AMU Emergency Management Opinion Public Safety

Riot Response: Considerations for Protection and Tactics

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This past year in Charlotte, and currently in many large cities across America, we see signs of protest and what Portland police called rioting. While we can hope that this type of behavior will subside quickly, the incidence of protesting and riots seem to be on the rise.

I will not get into stopping them or the politics involved, but I will discuss how we should protect our firefighters and how we will need to prepare and respond to the events.

Personal Protective Equipment

The first consideration for our response to violent incidents is protecting our personnel. I could not have imagined when I stated in the fire service in 1994 that we would suit our personnel in body armor and have expectations that we would operate in close proximity to the violence. But this is a fact and we must ensure our personnel are protected. 

Body armor comes in variations for fire/rescue and our tactics must align with the personal protective equipment (PPE). Some PPE is known as center mass and will protect a direct shot to the chest. It does nothing to protect the abdomen or a side shot.  It does not need special fitting either. It is popular for this reason among fire/rescue agencies.

Other body armor is equivalent to the police issue, is fitted to the person, and offers a much higher level of protection. This can be costly because of the special fitting and personal issue of the PPE.

Tactics

One of the best tactics for riot response is the taskforce concept.

Even a trash can fire must receive a full 1-alarm assignment, as you will likely not hook to hydrants and will need to work twice as fast as our normal pace. Not to mention, we will need safety personnel to watch our backs.

Within the taskforce concept should be a heavy police presence. We have seen firefighters shot at, hoses cut, among other shenanigans at these events. We must show a large force and overwhelm the rioters if we will engage in firefighting efforts. 

We must also consider a risk/benefit when conducting operations. While we are sworn to protect property as well, what is the risk to our personnel just to get to the event?

Apparently, the poor behavior of some individuals has become our norm, be prepared for how you will respond to the event in your community.

Dr. Randall Hanifen serves as a shift commander at a medium-sized suburban fire department in the northern part of the Cincinnati area. Randall is the CEO/principal consultant of an emergency services consulting firm, providing analysis and solutions related to organizational structuring of fire and EMS organizations. He is the chairperson and operations manager for a county technical rescue team. From a state and national perspective, he serves as a taskforce leader for one of FEMA's urban search and rescue teams, which responds to presidential declared disasters. From an academic standpoint, Randall has a bachelor’s degree in fire administration, a master’s degree in executive fire service leadership, and a doctoral degree in business administration with a specialization in homeland security. He is the associate author of “Disaster Planning and Control” (Penwell, 2009), which provides first responders with guidance through all types of disasters.

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