is Dr. Walid Phares's analysis. Most of the information is more important for law enforcement and the intel world, but what is salient to the fire service, very briefly, is that we should prepare for:

1. Biowarfare attacks
2. Cyberattacks

What #1 and #2 have in common, for our purposes, is that they pose existential threats to our continuity of operations. These themes will be revisited time and again here and will be taken up in greater detail in the near future.