400285 Public Health | Disaster Assessment Answers

This is a hypothetical Scenario.

Scene:

Role:

Relevant stakeholders with their roles within the disaster management plan

Direct and indirect attack to the inferno by the scouts, use of fire suppression substances, use of earthmoving equipment among other methods would be used to suppress this bushfire. More than one approach could be used to respond to this and control the bushfire (Whittaker, Eriksen & Haynes, 2016). There would be a ground squad, which could directly enclose and conquer a fire front using water and hand apparatuses. This would be determined by the magnitude and strength of the inferno and the landscape the fire was razing. Our firefighters who are about 5 miles away would also be involved in this firefighting situation. They are skilled at using dry firefighting techniques of fire destruction, which do not depend on water being accessible (Bush, Correa-Metrio & Overpeck, 2016).

Appropriate Management of resources

The highly skilled remote region firefighter’s squads can make use of the airplanes to get to the unreachable regions to speedily put out fires before it gets in other regions. As a measure to stop the bushfire speedily, enthusiastic remote inflight response squads could be put on hold in the high risky places throughout the fire period so that they could get to the fires swiftly. The 10,000 scouts would be distributed together with these experts to help in fighting this fire (Bush, Zimmermann & Silman, 2015).

The team of the devoted flying unit and aircraft crew who are responsible for aerial firefighting fire management, would be the first to go on the mission to put out the fire. The fleet would comprise 5 planes and 2 fixed-wing airplane. They would first identify the prevailing condition of the wind and predict the weather so that they would understand which technique to use. It is very important to note the direction of the wind so that they could identify the behavior of the fire. This also gives the firefighter protection against being razed in the bush by the extreme fire (Smith, Taylor & Thompson, 2015). If they are important assets, they need to be secured first by trying to put out fire in areas they are located. Other important factors to consider are the cultural heritage and biodiversity such as wildlife, natural physical features that could be destroyed by the fires.

The firefighting unit together with the scouts should carry out exploration of fire behavior and borders (by means of thermal cameras). A helicopter to be used in transporting fire crews and scouts from different places of the park to the most significant places to fight the fires. As the chief I would offer a stage for aerial broadcasting repeaters, which would be done through walkie-talkie transmitter and receiver to retransmit two-way means of conversation signals over a long distances (Bryant, Waters & Sinnott, 2014). I would offer an observational or a command podium so that everybody in the firefighting region would communicate with one another.

The helicopters are would be used to carry and winch inferno squads against the fire ground, that is the region where fire-fighting process would be taking place. I would deliver operating support for squads on the fire ground and help in identifying hotspots by the use of infrared devices. They were to carry out investigation and offer air-attack administration, observational or command podiums. They also carried out aerial eruption and water bombarding (Hradsky, Christie & Di Stefano, 2017).

Huge air tankers could be used in the affected area to spray water. The scouts and the squad responsible for fire Service flight and experts would organize a lead aircraft to escort the trucks with water. This airplane could be used to assess the fire ground, determine the best airlift path for the trucks, and then lead them through the fire ground to demonstrate to them where to drop their cargo (Walters, Mair & Ritchie, 2015). The flight unit similarly would contribute to environmental and pest managing, as well as carrying of resources and training.

Another method that would be very crucial would be the backburning which is a method used to regulate and contain infernos. It comprises burning extra fire to consume fuel in the pathway of the major fire. Backburning is an efficient fire suppression method that could be cost efficient. It is similarly ecologically maintainable as the shrub could recuperate from this practice. A backburn is generally ignited from a safe control mark and permitted to burn in the direction of the major fire (Swan, Christie, Sitters, York & Stefano, 2015).

Factors that may affect the disaster response plan

Factors such as wind would cause spread of fires very fast and make it hard to put the fire. A good way to control this would be the use of backburing by use of barricade. A control mark is a barricade, which blocks spreading of the fire. It could be a prevailing aspect of the site for example a watercourse, stream or path or a barricade made by firefighters. An artificial control mark is a strip of ground, which has been excavated, burned out or else cleared of fuel ahead of a fire's progress. A backburn is simply done only when both fuel and climate situations are appropriate for the suppression of the burn. This might be during the nighttime when it is calmer and moister, once the wind change or calm, or when a calm change. The causes for bushfires would be brought about by heat waves during the summer period. . They are particularly to cause risks of causing bush fires during the summer months.

