Feral Jundi

Friday, October 3, 2014

Disaster Response: Private Security Answers The Call For Dealing With Ebola

I believe this is the first incident of ebola in the US where a PMSC has been called up to guard the quarantine site? I mentioned how important security is to the response to this epidemic, that is quickly moving towards a pandemic, and I think we will see more of this. The CDC gave a worst case scenario of upwards of around 1.4 million people in Africa to be infected with ebola by January of next year.

Back to the main story, and that is the PMSC response to this outbreak. The company tasked with guarding the apartment and family quarantined in this particular incident is called Heartland Patrol, and the location is Dallas, Texas. I noticed that they have some pretty nice patrol vehicles? In the photo below, the vehicle being used is a Dodge Charger, and I know some police departments would love to have that thing.

Another point to bring up with this event is preparation for a security job that deals with infectious diseases and viruses. This kind of security work is new territory for security professionals that are involved with disaster response like this. My advice for anyone getting involved with this response is to update your insurance, and check if they will cover you if you actually work in such an environment.

Your best piece of equipment for a security gig like this is your mind. Get educated on everything to do with ebola, and increase your orientation on working in that environment so you can make good decisions. Work closely with the on site medical professionals and stay disciplined once you have a good plan for working around a quarantine site or treatment center. If you do not have access to that kind of resource, then seek it out. Go online, find local medical professionals who specialize in ebola, and become a student of this virus. Knowledge is your best weapon to counter it. And of course, your security mission is your primary reason for being there, so understand everything that it takes to do that job properly.

Another thing to brush up on is incident command. For large disaster responses, incident command is the primary tool for managing such things. So if your private security detail is a part of that kind of operation, then it behooves you to understand how that system works.

I have also seen jobs dealing with the medical response. Medical staff are in high demand in Africa and they are getting swamped. So if you have a medical background and a security contracting background, you would be perfect for these types of contracts. Especially in places like Africa, where the fear component is very high, which makes people act irrationally. Aid groups would be wise to have some kind of security professional tagging along, just so they can pick up on any of the signs of that type of thing. –Matt

 

The private security company called Heartland Patrol, on duty in front of the ebola patient’s apartment, which contains four members of the patient’s family who are in quarantine.

 

Ebola family under armed guard after trying to leave quarantine
October 3, 2014
A woman who has been confined to her Dallas apartment under armed guard after a man infected with Ebola stayed at her home said she never imagined this could happen to her so far from disease-ravaged West Africa.
Louise Troh said Thursday that she is tired of being locked up and wants health authorities to decontaminate her home.
Authorities say the circle of people in the US possibly exposed to Ebola widened after the man, who arrived from Liberia last month, was discharged from a hospital without being tested for the deadly virus.
The confinement order, which also bans visitors, was imposed after the family failed to comply with a request to stay home, according to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. Texas Health Commissioner David Lakey said the order would ensure that Troh, her 13-year-old son and two nephews can be closely monitored for signs of the disease.
The first Ebola diagnosis in the nation has raised concerns about whether the disease that has killed 3,300 people in West Africa could spread in the US. Federal health officials say they are confident they can keep it in check.
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Disaster Response: Hurricane Sandy–Some Tools To Track The Damage And Response

Man, this storm has done some serious damage and my thoughts and prayers go out to those on the East coast. Luckily the death toll has not been higher, but this thing is not over yet.

So for the response to this storm, it is important that folks who are involved with that have the tools necessary to track the disaster, and the response to the storm seems to be pretty good so far. But like the articles suggest below, folks were not expecting the storm surge to be this high and that will factor into the mix for the response. 13 to 14 ft is amazing.

One thing that is concerning is that this winter, and power is out. Hopefully the cold related injuries and deaths can be reduced to a minimum through an effective response. Neighbors helping neighbors.

