Fatality Management Planning Williamson County, Texas Conferen… · Fatality Management Planning Williamson County, Texas ... Thomas was employed as a Shift Commander for Wilco ...

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TDEM 2017 Conference • May 17, 2017 • Page 1

Fatality Management Planning

Williamson County, Texas

Texas Emergency Management Conference San Antonio, Texas

Wednesday May 17, 2017

Jarred Thomas, CHS-V, CEM, TEM, Williamson County EMC and Director

Ryan Moeller, Director, PHEP, Williamson County and Cities Health District

John Litaker, PhD, Managing Director, The Litaker Group


TDEM 2017 Conference • May 17, 2017 • Page 2 2

Background on our Presenters

Jarred Thomas Jarred Thomas, Director of Emergency Management for

Williamson County, is a 24-year veteran in public safety.

Thomas was employed as a Shift Commander for Wilco

EMS prior to obtaining his current position in 2008. He

earned Bachelor of Science degrees from Texas A&M

University in 1994 and the University of Texas in 1996.

Ryan Moeller Ryan Moeller has worked for the last 8 years at the

Williamson County and Cities Health District. He is

currently the Director of Emergency Preparedness and

Response. Prior to this position he served 8 years in the

U.S. Army Special Operations Command, including 2

combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, as a Civil Affairs

Specialist.

John Litaker John Litaker has worked for 15 years as a health scientist

and consultant focusing on applied research. He has

worked, lived, and studied in London England, Hong

Kong, and the USA. He holds a PhD in health outcomes

research, a master of medical science degree, and a

master of public health degree. He is based in Austin,

Texas.



There are four areas we want to focus on today …

Outline for Today’s Presentation

1. Real life incident in Williamson County, Texas in which we

put our draft fatality management plan to work

2. What we learned from that incident to make our fatality

management plan stronger

3. The four key components of the Williamson County fatality

management plan and examples of how it can be used

4. Process we used to develop a functional plan that could

be supported by first responders, the judicial system,

county officials, and others in Williamson County



First off, a little regional history in our planning efforts

Introduction

1. As a region (by that we mean the CAPCOG area) we have

been working on fatality management planning for a while

2. In 2014 CAPCOG completed a regional mass fatality

framework

3. In 2015 Williamson County undertook the process to

operationalize fatality management activities using a

multidisciplinary approach

4. What we have is an integrated plan to support fatality

management from accident scene to morgue operations



Disclaimer

We are about to show images from a real

life incident that includes human remains. If

this could be upsetting to you or if you do

not wish to view this portion of the

presentation we will understand if you

would like to step out.



Background

The Aircraft Incident

• Saturday April 9, 2016

• Crash occurred ten miles NE of Taylor

• AC 90 Twin-Turboprop aircraft with eight passenger seats

• The plane with two pilots had departed the Georgetown

airport earlier in the morning for a training exercise



The scene …


• Hazardous materials from the crash and a fire

• Debris field of about 200 square feet

• A wheat crop about 3 feet high

• Fractured and comingled remains (approximately 200

individual fragments from two persons) throughout the

debris field

• Human remains impaled in the ground due to the crash



Conduct Scene

Assessment by

Emergency Services

Acronyms

EMC: Emergency Management Coordinator; HRR:

Human Remains Recovery; JP: Justice of the

Peace

One or More

Trigger Met? Scene Response

NO

Review Checklist to

Determine if FM Plan

Should be Activated

Notify Emergency

Communications

YES

Maybe

Contact JP and

Wilco EMC to Inform

Them of Incident

FM Plan

Needs To Be

Activated and Extent?

NO

Locate Human

Remains

(SARR Team)

Fatality Management

/ Human Remains

Scene Assessment

Conduct Death

Investigation

(Death Investigation

Team)

Chemical

Decontamination

Needed?

Conduct

Decontamination

Activities

Obtain JP Approval

to Move to Staging

Site or Temp

Storage

Engage Human

Remains Removal

Team

Human remains

transported to

storage or ME

Continue Normal

Scene Response

Activities

YES

YES

NO

Inju

ry R

eco

very

F

ata

lity

Man

ag

em

en

t

ASSUMPTION: Triage,

Treat, Transport Occurs

JP, EMC, and IC

Discuss Secure Scene

Continue Triage,

Treat, and Transport

as necessary

YES

Williamson County Fatality Management Plan Scene Response and Human Remains Recovery Process







Debris Field



















Personal Effects

























Lessons Learned

• Having a plan – even if just a flow chart – helped us guide

what needs to be done and in what order

• This was not a mass fatality incident as there were only two

fatalities

• But this was a fatality management incident because we

had over 200 fractured and comingled remains

• That this plan is best served to support complex fatality

management incidents



Conduct Scene

Assessment by

Emergency Services

Acronyms

EMC: Emergency Management Coordinator; HRR:

Human Remains Recovery; JP: Justice of the

Peace

One or More

Trigger Met? Scene Response

NO

Review Checklist to

Determine if FM Plan

Should be Activated

Notify Emergency

Communications

YES

Maybe

Contact JP and

Wilco EMC to Inform

Them of Incident

FM Plan

Needs To Be

Activated and Extent?

NO

Locate Human

Remains

(SARR Team)

Fatality Management

/ Human Remains

Scene Assessment

Conduct Death

Investigation

(Death Investigation

Team)

Chemical

Decontamination

Needed?

