- Under the streets of Philadelphia and at power stations nearby, first responders recently prepared for events they hope will never happen.
The sixth-largest city in the country, the City of Brotherly Love has a bustling and well-traveled public transportation system and keeping everyone safe as they travel to and from these events is top of mind for first responders. As part of the preparations for these events, the Protective Security Advisor for the Southeast Pennsylvania District invited the Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Response and Defeat Operations Support (REDOPS) program to assist with their response planning.
REDOPS conducted joint exercises in the Philadelphia area earlier this year with the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Agency (SEPTA) Transit Police, and the Philadelphia (PA) State, and Montgomery County (PA) bomb squads, to ensure regional response agencies are ready for any possible scenarios. The exercises focused on two different events: a bomb threat underground in the mass transit system and a bomb threat at a power generation or distribution point.
Both scenarios presented specialized and potentially hazardous environments for explosives technicians. In the mass transit case, first responders must cope with underground transit facilities that have a limited number of entry and exit points and deploy specialized drones in locations that are only accessible by stairway. Other hazards are narrow platforms, constantly moving trains, locked or limited access points, and electrified third rails. Quickly opening the doors of a parked train requires specific knowledge and special tools. Teams learned to bring trained transit employees with them during this kind of response to help them navigate any unique obstacles.
Power generation and transmission facilities carry their own challenges. These facilities often have toxic materials on site, which need to be identified and avoided. There is also the danger of “Step Potential,” the often-fatal threat caused by high voltage equipment that is grounded.
In this environment, the ground around this equipment is electrically charged. Anyone who takes a step in this electric field runs the risk of creating a power differential between their two feet, causing the electricity to take the path of least resistance to balance the charge – through the person’s body. Bomb technicians need to know how to work in these conditions safely and be aware of which of their tools should and should not be deployed in this highly charged area. By training in these environments, these specialized first responders can be better prepared and take the necessary precautions to ensure their safety and success.
After these successful exercises, after-action reports were drafted detailing lessons learned: one for local bomb squads to study, and a second for transit hub and power facility leadership. The reports are considered Law Enforcement Sensitive, meaning they cannot be shared publicly, but they are available to authorized stakeholders via secure web portals.
One example from these reports that we can share is that power facility operators should have accurate maps of their facilities, on hand and ready, for first responders to use that call out dangerous areas and how to avoid them.
S&T has received a lot of feedback since the reports were finalized this Summer indicating that bomb squads beyond the Philadelphia area have been actively training with their own local agencies and facilities using what they learned from the REDOPS exercises. One such agency, the Las Vegas Fire and Rescue Bomb Squad, said, “It has been a huge help developing and sharing concerns over threat assessment.”
REDOPS is a program that is designed to identify gaps in training and preparation, address those gaps, and then move on to the next one. As long as there are incidents to respond to, REDOPS will be helping first responders to be ready for them.
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