By Sarah Calams for SA国际传媒 BrandFocus
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This article was originally posted on Bound Tree University.
On April 20, 1999, two teenage gunmen entered Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and began a shooting spree.
In 16 minutes, the gunmen had killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded more than 20 others. They later turned their guns on themselves.
At the time, the Columbine shooting was classified as the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history. A detailed report later criticized SWAT officers on scene, saying it took them too long to reach the wounded.
The scene was chaos. Paramedics were treating victims and transporting them to area hospitals. Fire trucks were parked nearby, acting as a shield for responders to inch in closer to the school and provide medical care.
For Capt. Chris Wells, who was on duty during the incident, the frustration, fear and feeling of not being in control was a foreign concept and inconceivable thought. Since then, he said, local responders have made it their mission to never show up unprepared again during an active threat or mass casualty incident.
Planning active threat response
Wells began his fire service career at the age of 21 and is now in his 20th year as a firefighter. During his tenure, he has served as a firefighter and lieutenant, and he is currently a captain with in Centennial, assigned to the training bureau.
South Metro, now the second-largest fire department in Colorado, protects half a million people across 285 square miles. Effective Jan. 1, 2019, Littleton Fire Rescue, which responded to the shooting at Columbine, merged with South Metro Fire Rescue, along with Littleton Fire Protection District and Highlands Ranch Metro District.
Wells, who was working out of Cunningham Fire Protection District in Denver before the merger, said the now-defunct department partnered with one of the larger metropolitan sheriff鈥檚 departments on implementing active threat response about four years ago.
When the department merged with South Metro, partners from law enforcement, fire, EMS, dispatch and surrounding stakeholders came together to draw up a single agreed-upon active threat SOP.
鈥淎ll the heads of those organizations signed off on it so that when we get on scene, we鈥檙e all speaking the same language and have the same policies and procedures,鈥� Wells said.
South Metro reached out to responders from Littleton Fire Rescue and Aurora Fire Rescue, which was part of the Century theater shooting response in July 2012, to help guide the effort.
鈥淭hey let us know, 鈥楾his is what really goes down, here鈥檚 how it works and here鈥檚 why this didn鈥檛 work,鈥欌�� Wells said. 鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 like we were going off of some book that said, 鈥楾his is how you do it.鈥欌��
Their real-world experience and insight was invaluable, Wells said, and helped South Metro create a policy they knew would work in the field.
鈥淲e definitely won鈥檛 show up unprepared ever again,鈥� he said.
The process took over a year and, according to Wells, was successful partly due to active threats that had taken place throughout the area post-Columbine.
鈥淲e saw that the rescue task force 鈥� where you plant a mixture of fire personnel with law enforcement, they go into the warm zone and they extract 鈥� was not being implemented and we felt that we really have to make that a standard,鈥� he said.
Implementing active threat response
Not long after developing a common standard operating guideline based on national standards, responders were faced with two active threat incidents.
鈥淏ecause we had already implemented the policy and we had trained on it, we were able to save the life of a woman who had been shot by her daughter, who had barricaded herself in the house,鈥� Wells said.
Crews were able to stop the older woman鈥檚 life-threatening wounds, immediately extract her from the home and transport her to an area hospital.
鈥淭hat wouldn鈥檛 have been a possibility just two years prior to that,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淲e would have gone to the area, stood by, waited for an all clear 鈥� and in the time that would have passed, she probably would have not made it.鈥�
More recently, South Metro responded to the May 7 attack at , just a few miles from Columbine High School. About 150 fire and medical personnel across the metro area were on scene, putting the policies into action in a coordinated response.
Training for high-stress incidents
Prior to implementing the policy, Wells said there was pushback from personnel who felt that it wasn鈥檛 safe.
In response to their concern, the department was able to secure a grant and outfit every riding position on each unit with a ballistic vest, ballistic helmet and extraction bag.
鈥淣ow we had the right equipment and the right policy, but we all know that the policy isn鈥檛 worth the paper that it鈥檚 written on if it can鈥檛 be implemented,鈥� Wells said.
South Metro then reached out to the Urban Areas Security Initiative Program for a grant to put together a training video. The department gathered the partners and personnel from the agencies that had signed off on the policy to help create the video, including 13 law enforcement agencies and other partners like Castle Rock Fire and Aurora Fire.
At the same time, the 17th Judicial District, which already had a similar policy in place but was having a difficult time implementing it, also wanted in and helped create the video.
鈥淚t was a group effort,鈥� said Wells. 鈥淚f we didn鈥檛 work together, then it wasn鈥檛 going to work at all.鈥�
The first part of the training video shows an actual incident as it takes place in real time. Afterward, they go back through each segment in the video and describe what is being seen, why it鈥檚 occurring and how it relates to the policy.
Once they had a policy in action and the proper gear, South Metro hosted a training course, staged in five area churches.
鈥淲e had hundreds of fire, EMS and police coming,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey reviewed the policy before they showed up, we went over the video and then we did a full-scale live exercise 16 different times so that we could get all those groups through.鈥�
During the exercise, the department also partnered with area hospitals to create the most realistic experience possible for responders, following the NFPA 3000 standard, which recommends that personnel gain tactical experience in order to function in high-stress environments.
As a result, they created a movie-like set 鈥� complete with real victims who had cut suits on. 鈥淲e could do chest venting and cricothyrotomy, and we actually transported those victims to area hospitals so that the trauma centers could get training on how they were going to deal with this.鈥�
The victims in the exercise were taken all the way to the operating room and had bullets lodged in their cut suits in order for surgeons to simulate what their surgery would entail.