Plans for managing psychological stressors plan

It is important that people stay up-to-date and linked to what is happening from one place to another and listening carefully to the situations of the place from the officials broadcasters of a nation. This is attributed to the point that the catastrophe administration section is should send disaster cautions and informs the public through different mass media stations. It is always essential to keep an eye on the fellow resident during these times, mostly the elders, youths and people with incapacities. Several ageing persons when left on their own might experience some unnecessarily difficulties and psychological stress since they are isolated from their supporters and families (Wilkinson, Eriksen & Penman, 2016). Elders and the rest who may be delicate to bush fires ought to connect with families, fellow citizen, or kinsfolks at least twice a day during such periods. Make sure that one safeguards his or her health and if possible, exclude themselves of the areas with bush fires. This would be a way to avoid stress for the aged, women and children.

Strategies for evaluating the effectiveness of the disaster management plan

The following are recommendations that should be put in place in responses to bushfires in future for disaster management plan

• Manpower
• Local Resources
• Resources for Displaced Persons (evacuation and shelters)
• Transportation
• Medical Supplies and Resources
• Emergency Facilities (emergency operations center
• Electricity and Fuel
• Food and Water
• Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS)

Conclusion

Bushfires could affect wildlife in the forests and also the vegetation of a place. Destruction of forests could results to climate change and a resulted to effects on the environs, which are noticeable over period. The climate change not simply affects human beings but likewise wildlife and vegetation that are great attraction places for travellers across the world. This can affect the social and economic in various ways due to either negative impact of a country (Bush, Barry & Burgess, 2014).

Different human activities on the environment could lead to bushfires such as burning substances that could spread very fast to huge fires. Due to large numbers of people around an area, they may increase burning of substances that could trigger huge fires that explode in massive areas. In addition, there is usually massive winds blowing across the regions that would accelerate burning and spreading of bushfires. The most known and largest contributor of bushfires is the burning of the materials in the environment without any control.

References

Lindenmayer, D. B., Blanchard, W., & Gill, M. (2016). Temporal trends in mammal responses to fire reveals the complex effects of fire regime attributes. Ecological applications, 26(2), 557-573.

Whittaker, J., Eriksen, C., & Haynes, K. (2016). Gendered responses to the 2009 B lack S aturday bushfires in V ictoria, A ustralia. Geographical Research, 54(2), 203-215.

Bush, M. B., Correa-Metrio, A. & Overpeck, J. T. (2016). A 6900-year history of landscape modification by humans in lowland Amazonia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 141, 52-64.

Bush, M. B., Zimmermann, M., & Silman, M. R. (2015). Fire and climate: contrasting pressures on tropical Andean timberline species. Journal of Biogeography, 42(5), 938-950.

Smith, B., Taylor, M., & Thompson, K. (2015). Risk perception, preparedness and response of livestock producers to bushfires: a South Australian case study. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, The, 30(2), 38.

Bryant, R. A., Waters, E., & Sinnott, V. (2014). Psychological outcomes following the Victorian Black Saturday bushfires. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 48(7), 634-643.

Hradsky, B. A., Christie, F., & Di Stefano, J. (2017). Responses of invasive predators and native prey to a prescribed forest fire. Journal of Mammalogy, 98(3), 835-847.

Walters, G., Mair, J., & Ritchie, B. (2015). Understanding the tourist’s response to natural disasters: The case of the 2011 Queensland floods. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 21(1), 101-113.

Swan, M., Christie, F., Sitters, H., York, A., & Di Stefano, J. (2015). Predicting faunal fire responses in heterogeneous landscapes: the role of habitat structure. Ecological Applications, 25(8), 2293-2305.

Brandt, M., Tappan, G., & Fensholt, R. (2017). Woody vegetation die off and regeneration in response to rainfall variability in the West African Sahel. Remote Sensing, 9(1), 39.

Wilkinson, C., Eriksen, C., & Penman, T. (2016). Into the firing line: civilian ingress during the 2013 “Red October” bushfires, Australia. Natural Hazards, 80(1), 521-538.

Bush, D., Barry, C., & Burgess, N. (2014). What do grid cells contribute to place cell firing?. Trends in neurosciences, 37(3), 136-145.