The other thing is the main cause of deaths in this storm so far is falling trees. For first responders, definitely keep an eye on the trees in the areas you are responding too, because ‘widow makers’ are all over the place. Couple that with snow or ice forming on these precarious trees damaged by wind, and you can see why this is something to think about while going in these places.

Paul from the Facebook page asked if anyone has created an Ushahidi for this storm, and after some digging around, someone has. Here is a link to this storm tracking tool and you can click on the graphic below as well. The blog at Ushahidi is also posting about all of the various crowd mapping projects across the web that are trying to help out and that is useful for folks trying to find stuff that is relevant. FEMA and the Red Cross has resources as well. Good luck to everyone that is involved. –Matt

 

 

Sandy: Five Latest Developments
Published: Oct 31, 2012
Sandy continues to weaken over the interior Northeast, however gusty winds, snow and rain will linger into Wednesday.
Below are some of the latest developments as we continue to track Superstorm Sandy.
1: Millions Still Without Power
• As of 1 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, over 5.9 million customers were without power due to Sandy.
• On Tuesday morning, a peak total of over 8 million customers were in the dark. Obviously the Northeast was hardest hit, but significant outages occurred in northern Ohio, and sporadic outages occurred as far away as northwest Indiana and northern Georgia.
• In some regions, power failures were nearly total. Governor Andrew Cuomo said 90% of Long Island families were without power Tuesday. One of New Jersey’s utilities reported 86% of its 1.1 million customers were without power Tuesday morning, and that figure was still 86% early Wednesday.
2: Numerous Fatalities Reported
• As of mid-morning Wednesday, the total number of fatalities blamed on Sandy is 47 in the mainland United States plus one in Puerto Rico.
• Many of the victims were killed by falling trees.
• Sandy also killed 69 people in the Caribbean. Click here for a complete roundup of Sandy’s aftermath in the Caribbean.
3: Staggering Damage
• Very early damage estimates suggest Sandy caused at least $10 billion in damage, and possibly as much as $50 billion in total damage and lost business. The higher number would make Sandy the second-costliest storm in U.S. history, behind Katrina.
• Damage ranged from storm surge flooding to direct wind damage to devastating fires fueled by high winds and the difficulties fire departments faced in navigating flooded or blocked roads. We have more than 200 images of the devastation at this link.
• For video of the damage and aftermath, check out our video player at the top of this page.
• We also have a by-the-numbers breakdown of Sandy’s top winds, worst surge and heaviest snow.
4: Chilly Weather in the Blackout Zone
Behind the storm, cold air has moved into areas where power is out.
Wednesday morning temperatures were in the 30s and 40s across most areas without power, except for New England where 50s and lower 60s prevailed.
New England will lose the mild advantage Thursday morning and 30s and 40s will prevail across the power outage regions for the next several mornings.
Daytime highs will only rise into the 40s and 50s over most of the areas that are without power, with no warm-up expected through the next five days.
5: Three Feet of Snow!
• Three feet — 36 inches — of snow fell near Richwood, W.Va. by late Wednesday morning.
• Mount Le Conte, Tenn., reported a whopping 34 inches of snow by Wednesday morning.
• 33 inches of snow fell near Clayton, W.V., ironically located in Summers County.
• Up to 29 inches of snow was reported in Redhouse, Md.
• Several other locations in the mountains of West Virginia and western Maryland received 2 feet or more. Even the high elevations of East Tennessee received as much as 22″ of snowfall.
• The heavy wet snow and high winds led to numerous power outages in communities throughout the central Appalachians, posing hardships especially for elderly residents coping with outdoor temperatures in the 20s and lower 30s.
• You can read more about Sandy’s snowy side and check out impressive Sandy snow photos here on weather.com.
Story here.
—————————————————————
NYC utility prepped for big storm, got bigger one
DAVE CARPENTER, JEFF DONN and JONATHAN FAHEY
October, 2012
Consolidated Edison figured any surge would not surpass the 11-foot record set nearly two centuries ago. Or the design limit of 12.5 feet for a key substation in lower Manhattan.
But the wall of seawater reached 14 feet.
The surge that swamped the substation cut power to about 250,000 customers. It was the signature event in a series of electrical failures from winds and floods that at one point left almost 1 million Con Ed customers in the dark – a record storm outage for the utility.