After the exercise, the department explained how to set up unified command and rescue task forces, how to move through and traverse the area, the importance of speaking the same language while on scene and how to work with purpose and safety in mind.
Later, South Metro streamlined their own policy 鈥� taking the heart of the main policy but grounding it down to what was important for their district.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 deviate from the initial SOG, so that all of our policies could reflect the greater policy,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淲hen we implemented our streamlined policy, we went back and did another in-house training.鈥�
Once personnel went through training and had practical experience, the department spearheaded an after-action training.
鈥淲e talked about lessons learned, what we did right, what we need to work on and how South Metro is serving as fire support,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淟aw enforcement throughout the state has been contacting us to help them on how to set up incident command, what a rescue task force looks like and guiding them on how to get ballistic gear.鈥�
A gap the department found during training, Wells noted, was unfamiliarity with partnering agencies.
鈥淲hen we come into their training 鈥� whether that鈥檚 working as a rescue task force or we鈥檙e consulting with them 鈥� we鈥檙e building those relationships, so when we do go to an actual incident it鈥檚 not, 鈥榃ho are you and what do you do?鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚, 鈥楬ere鈥檚 what we鈥檝e got, let鈥檚 do it just like we did in training.鈥欌��
The policy has worked so well that the department is currently in the process of rewriting their mass casualty incident policy to mimic their active threat policy.
鈥淚t falls almost identically in line with how we do active threat, minus the component of a rescue task force,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淚t just takes the known into what used to be an unknown, and we can function at a high level in a different type of atmosphere.鈥�
The final piece of the puzzle, Wells said, was educating the public on how to save a life before responders arrive.
Stop the bleed, save a life
May 2019 marks the first observed in the U.S. South Metro, identifying the importance of educating the public on bleeding control, worked with area hospitals to push the Stop the Bleed campaign.
鈥淎s quickly as we can assemble, we鈥檙e still talking four minutes, at best, before they have any first responder that shows up,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e worked with the hospitals, we鈥檝e been out in the schools, and that鈥檚 why we partnered with the churches because the training happened right after several church-involved active threat incidents. They had come to us and said, 鈥榃hat can we do?鈥欌��
The department now has an outreach program and educates the public at schools, churches, offices and anywhere else they鈥檙e called to.
鈥淲e train them how to apply tourniquets, and we鈥檙e partnering with law enforcement to teach them about Run, Hide, Fight,鈥� said Wells. 鈥淲e want to make them as prepared as possible so that when we get there we can just continue that care and they鈥檙e not just waiting for us to come in and solve the problem.鈥�
In addition to focusing on public outreach, South Metro also emphasizes the importance of setting up casualty collection points inside versus outside during any training session.
鈥淎 lot of these patients are in hypovolemic shock. They鈥檙e losing a lot of blood. As soon as we introduce them to the elements and they鈥檙e on the cold concrete, they go into shock and die,鈥� Wells said.
In addition to bleeding control training, he makes it a point to remind responders about the recovery position and keeping patients warm while treating them. 鈥淲e talk about how to actually pack a wound, how to put a tourniquet on, where to put a tourniquet on,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e really been aggressive on arming people with good information so they鈥檙e empowered.鈥�
The knowledge gained from the process, however, did not come without mistakes made and lessons learned along the way.
鈥楽top the killing, stop the dying鈥�
For South Metro, the biggest lesson learned was the importance of unified command.
鈥淲e did a case study on the Parkland school shooting, and that shows where, I would say, the majority of the nation is at,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淭hey understand the concept of a rescue task force, that we don鈥檛 wait for SWAT to come in, secure the perimeter and then go in. But when you don鈥檛 train on it, you don鈥檛 have a methodology in place and you haven鈥檛 worked with your partners, then you go back to what you鈥檙e familiar with.鈥�
The biggest game-changer for South Metro was showing personnel what unified command looks like and why it鈥檚 set up the way it is. 鈥淲e told everyone to do unified command often and frequently so when you do have that large event, it won鈥檛 be a foreign concept.鈥�
Another important concept was identifying that an actual scene starts with non-command personnel. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a difficult thing, because these situations really work from the inside out, not the outside in,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淔rom a tactical standpoint, that was probably the hardest hurdle that we had to overcome.鈥�
For example, if a rookie patrol officer is closest to the scene, that officer will be the first to go in and assume command. When fire and EMS arrive, the first company officer links up with that officer 鈥� whether a ranked supervisor or not鈥� from law enforcement, and they start the unified command inside the warm zone.
Once the department was able to show that it was better to have someone in charge than no one at all, everyone quickly realized how important it was. Simplifying the process to two critical factors made it easy, said Wells.
鈥淭he first critical factor is to stop the killing. Once the act of killing is over, the next critical factor is to stop the dying,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 when law enforcement becomes the tactical supervisor, and they call in for fire and EMS response to help extract patients and take them to the hospital.鈥�
At the end of the day, getting started was the hardest part. However, Wells hopes other departments will take what South Metro has learned and apply it within their own agencies.
鈥淗ere we are, 20 years later, and I really do feel like we鈥檙e leading the way in our response,鈥� Wells said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 our tribute 鈥� in a small way 鈥� to let them know that those lives were not lost in vain.鈥�
