Christopher Cotter Chief Summit NJ Fire Dept. & Int’l. Assoc. of Fire Chiefs Representative Chief Summit NJ Fire Dept. & Int’l. Assoc. of Fire Chiefs Representative

Critical Infrastructure Assurance: Working in a New World Lessons Learned in Action International Association of Fire Chiefs Chief Christopher J. Cotter International Association of Fire Chiefs Chief Christopher J. Cotter

Cooperative Processes and Structures: National Mobilization Models Across Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Critical Infrastructure Protection  Protecting the people, physical entities & cyber systems that are indispensably necessary for national security, economic stability and public safety.

Special Challenges for Emergency Services  Fire & Emergency Services provide fundamental protection of Critical Infrastructure.  Fire and Emergency Services are a Critical Infrastructure of their respective communities and must be protected.

U.S. Fire/EMS Profile u A complicated fire service – Nearly 30,000 public fire departments – More than 70% are totally volunteer fire departments – Approximately 1.1 million fire fighters – 17,500,000 annual fire and EMS calls 9.8 million annual EMS calls

The public now expects that an extraordinary rescue effort will occur after any terrorist incident. Public Expectation

Engaging The Public  Emergency Management  L. E. P. C. - Local Emergency Planning Committee

Terrorism: What We Can Expect u Continued use of low-tech u Aircraft and transportation u Food related u Telecommunications

u Computer-based u Energy related u Arson u Personalization of terrorism

u Bombings u Secondary devices u Suicide terrorists u Chemical-Biological-Nuclear

Needs of the Fire Service for the New Threat of Terrorism u Continued awareness training for all first responders. u Incident command training for command officers. u Increased availability of radio spectrum. u Interoperability.

u Expand and upgrade the USAR program u Support for Additional Firefighter Staffing Initiative u Expand the FIRE Act

Other Needs u Every responding agency (local, state, national) must use a standardized incident command system (ICS). u Continual coordination between local, state and national responders is essential for success in protecting our personnel and the citizens we serve.

u National agencies need to involve local first responders in every level of discussions for resource allocation…especially training and equipment.

Conclusion u The better the job the fire service does in minimizing the impact of terrorist incidents, the more terrorists will seek new and terrible ways to make their statements. u The lessons learned must be shared among all emergency services organizations…worldwide.

It is not if, but when, the next terrorist action will occur against U.S. citizens and property. The fire service will be there….guaranteed!