evacuation at aircraft incident

[plees]

Can anyone help? I have to give a presentation on procedures for the RFFS to use for the means of  marshalling passengers evacuating an aircraft.
It is because the of the Manchester incident AAIB bulletin 1/2006.
anyone any ideas? I have only a couple of days to formulate and would welcome professional opinion.

[TallyHo]

Are you talking about passengers who are still on board or once they have left?

[plees]

When they have left the aircraft

[Fireguy1230]

Hi Plees

 I have not seen the AAIB Bulletin, but i'll tell you what we do.

 When passengers self evacuate an aircraft due to an internal/external fire or other emergency,  we deem the aircraft to be 'Zone 1'. Think of it like sectorisation, with Zone 1 being the main area of offensive firefighting and rescue actions.

 At the earliest opportunity you should be looking to establish a 'Zone 2'. Zone 2 is known as the casualty clearance zone and is the point where all passengers who have self evacuated/been assisted to evacuate should be sheperded to. It should be upwind and uphill of the incident site. Fire service personnel should establish this zone and speak to the aircraft crew as soon as possible and establish the number of missing or unaccounted passengers by means of a head count and cross check with the passenger manifest. It is also prudent to have a couple of firefighters to carry out a perimeter sweep of the incident site to locate any casualties who may have wandered off from the aircraft injured or in shock. It is important that the Zone 2 is established and controlled in a very strict manner. At an incident a few years ago, a well meaning coach driver picked up a group of passengers from a zone 2 following an aircraft fire, and transported to the terminal because he felt it would make them more comfortable following their ordeal. A nice gesture but it scared the life out of the fire crews as they thought the aircraft still had persons unaccounted for.

 From Zone 2 you can then establish an ambulance loading area, which is where the triage can take place and passengers are prioritised for removal to hospital.

 Hope this helps.

[plees]

thanks! Fire guy 1230,

What i am trying to establish is the best way for safely marshalling passengers within Zone 1. As you would be aware we are initially going to be dealing with the fire and most of our resources will be tied up with that, we can delegate to other airport staff but this might not be safe to do so in the zone1.

I dont think we will get a set answer to this, but some professional opinion will help.

[Fireguy1230]

Hi Plees

 You have a very hard task in controlling passengers in Zone 1. People will be streaming out of all the emergency doors and windows they can find, some dazed and confused, others in shock and hysterical and others attempting to re-enter the aircraft to locate loved ones. Not to mention the presence of escape slides, hose, firefighters, debris etc.

 Your best bet is to fully utilise the aircraft cabin crew. I would resist against putting airport staff within zone 1 as they have not been specifically trained in fire service ops and may become overwhelmed themselves and be of no use. The cabin crew represent the airline and in turn still have a duty of care to passengers even in the most extreme of emergencies. Cabin crew have training in dealing with passengers, first aid and head counting etc and would fully expect to be used for this role. I would advise that you locate a member of cabin crew and tell them where you want the casualties to be sheperded to, bearing in mind that aircraft cabins store megaphones which the cabin crew will utilise in this instance. Appoint a firefighter to act as a point of contact for the cabin crew member at zone 2 so as to pass details of missing persons and numbers of unaccounted.

 In the event of cabin crew being victims themselves, you are going to have to carry out a DRA and establish if you can spare any firefighters to perform the zone 2 function without compromising your effectiveness. If you cannot, then you will just have to ensure that you keep them away from the scene of operations until such a time as sufficient resources arrive for a zone 2 to be established.

 Hope this helps