ORGANIZATION
CHIEF TURNOgraduates from National Fire Academy's "Executive Fire Officer Program".
By KAREN DAILY Staff writer for the Aiken Standard
Four years and several research papers later, and Don Turno is one of only a handful of firefighters in the state to have completed the national Executive Fire Officer Program. A career firefighter, Turno has been battling blazes since the late 1980s, when he started as a volunteer with Aiken Public Safety in 1989. Since then the Aiken native has received his Associate of Science in fire protection, Bachelor of Science in fire protection management, Master in Business Administration and most recently graduated from the Executive Fire Officer Program (EFOP). Offered through The National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Md., the EFOP program includes both in-class training and graduate-level research projects. Turno said he spent several weeks in Maryland each year, completing the in-class assignments only to return to Aiken and begin working on his papers. In the first year, the class works on team developing and consensus decision making. The second year focuses on identifying risks and saving lives and property. Third-year students tackle the Federal Response Plan and the Integrated Emergency Management System. Turno said the research papers took months. After he was done, he said he headed back to Maryland for another class. In his final year, Turno took an Executive Leadership class, tying together the three previous years of research and classwork. Turno, who works as a senior fire protection engineer with Westinghouse Savannah River, also oversees the county's hazmat team. He said he expects to use much of what he learned locally. "This was one of the greatest professional experiences of my life," he said. "To spend four years exchanging ideas with leaders in the fire and emergency services is the opportunity of a lifetime." When most people think of The National Fire Academy, he said, they think of fire training, but Turno explained it's much more complicated than that, adding the high level of academics involved. Turno serves as a volunteer with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy and with Aiken Public Safety as a training officer. Contact Karen Daily at kdaily@aikenstandard.com
NONEMERGENCY STRUCTURE
The nonemergency structure of the HazMat organization is depicted by the organizational tree below. The Team is a division of the Emergency Services Department, with funding via the Emergency Management Division. The administrative and logistical functions are delegated by the HazMat Chief who reports directly to the ES Director. Basically, the volunteer Team is interwoven into the County's Emergency Services organization.
During a HazMat Team response, the organization structure shifts significantly from the "nonemergency" structure. The HazMat Chief and subordinate officers become an integral portion of the Incident Command System (ICS). The ICS varies in size and complexity depending upon the type and extent of the emergency. The ICS is a nationally used, well organized system of command and control. Using this system, emergency responders report upward to only one individual. Finally, at the top of the response organization is the Incident Commander who utilizes all available resources from EMS, State Police, SCDHEC, Fire Services, DOT, etc. to handle the event.
For example and although unlikely, if the HazMat Team were called in directly by an industry and were the first to arrive on the scene, the Team Chief would assume the role of Incident Commander (IC). In this example, all other responding agencies would report up to the IC through various subordinate chains of command; however, only one individual - the IC - would be in charge. If, the HAZMAT Team was called in by a fire chief, the fire chief would be in command until he may decide that the incident is majorly a HAZMAT response and share command with the HazMat Chief under a Unified Command System.
At the scene, the unit's emergency organization structure unfolds with assignments for specific tasks. A Safety Officer, Science Officer, Information Officer, Operations Officer, and Decon(tamination) Officer are assigned by the Chief (who is typically the IC as well). Each officer then assigns Team members to support their specific function. For example, with detailed information from the Science Officer, the Operations Officer prepares a 2 man entry team and 2 man backup/rescue team as the Decon Officer prepares the decontamination line. All functions are nearly simultaneous, with the IC overseeing the entire operation. Depending upon the severity and extent of the emergency, the ICS and Team structure can easily and quickly require 20 or more personnel.
