On August 1, 2007 many people’s lives turned upside down. Approximately after 6 p.m. at the end of rush hour, Interstate 35W bridge, known as one of the busiest interstates in Minneapolis, collapsed dropping into the Mississippi river. This incident killed 13 people and injured 145 others. As the first responder, you have to be able to handle the unexpected. I had to provide direction and make important decisions during this awful tragedy. When I received this phone call, I was at dinner with friends. I was in immediate shock; you never know what to expect when your phone rings. This was one of the biggest incidents to take place in awhile. I was rushing getting into my car. During an unexpected incident like this, I had to think of my initial …show more content…
With an incident like this, you do not know if any vehicles have certain chemicals in them that may have leaked; that can potentially catch on fire even more. If this were to happen, you need your team to be ready. That is why we established over the radio, that the bridge was the potential hot zone. The decision making team, organized a grief counselor for those who witnessed the incident occur because they were a complete wreck and needed composure, to help them get through this. What went wrong and how did the bridge collapse that caused these fatalities? That was apart of the scene management phase to help gather information on. “The Planning Section Chief was responsible for short- and long-term planning for the incident. He prepared the Incident Action Plan (IAP) for the EOC, including its relationship to the incident and for the continuation of city operations.” (33) We needed to develop an IAP, on what the steps were to figuring out how the bridge collapsed. There needed to be an analysis, especially for how big this incident …show more content…
This was not a disaster that would be fixed in one day. I had so many team members working hard to save those who were injured and those who were in the Mississippi river. The ferries were trying to rescue as many people from their cars in the water, but there was not much they could do. It took days to find some bodies. This took a toll on me, my team, and family members that had lost their loved ones. It is hard knowing you cannot save every single person when that is your main objective. The main question from most locals and Americans was “how could this bridge collapse after all these years?” Night time was falling, and there were still people in the water, that we were trying to rescue. We remained to stabilize every situation as best we could, it is mentally and physically strenuous on
Without a concrete reason for the bridge's failure, every suggested reason was researched until proven incorrect” (Silver). There were many reasons that were suggested, but could not be proven correct due to the collapse. Wikipedia states that “A small crack was formed through fretting wear at the bearing, and grew through internal corrosion, a problem known as stress corrosion cracking.” The failure of the bridge was caused by a defect in one of the eye-bars on the north side causing the other side to collapse as well. “Stress corrosion cracking is the formation of brittle cracks in a normally sound material through the simultaneous action of a tensile stress and a corrosive environment.
...afety should have inspected the building prior to issuing permits for further renovation, especially knowing this structure was going to be housing 124 residents. It seems that lack of knowledge from prior owners and lack of responsibility of city officials are responsible for this collapse and sadly, the loss of 9 brave men in the line of duty. The Boston Fire Department could have worked closer with the owner/ construction crew at the Hotel Vendome, and the deficiencies would have been found, and they would have known the instability they were walking into on June 17. At that point, firefighting operations would have more than likely been defensive. The firefighters did not conduct pre-incident planning which would have let them know they were going to face the construction barriers while attempting to lay hose, maneuver hose, and get the hose to a water source.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is split into three sections. In the first section, Bierce describes in detail the situation, a youn...
The bombing of the World Trade Center was nicknamed “the Big One”, causing a sixteen alarm fire. FEMA’s Incident Commander (IC) arrived on the scene at 12:48 and began assessing what needed to be done: over 50,000 people needed to be evacuated, thick black smoke was filling the building and could not stopped, numerous people were trapped in elevators and personnel on the top floors were breaking glass raining it down on personnel on the ground.
... given the help that they deserved. One can only hope that the government learns from this past encounter with a natural disaster so destructive and hope that safety measures are properly taken in the future and that history will not repeat itself.
Hurricane Katrina was considered as the worst hurricane in the history of United States. The winds and the rain were shattering people’s homes which collapsed and flooded. Thousands of people were suffering and dying. People were starving, and becoming dehydrated. Many people were left on the street and became homeless. After the hurricane, so many questions were left regarding the widespread damage and loss of loved ones. This devastating disaster destroyed the city of New Orleans and nearby cities and was estimated to cost $80 billion dollars in damage. State and local emergency in the affected area were struggling to perform urgent response missions such as emergency medical services, search and rescue, firefighting, giving food and water,
middle of paper ... ... The. “Hurricane Andrew: The Human Side of Recovery.” Disaster Recovery Journal, System Support Inc. 1 Sept. 2001. Web.