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Friday, September 14, 2012

Industry Talk: Live Tracking Protests In The Middle East And North Africa

Ever since this stupid movie came out, protests against western interest and embassies all over the Middle East and North Africa have been attacked. It is happening very fast and it is very difficult to keep up with–much like a large forest fire. In the smokejumpers, we called these fast, dangerous and large forest fires –‘gobblers’, or fires that gobbled up everything in their path. These protests are acting like a gobblers.

With that said, any sites that track it’s movement and can help to predict new protests will be very helpful to western interests and businesses overseas. It will also help out those who are just traveling over there so they can apply some OODA to their personal situation.

Analysis Intelligence is one such group that is live tracking the protests right now. They are also attempting to predict upcoming protests. Check it out. –Matt

Link to live tracking here.

 

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Funny Stuff: But I Thought These Vehicles Were Flood-proof?

Friday, August 26, 2011

Jobs: Disaster Response Security Officers–Hurricane Irene, CONUS

I wanted to get this up so guys can jump on these opportunities. Wackenhut is an old hand at this disaster response security stuff. They also pay alright. The second company below is a new one to me, and if anyone has anything on them, I would be interested. With that one, apply at your own risk. Hopefully I can get some feedback on that company.

Please follow the links below to apply for these jobs, and I am not the POC or recruiter. Good luck out there, and if I find any more jobs I will make the edit and add them to this post. –Matt

Disaster Response Security Officer-NCR
Job ID:
2011-2588
Location:
US-MD-Oxon Hill
Category:
Security Services – Access Control
Type:
REG
More information about this job: Overview: WSI, a national security firm, is recruiting for Armed Security Officers in support of our Federal Protective Services Disaster Response contracts. Applicants from all states are encouraged to apply. Areas of deployment include: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida and Tennessee. Responsibilities: Provide armed security to FPS sites. Qualifications:
Basic Requirements for all applicants:
Must be at least 21 yrs old and U.S. Citizen or legally eligible to work in the United States.
Proficiency in English (Written or Spoken)
Must posses a high school diploma or GED
Must successfully pass a criminal and credit background investigation
3 years armed security experience (police and military acceptable)
Must successfully pass physical examination to include a drug screen
State and local law enforcement officers must provide training certificate and proof of current employment
Experience with Entry/Exit Access
Comfortable with Roving Patrol up to 12 hours per day across long distances
Familiarity with securing facilities and/or vehicles at a fixed location
Physically capable of standing a 12-hour post
Firearms training and firearms qualifications, and company certifications
Must pass DHS Public Trust suitability requirements
You will be *REQUIRED to supply the following items:
• 2 Fingerprint cards (FD-258’s) -Required
• Copy of passport (if available)
• Copy of Driver’s License – Required
• Copy of Birth certificate OR Naturalization Certificate – Required
• CPR & First Aid (if available)
• Baton Training (if available)
• Copy of Current Annual Firearms Training – Required
• Copy of Current Armed Security Guard License
• Copy of DD-214 (if available)
• Copy of High School Diploma or GED – Required
*If any of the required items are missing, then you will be unable to complete the recruitment process and your application will be forfeit.
To apply please go to www.wsihq.com
For more information please email www.gctemp@wsihq.com or call 561-632-8837 or 561-275-8585.
EOE, M/F/D/V
Apply here.
—————————————————————
All Pro Legal Investigations, PA d/b/a/ All Protection & Security is currently recruiting disaster security guards in support of our contract with a 3000+ location nationwide health care provider.
This client requires the following RAPID RESPONSE security personnel:
* ARMED Security Guard License from any of the East Coast states.*

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