Huge explosion Scenario

[Just Plain Ruff]

I should have mentioned, everything is out. There is no electricity, no phones, no NOTHING.

You stumble around looking for something to begin to do and people start to arrive into town on foot, horses and whatever else they can get to the town with.

They are all looking towards you and your fire house since you are the only medical and fire personnel in the 50 square mile radius.

There were reports of a blinding flash as well as you can see multiple other large towers of smoke in the distance and on the horizon.

You begin to suspect - "this aint gonna just blow over"

What as an emergency management person are you going to do?

Your closest big city in about 100 miles away = population 1.5 million

The next city that you might be able to call on for resources in a town of 25K and about 30 miles away and from the looks of it there is a large cloud coming from it's vicinity.

I'll bet you wish you had that Whacker EMS bag that was posted about here a little over 6-7 months ago. Remember that bag?

What do you need to set up first? Triage or security?

You do have a small 20 bed hospital in your town.

[Richard B the EMT]

The way this scenario is unfolding, you're up Shyte's Creek without a paddle, and all Hell is out for Noon! Prayer might be a good idea at this point.

[paraloco]

I should have mentioned, everything is out. There is no electricity, no phones, no NOTHING.

You stumble around looking for something to begin to do and people start to arrive into town on foot, horses and whatever else they can get to the town with.

They are all looking towards you and your fire house since you are the only medical and fire personnel in the 50 square mile radius.

There were reports of a blinding flash as well as you can see multiple other large towers of smoke in the distance and on the horizon.

You begin to suspect - "this aint gonna just blow over"

What as an emergency management person are you going to do?

Your closest big city in about 100 miles away = population 1.5 million

The next city that you might be able to call on for resources in a town of 25K and about 30 miles away and from the looks of it there is a large cloud coming from it's vicinity.

I'll bet you wish you had that Whacker EMS bag that was posted about here a little over 6-7 months ago. Remember that bag?

What do you need to set up first? Triage or security?

You do have a small 20 bed hospital in your town.

Arm yourself. There's no government anymore to help you. Consider those post-apocalyptic movies as training films. Standard of care goes out the window. Grab every canned good you can find. EMS is a luxury your brave new world can't afford. The street gangs, police and anybody else wanting a ride will be hunting down those antique car collectors, and relieving them of ownership, in short order. Your priorities need to be water, food, and ammunition. All those 1.5 million folks (the survivors, that is) will be leaving their unsustainable city, and come looking for food.

[CBEMT]

Shelter in place. Barricade the doors, everybody into the basement with whatever non-perishables you have. If the water works, start filling whatever will hold potable water.

[rock_shoes]

Arm yourself. There's no government anymore to help you. Consider those post-apocalyptic movies as training films. Standard of care goes out the window. Grab every canned good you can find. EMS is a luxury your brave new world can't afford. The street gangs, police and anybody else wanting a ride will be hunting down those antique car collectors, and relieving them of ownership, in short order. Your priorities need to be water, food, and ammunition. All those 1.5 million folks (the survivors, that is) will be leaving their unsustainable city, and come looking for food.

I knew there was a reason to keep my carbureted old 4x4! Now whenever someone asks I'll tell them it's just in case something nuclear goes off near enough to kill my car (and my damn iPod. Anything but my music and medical reference.). I agree it's time to head for the nearest unaffected area and re-group from there. All those surplus military CUCV's are about to come in extremely handy (The 6.2 and 6.5 litre diesels used in them are mechanically fuel injected so a quick little bit of re-wiring to manually cycle the glow-plugs and starter will be all you need). Everyone else is on their own until my family and loved ones are safe. Then and only then will I go back for anyone else. Besides we might all be screwed by proximity anyways. Radiation sickness anyone?

[Richard B the EMT]

Where is this, Lawrence, Kansas?

That was the main area depicted in "The Day After", a few years ago.

