A panel for the Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Secondary Education Division, St. Petersburg, Florida

January 5-7, 2015 “Integrating Incident Command into Media Education”

Integrating Incident Command into Media Education

A Panel Moderated by Bradley Wilson, Ph.D.

Midwestern State University

http://www.fhsu.edu/crisis/preparedness/ https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/ics/what_is_ics.html

http://www.9-1-1magazine.com/Archives-Dispatch-ICS-0405

Incident CommandA standardized on-scene incident management concept designed specifically to allow responders to adopt an integrated organizational structure equal to the complexity and demands of any single incident or multiple incidents without being hindered by jurisdictional boundaries.

Incident CommandIn the early 1970s, ICS was developed to manage rapidly moving wildfires and to address the following problems:

• Too many people reporting to one supervisor; • Different emergency response organizational structures; • Lack of reliable incident information; • Inadequate and incompatible communications; • Lack of structure for coordinated planning among agencies; • Unclear lines of authority; • Terminology differences among agencies; and Unclear or

unspecified incident objectives.

Incident CommandIn the early 1970s, ICS was developed to manage rapidly moving wildfires and to address the following problems:

• Too many people reporting to one supervisor; • Different emergency response organizational structures; • Lack of reliable incident information; • Inadequate and incompatible communications; • Lack of structure for coordinated planning among agencies; • Unclear lines of authority; • Terminology differences among agencies; and • Unclear or unspecified incident objectives.

Incident CommanderThe Incident Commander (IC) or the Unified Command (UC) is responsible for all aspects of the response, including developing incident objectives and managing all incident operations.

Establish immediate priorities especially the safety of responders, other emergency workers, bystanders, and people involved in the incident.

Information OfficerThe Information Officer's role is to develop and release information about the incident to the news media, incident personnel, and other appropriate agencies and organizations.

• What can we teach our students about how to use the incident command system when covering spot news?

• How can we use the concepts of incident command within our newsrooms when spot news happens?

The Questions

Brad Dykens, public education officer, City of Seminole Fire Rescue A firefighter/paramedic, Dykens worked for 26 years with the St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue, ultimately supervising 12 firefighter/paramedics and 27 EMT/firefighters as well as the readiness of 11 frontline and reserve Advanced Life Support response vehicles as a lieutenant with the department. Now he is the public education / public information officer at City of Seminole Fire Rescue where he has been working for more than two years.

Kyle Parks, principal, B2 Communications Now a principal with B2 Communications, Parks is a former senior editor and reporter in the business news department of the St. Petersburg Times and director of corporate communications for Walter Industries. He handled crisis communications at various major events and managed public relations for various firms including Jim Walter Homes and Plum Creek, the nation’s largest private landowner.

Brian Eells, director of communications, Sunstar Paramedics As the leader of Sunstar’s Communications Center, that has earned the title of being an Accredited Center of Excellence by the International Academy of Emergency Medical Dispatch, Ellis, a paramedic and medical dispatcher, is responsible for maintaining emergency service standards.

Richard Schomp, director of operations, Sunstar Paramedics For 25 years Schomp has worked in various roles within the company beginning in 1987 when he began his career as a part-time emergency medical technician. Schomp, a paramedic and firefighter, then went on to complete paramedic’s school at St. Petersburg College and eventually became the company’s tactical paramedic supervisor.

Our Panel

By Bradley Wilson, PhD Midwestern State University

bradley.wilson@mwsu.edu

bradleywilson08@gmail.com

Twitter: @bradleywilson09

A panel for the Midwinter Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Secondary Education Division, St. Petersburg, Florida

January 5-7, 2015 “Integrating Incident Command into Media Education”