The city’s Fire Department should be the lead organization for disaster management in a typical city in the United States of America. This is because they have the staff as well as the equipments to be handle emergencies as they occur. “The duties of the fire department involve preventing and reducing loss, minimizing the loss of lives and property and ensuring that people are protected from possible dangers (Schneid & Collins, 2000).
” To carry out these duties, the department is well organized and planned so that the staffs are trained of what they are expected to do to protect the public from possible harm.The city's fire department is equipped with the latest technologies such that they are at a more favorable position to respond to emergency calls. In addition, they know the city in and out therefore it is not difficult for them to gain access to such facilities. Moreover, the fire departments operations are designed to be able to respond to all sorts of emergencies. In addition, the fire department is well organized such that the staffs are assigned specific responsibilities according to their capabilities. We can therefore say that the city's fire department is well structured to effectively manage disasters.
Which of the above stated steps to develop an effective emergency plan do believe would be well outside of the scope of duties assigned to the Fire Department? The fire department has to define an emergency when they are doing their planning, they also have to develop specific tasks to help them function immediately before, during, and after an emergency and they need to have a method of controlling the resources they have when dealing with disasters. Providing a recognizable means of moving from normal operations into and out of the emergency mode of operation will be outside the scope of duties of the fire department.“This is because they mostly have an operational manual on what they are supposed to do in a given situation and the people who will undertake such function (Perry & Lindell, 2001).” Their duty therefore will not necessarily entail reorganizing the normal operations of the department as they are always flexible when it comes to dealing with the various operations.Which of the above stated requirements should involve participation and approval well beyond the authority usually granted to a Department head such as the Fire Chief? There are various duties that the city's fire department deals with. The Fire Chief is the top most leaders in the fire department and he/she is the one who is given the mandate to carry out most of their duties.
One of the requirements that usually involve the participation and approval by the authority usually granted to a Department head such as the Fire Chief is the deciding policy.This is because the authority has the legal mandate to classify disasters in various ranks and they ensure that there are proper regulations governing the way the department handles emergencies. After all, he will be held accountable if things go wrong as the fire chief is hired by the local government. “The fire chief is the one who will instill the fire policies on his/her staff regarding the various issues that they face and other policies that involve disaster prevention and education (Buckman, 2005).
” Testing plans and emergency procedures also involve authority approval because they have to approve if the measures are safe and the places where they are carried out do not expose the public to possible harm.Which of the above stated requirements do you consider to be critical or unimportant to the effective development and implementation of a disaster/emergency planning and coordination program/unit in the city? The requirements that are critical and to the effective development and implementation of a disaster/emergency planning and coordination program/unit in the city include: Assessing the threat is important as it will determine how the situation will be handled and the resources that will be planned for. “Selecting the crisis team is crucial as they are the ones who will ensure that the situation is kept under control by competent people (Schneid ; Collins, 2000).”Training for the crisis management team for this reason will also be crucial.
Testing plans and procedures are also important as they will enhance the preparedness of the team. Requirements that will be unimportant during disaster planning will include identifying resources as they will not directly influence disaster planning. Locating the crisis management center will not be a must at this stage because the plan is based on speculation and has not yet taken place at the planning stage. Its location will be important when an emergency has occurred as it helps to address those affected in one way or another as well as help the team working at the scene.