[HERBIE1]

I guess the basic question here is what are your priorities? Is this an isolated incident, or is the entire country under attack? I would gather resources, check on family and consolidate your citizens. Find suitable shelter, tend to those who you can help in proximity of where you are, but you have neither the resources nor the manpower to launch a full scale response. Besides major metro areas, nobody has the resources, (equipment, manpower, infrastructure) to properly handle a nuclear attack.

Remember, many of these people will be contaminated, so you need to plan for isolation areas to protect those who have not been exposed yet but a detonation 5 miles away WILL eventually affect everyone in your area.

Most places do have an emergency response plan to mitigate large scale events, so consult that.

Key is to amass medical supplies, food, water, in a safe place, and wait. The cavalry will eventually arrive(the feds) but plan on at least 2 or 3 days(or maybe much longer, depending on the scope of the problem) of self sufficiency until then.

Not a scenario I ever want to see.

[Eydawn]

You're only 5 miles from the explosion- right in the worst radiation fallout zone. The citizenry are looking to you for what to do? GOOD! Take charge. Take your most dynamic and intelligent person and have them get up on top of the truck and start getting attention. If you can assume leadership right away, you may be able to avert a mass panic (or at least deaden its impact a little.)

#1: Everyone needs to grab as much food and water and whatever armaments they have from their homes as they can carry and start heading AWAY from the blast. In an organized fashion, as much as possible. We're already exposed- no need to panic, but definite need to move fast.

#2: You need to gut your ambulances and rescue rigs for as many medical supplies as you can. Each of your crew members needs to be outfitted with a pack containing food, water and medical supplies.

#3: If there is a more sheltered location nearby (such as rock outcroppings in the foothills) that you can get into or behind (in case of another explosion) that's where everyone needs to go.

#4: Expect the situation to turn into a riot quickly. You must be smart enough to protect yourself. Whoever is with you must take orders from the leader or get out. Be prepared to fend for yourself.

Get away from the blast zone. Keep your head up and alert. Treat the injured as you can, but you're going to find yourself giving palliative care to radiation poisoning more than likely, and very probably among your own crew and crew's family, depending on how close they were to the blast.

Start looking for ways to get communication out or in to figure out the scope of the incident. Prayer is definitely a must at this point...

God, I hate post-apocalyptic thinking... (I was raised in such by my parents and given lots of post-apoc sci-fi to read, and it's taken me years to live fairly "normally" as a result without being afraid every time I turn around.)

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Richard B the EMT]

#3: If there is a more sheltered location nearby (such as rock outcroppings in the foothills) that you can get into or behind (in case of another explosion) that's where everyone needs to go.

Problem with this. How are you gonna know, until the detonation flash, where the next one is going to fall? Unintentionally, you may have just moved everyone into the blast zone of the next incoming.

Where is the nearest military base to the station/house? Depending on what they do there, might increase the potential as being a target.

I'll bet you wish you had that Whacker EMS bag that was posted about here a little over 6-7 months ago. Remember that bag?

We remember: http://www.emtcity.com/index.php/topic/14388-the-ultimate-wacker-kit-no-joke-5k-spent-on-it/page__st__180__p__215937__hl__Whacker%20EMS%20bag%20__fromsearch__1&#entry215937

[Eydawn]

Who says it FELL anywhere? And I'd much rather head into the hills and AWAY from the first blast... odds are shitty either way, but at least you've got people moving and doing something and you're more likely to be protected from another blast that's close to the first one.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

Problem with this. How are you gonna know, until the detonation flash, where the next one is going to fall? Unintentionally, you may have just moved everyone into the blast zone of the next incoming.

Where is the nearest military base to the station/house? Depending on what they do there, might increase the potential as being a target.

We remember: http://www.emtcity.com/index.php/topic/14388-the-ultimate-wacker-kit-no-joke-5k-spent-on-it/page__st__180__p__215937__hl__Whacker%20EMS%20bag%20__fromsearch__1&#entry215937