Conduct

Decontamination

Activities

Obtain JP Approval

to Move to Staging

Site or Temp

Storage

Engage Human

Remains Removal

Team

Human remains

transported to

storage or ME

Continue Normal

Scene Response

Activities

YES

YES

NO

Inju

ry R

eco

very

F

ata

lity

Man

ag

em

en

t

ASSUMPTION: Triage,

Treat, Transport Occurs

JP, EMC, and IC

Discuss Secure Scene

Continue Triage,

Treat, and Transport

as necessary

YES

Williamson County Fatality Management Plan Scene Response and Human Remains Recovery Process



Williamson County Fatality Management Plan Concept of Operations (Plan Components)

Scene Response

and Human

Remains Recovery

Morgue Operations

Family

Assistance

Center

Interment

Trigger(s) 1. Incident exceeds local jurisdictional capacity

due to 5 or more deaths, comingled remains,

fractured remains, a widespread debris field,

or additional support is required

Trigger(s) 1. Cold storage capacity in Williamson County is

exceeded

2. Unidentified human remains, comingled /

fracture remains require identification

Trigger(s) 1. A fatality management incident occurs that

requires a secure, non-public space to provide

family assistance and to support ante-mortem

data collection and information dissemination

to affected families

Trigger(s) 1. An incident involving a large sustained

number of deaths, fractured remains, or co-

mingled remains that cannot be

accommodated by normal burial processes

2. A decedent with a high consequence

infectious disease

3. Disinterred remains secondary to flooding

A

B

C

D

Response Objective(s) 1. To locate and recover human remains in a

safe, timely, and dignified manner while

respecting religious and cultural traditions

2. To support the death investigation

process

Response Objective(s) 1. To provide additional cold storage

2. To identify human remains and personal

effects for return to next of kin

Response Objective(s) 1. To provide assistance and information to

family members in a secure, non-public

location

2. To support the ante-mortem data and

interview collection process

Response Objective(s) 1. To provide temporary or permanent burial

in order to protect the health and safety of

the community




Scene Response

and Human

Remains Recovery

Morgue Operations

Family

Assistance

Center

Interment

Trigger(s)

1. Incident exceeds local

jurisdictional capacity

due to 5 or more deaths,

comingled remains,

fractured remains, a

widespread debris field,

or additional support is

required

A

B

C

D

Response Objective(s)

1. To locate and recover

human remains in a

safe, timely, and

dignified manner while

respecting religious

and cultural traditions

2. To support the death

investigation process




Scene Response

and Human

Remains Recovery

Morgue Operations

Family

Assistance

Center

Interment

Trigger(s)

1. Cold storage capacity in

Williamson County is

exceeded

2. Unidentified human

remains, comingled /

fracture remains require

identification

A

B

C

D


1. To provide additional

cold storage

2. To identify human

remains and personal

effects for return to

next of kin




Scene Response

and Human

Remains Recovery

Morgue Operations

Family

Assistance

Center

Interment

Trigger(s)

1. A fatality management

incident occurs that

requires a secure, non-

public space to provide

family assistance and to

support ante-mortem

data collection and

information

dissemination to affected

families

A

B

C

D


1. To provide assistance

and information to

family members in a

secure, non-public

location

2. To support the ante-

mortem data and

interview collection

process




Scene Response

and Human

Remains Recovery

Morgue Operations

Family

Assistance

Center

Interment

Trigger(s)

1. An incident involving a

large sustained number

of deaths, fractured

remains, or co-mingled

remains that cannot be

accommodated by

normal burial processes

2. A decedent with a high

consequence infectious

disease

3. Disinterred remains

secondary to flooding

A

B

C

D


1. To provide temporary

or permanent burial in

order to protect the

health and safety of

the community



Fatality Management Components

Examples

• Aircraft incident Scene response and human remains recovery

Morgue operations

Family assistance center

• Undocumented immigrants Morgue operations

• Explosion Scene response and human remains recovery

Morgue operations

Family assistance center



Plan Development

How we developed our plan

• Look at best practices and examples Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council Plan

Houston Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Initiative Plan

• Focus on our community We are a Justice of the Peace community; not ME

Input and knowledge from the JP – Judge Judy Hobbs

Input and knowledge from County Attorney – Mr. Dee Hobbs

Input and knowledge from EMS, Fire, Emergency Management,

Communications, CATRAC, CAPCOG, public health

• Training and exercising



Plan Development

Next Steps

• This is a living document; we will use lessons learned from

real life events to revise and update the plan

• We want to share with you what we have done The plan (SOG)

Scene assessment checklist

Fatality kit inventory sheet

Training videos

Checklist for developing your plan

Download from: URL HERE



Finally

A project of this magnitude depends on a lot of help

• Manual Cruz, Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council

• Eddie Olivarez, Hidalgo County HHS

• Allison Woody, Houston Regional Catastrophic Preparedness

Initiative

• Bruce Clements, Texas Department of State Health Services

• Dee Hobbs, Williamson County Attorney

• Dan Cohen, Williamson County EMS

• Williamson County law enforcement agencies, fire departments,

EMS, hospitals, and emergency management

• CATRAC and CAPCOG

Special thanks to Judge Judy Hobbs Williamson County JP, Precinct 4


TDEM 2017 Conference • May 17, 2017 • Page 35

Contact Information

Jarred Thomas, CEM, TEM

Emergency Management Coordinator

Williamson County Office of Emergency Management

Office:+1 (512) 864-8269 • Mobile +1 (512) 748-8634

[email protected]

Ryan Moeller

Director, Emergency Preparedness and Response Section

Williamson County and Cities Health District

Office:+1 (512) 943-3671 • Mobile +1 (512) 965-6681

[email protected]

John R. Litaker, PhD

Managing Director

The Litaker Group

Office +1 (512) 804-5545 • Mobile +1 (512) 633-5948

[email protected]

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