A Guidebook for Integrating NIMS for Personnel and Resources at Airports (2014)

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33 This chapter discusses some of the lessons learned and commendable practices that five airports shared with the research team during site visits to gather this information. Table 10 identifies the airports that contributed to the collection of best practices using NIMS/ICS. The practices have been organized into four categories covering: planning, training and evaluation, response, and communication. An example of best practices training from MSP can be found in Appendix D. Planning Local/State/Federal Coordination • Develop an AEP that includes mutual aid responders. Response assignments are specified for air traffic control, the fire department, airport management, airport police, EMS and hospitals, the county office of emergency management, local police agencies, the state highway patrol, airline carriers and operators, airport tenants, and the FAA. • Develop a thorough AEP including ICS organization charts and checklists. • Assist the airlines if there is a need to establish a family assistance/reunification center due to an aircraft accident. Understand that the airline would be responsible to establish this service, but that the airport has a role to play as well, especially during initial setup. • Invite federal agencies to participate and use the airport as a site to exercise tabletop and functional drills. Community Resources • Meet with and share key elements of the AEP with local stakeholders on a routine basis, including airline management staff. • Utilize local certified emergency response teams (CERT), or establish your own airport CERT team using guidance from FEMA. Team members can assist in filling out forms and paperwork, off-loading supplies such as food and water that may be arriving at the airport, managing crowds, and so forth. • Organize the airport tenants and train supervisors to assist with evacuation/shelter-in-place procedures in the event either becomes necessary. Managers and supervisors from various airport tenants can function as airport CERT team members and be used to help with evacu- ation and other support duties when a major incident occurs. • Review what other major facilities, such as shopping malls, have set up with their merchants for emergency preparedness. For example, one of the airports studied what the Mall of America has in place to efficiently communicate with merchants and move the general public to safety. C H A P T E R 5 Best Practices and Successful Approaches Using NIMS and ICS

34 A Guidebook for Integrating NIMS for Personnel and Resources at Airports Training and Evaluation • Conduct training with mutual aid agencies, even if it is simply familiarization. Bringing people into the airport—land side and airside—is an important part of training that helps responders understand the layout of the airport and where resources are located. • Consider exercising critical incident stress (CIS) responses by airport first responders and using trained de-briefers. • Capitalize on or promote law enforcement’s growing awareness of the need for following NIMS during multiple agency responses to major incidents or events. • Use ICS for snow, flood, tornados, and other weather-related events your airport is vulner- able to. • Involve mutual aid responders on every drill. • Develop a good working relationship with any relevant joint-use military guard base that can bring a large number of resources and NIMS/ICS training opportunities to the airport. • Encourage participation from all stakeholders during tabletop exercises and encourage challenging discussions, specifically, “Who is in charge?” and when and how information and response takes place. • Update the AEP and document after-action reviews following an exercise. • Assign a staff person to manage emergency response coordination and training. • Consider using videos of major weather events as part of training. One airport created and produced a severe weather video that primarily covers sheltering for tornadoes, but also addresses thunderstorms. • Coordinate a number of tabletops annually and practice with stakeholders and mutual aid agencies. Response • UC principles are followed by all mutual aid responders, so everyone is on the same page working an event. • Develop checklists for first responders. • Develop checklists for the EOC staff. • Establish a friends and family center that any airline could occupy if needed. • Automatic responses are coordinated with mutual aid when they respond to the airport. Communication • Keep the AEP current and communicate with airport stakeholders and mutual aid responders in developing updates. • Initiate close communication and coordination with the on-airport Air National Guard during irregular operations. Name of Airport City, State Airport Size/Type Spirit of St. Louis Airport (SUS) St. Louis, MO GA Cheyenne Regional Airport (CYS) Cheyenne, WY Regional Jackson Evers International Airport (JAN) Jackson, MS Small General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) Milwaukee, WI Medium Minneapolis Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) Minneapolis, MN Large Hub Table 10. Case study airports.

Best Practices and Successful Approaches Using NIMS and ICS 35 • Investigate use of a pre-assigned medical dispatch and response system to facilitate regional and statewide communication such as the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) applied in Illinois and Minnesota. • Consider conducting regular conference calls with any major air carriers at your airport to discuss any regular and irregular operations expected. • Invest in a robust event notification system (ENS). • Utilize a web-based resource in the EOC for coordinating with various state agencies and organizations. Among the case study, several excellent tools were discovered that could be used by other airports as models or to generate the development of similar tools. Of particular value is the MSP’s NIMS and ICS PowerPoint™ training course (Appendix D) that were developed and offered not just to employees but to other airport stakeholders, and MSP’s Aviation Disaster Plan for Friends and Relatives Center (Appendix E). MKE personnel shared their training check- list and matrix (Appendix A) as well as their own EOC incident management system (IMS) (Appendix F).