Incident Command

DAEGU, South Korea
Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Firefighters dressed in breathing gear search the station and surrounding tunnels for those trapped and missing after a fire in a subway station in Daegu city, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Seoul, South Korea.

Fire department officials said some 3,200 people had been mobilized to battle the blaze and rescue victims, including nearly 1,000 firefighters and even more police officers.

The fire was believed to have been started by a 56-year-old mentally unstable man who ignited a container of inflammable liquid before hurling it onto a train stopped at Chungang-ro subway station.

The primary duties of emergency responders at an incident are to gain control of the situation by gathering information, assessing the conditions and activities and developing a plan. This is done through the Incident Management System. As the chart above illustrates, transit representatives should work within the system to assist in the overall efforts of controlling and mitigating the incident. Emergency responders have specific responsibilities at a scene. Depending upon the local structure of the response agencies, these responsibilities may vary.

In most cases they are:

LAW ENFORCEMENT

• Interview you - your actions and observations are very important
• Evidence preservation - credible threats and incidents are crime scenes
• Crowd and scene control
• Seek out passengers or witnesses who may have critical information

FIRE DEPARTMENT

• Rescue any victims who are contaminated or trapped
• Decontaminate anyone who may have been exposed to an agent
• Detect and monitor the CBR agent

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

• Treat those with best chance of survival - Triage
• Record condition and destination of all victims who are transported