Health Medical Homework Help

Search reputable local and national media for a man-made disaster to discuss.

Search for critical instances such as: hostage situations, mass shootings, multiple-vehicle or mass transit accidents with multiple critical injuries, and disease outbreaks.

In your initial post, describe the incident and address the following:

• Determine the incident type and explain your reasoning.
• What resources were deployed for this incident?
• What protocols were implemented successfully, and which were unsuccessful?
• Discuss way to improve the response to this type of incident in the future.

Support your answer with evidence.  Please provide a working link to your story source.

Respond to two peers:

1. Living in California, you see your fair share of different types of nature and humanity going haywire. In this past year we experienced a very large and dangerous wildfire on top of the pandemic we were already fighting. A wildfire is defined as a large, destructive fire that spreads quickly over brush and woodland. 

In 2020, a wildfire sparked by what is usually a joyous occasion of a couple learning the gender of the life they are bringing into the world caused acres of damage and even cost a firefighter their life. 

This type of incident was categorized as a type 4 incident. According to (California Wildfires (DR-4558-CA) | FEMA.Gov, 2021) “Several single resources such as fire trucks, ambulances and law enforcement will be needed for response to the incident”. Due to the size and severity of this incident, the wildfire required effective use of multiple resources to be activated. 

Protocols implemented include evacuation of families in homes in the pathway of the fire, also protocols of calling in other firehouses to help fight the fires and protect the cities as well. In this case, all protocols were followed properly and successfully which is the reason why there were no civilian deaths caused by the fire. 

In this case, the response was great and handled properly. Had the family that started the fire called 911 in an expediant time it may not have caused as much damage. The firefighters, EMS, and other emergency response teams responded fairly quickly and effectively to have the fires put out in the safest way possible. 

2. Alison Canyon Gas Leak

Determine the incident type and explain your reasoning.

One of the most recent and reputable man-made disasters to take place in Southern California was none other than the Alison Canyon gas leak. “On Oct. 23, 2015, gas spewed out of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility and released nearly 100,000 tonnes of natural gas into the air along with toxic chemicals, forcing thousands of San Fernando Valley residents out of their homes before the leak was capped four months later” (Torres, 2021). The gas leak was discovered by SoCalGas employees. The gas leak was plugged in 2016 by the pumping of heavy fluids to control the flow of gas. It was made apparent later in 2019, that the gas leak was caused by microbial corrosion of a well casing.    

What resources were deployed for this incident?

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (2016), “The Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) was ordered to pay for professional comprehensive cleaning in the homes of residents who are relocated due to the Aliso Canyon Gas Leak disaster. SoCalGas was ordered by the court to provide thorough cleaning to displaced residents prior to their return home. In addition to that, “In January 2016, Public Health implemented the Expanded Air Monitoring Plan (EAMP) to include more community air sampling locations, to expand testing for additional chemicals, and to increase sample collection times” (LACDPH, 2016). In a statement made by SoCalGas, a $119.5 million settlement would not only reimburse the local, county, and state governments, but it would also, “…establish a program with the California Air Resources Board to mitigate the methane emissions from the leak; and fund local environmental benefit projects to be administered by the government parties” (Domonoske, 2018).  

What protocols were implemented successfully, and which were unsuccessful?
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) developed the Alison Canyon Withdrawal Protocol that was implemented successfully. “These conditions include withdrawing from the facility if it is above 70% of its maximum allowable inventory, and if an emergency that would impact public health could be mitigated by withdrawals from Aliso Canyon” (Torres, 2021). Although this protocol was put into place, there were those like Loraine Lundquist, a climate activist, who disagreed with the CPUC’s protocol and believe that it will not save money at all. She went on to state, “The cheapest thing that we can possibly do is shut down all of our fossil fuel infrastructure, especially facilities like [Aliso Canyon] that have clearly shown to be unsafe, and shift over as fast as we can to cleaner technologies” (Torres, 2021).

Discuss way to improve the response to this type of incident in the future.

The LA County Dept. of Public Health and SoCalGas responded in a timely manner to the Alison Canyon gas leak. In a situation such as this, it can take quite some time to “resolve” the incident. SoCalGas had prior knowledge about the gas leaks at Alison Canyon for more than 40 years and did not do anything to resovle the matter. Therefore, it is important to respond quickly to incidents such as this one in the future by having weekly gas leak checks and following protocols and regulations.