The initial response or lack thereof, to the widespread disaster in the Gulf Coast, caused by Hurricane Katrina, demonstrated high levels of incompetence and disorganization by government officials. Images of desperate individuals awaiting rescue on their rooftops, and masses of people packed together in deplorable conditions in the Super Dome, circulated the globe. There was no hiding from the painful reality and the obvious inaction or inability of those responsible to care for these individual in the wake of this catastrophe. (12, 791)
Hazards pose risk to everyone. Our acceptance of the risks associated with hazards dictates where and how we live. As humans, we accept a certain amount of risk when choosing to live our daily lives. From time to time, a hazard becomes an emergent situation. Tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes along the Gulf Coast or earthquakes in California are all hazards that residents in those regions accept and live with. This paper will examine one hazard that caused a disaster requiring a response from emergency management personnel. Specifically, the hazard more closely examined here is an earthquake. With the recent twenty year anniversary covered by many media outlets, the January 17, 1994, Northridge, California earthquake to date is the most expensive earthquake in American history.
It is 2:20 in the morning when the phone rings. You are automatically startled and jump to pick it up after the second ring. That feeling in your stomach tells you that something is terribly wrong. It is the police on the other end of the line telling you that your daughter has been in a fatal accident. As the officer is talking, you seem to freeze and zone out. Your spouse is up now and takes the phone and talks to the officer to find out what is going on. You are in a state of shock as you both drive to the hospital so that you all can identify your daughter. When you become more coherent, you learn that a senseless fool who was drunk took your precious baby away from you. This is one phone call that parents all over America go to sleep praying every night that they will not get. It is horrifying to learn that your child has been in a car accident, but if the cause of the accident was a drunk driver then it is even worse. This is so because you know that it was someone’s choice to drink and drive and this led to the death of your child.
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is perhaps the most notorious failure in the world of engineering. It collapsed on November 7, 1940 just months after its opening on July 1, 1940. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff and at its time it was the third largest suspension bridge in the world with a center span of over half a mile long. The bridge was very narrow and sleek giving it a look of grace, but this design made it very flexible in the wind. Nicknamed the "Galloping Gertie," because of its undulating behavior, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge drew the attention of motorists seeking a cheap thrill. Drivers felt that they were driving on a roller coaster, as they would disappear from sight in the trough of the wave. On the last day of the bridge's existence it gave fair warning that its destruction was eminent. Not only did it oscillate up and down, but twisted side to side in a cork screw motion. After hours of this violent motion with wind speeds reaching forty and fifty miles per hour, the bridge collapsed. With such a catastrophic failure, many people ask why such an apparently well thought out plan could have failed so badly?(This rhetorical question clearly sets up a position of inquiry-which iniates all research.) The reason for the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge is still controversial, but three theories reveal the basis of an engineering explanation. (Jason then directly asserts what he found to be a possible answer to his question.)
For the past several years before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans had large scale preparations for hurricane season, but the city had not suffered any major hurricanes since 1992 ( Richey,2011) . The LANG had underprepared for the 2005 hurricane season and was also too busy aiding President Bush’s War on Terror (2011). After Katrina passed the LANG was well on its feet and pushing to support the hurricane victims, but with limitations. A major limitation they encountered was many of their transport vehicles were either immerged under water or in Iraq and Afghanistan (2011). This made it very difficult for the National Guard to respond rapidly.
On early morning of August 29th, 2005 on the Gulf Shore near New Orleans, a devastating hurricane struck. It wrecked havoc, demolishing anything in its path. Leaving nothing but mounds of trash. The surviving people were forced to leave due to massive flooding and the destruction of their homes. New Orleans was not the only place hit by Katrina but it was one of the areas that was hit the hardest. Millions of people were affected by this tragedy and the cost range was up in the billions. Crime rates went up, no one had a place to stay and water was polluted. The damage done by Katrina affected New Orleans and the other areas hit years after it struck. Restoration for the areas hit was going to need support from all of America and support groups across the country. No one was ready for this tragedy or could ever predict the horrible outcome.
The point I make is it is easy in armchair analysis to come up with plans on what could or should have been done. Nevertheless, it must be remembered this whole incident on the bridge took place in a matter of seconds if not minutes. If you were on that bridge on that night when this attack took place, it is not hard to imagine that by the time you realized what was taking place, it was likely to be over. Consequently, many of these so called considerations are just talk and part of that armchair analysis that I see and suspect may be of little value. There are simply too many variables that come into play to state categorically except in the most general way what the best option to take is, even if you had the time to draw, aim and
As we should know winds were really high but it was another problem that no one could stop. That problem was flooding. Homes where under water leaving policeman and ambulance no choice to get in boats and help civilians out their residence. Many civilians were on their porch because that was the only place safe for them to proceed.