Emergency Incident Management Systems. Louis N. Molino, Sr.
and recovery is entirely comprehensive. Second, the five basic components include command, control, cooperation, collaboration, and communication. In the years prior to the Big Burn of 1910, Greeley took command and control of the resources he had at his disposal, and he used cooperation, collaboration, and communications to build a method of dealing with almost any major fire. In a nutshell, Greeley worked to provide for the basic principles that make up IMS methods, and he was preplanning for a major event. In times prior to this, the standard procedure was to wait until the resources were needed, in place of preplanning.
These preplans that Greeley worked on would become the key in saving many lives, and in preserving massive amounts of property. In the spring and summer of 1910, the Great American West was suffering a severe drought. According to Petersen (1994–1995), there were either 1736 or 3000 fires in Montana and Northern Idaho prior to 20 August 1910. Many of those fires were blamed on the embers of passing locomotives and various lightning strikes that had occurred over the previous months. Due to the unusual amount of fires, Greeley being desperate for help proceeded to hire everyone he could to work fighting forest fires. While some would question the ethics of his hiring process, it was reported that he would hire anyone capable of fighting a fire. According to reports, this included hobo's, bums, and criminals. In some instances, local felons were released from jail early, or used in a form of work release to assist in fighting the fires (Pollak & Ives, 2015). The fires that plagued the region prior to the Big Burn were so taxing, that all fire crews, including the lumber company crews, were becoming exhausted.
Because of the exhaustion from fighting hundreds of smaller fires, Greeley made the unusual request for soldiers from the federal government to assist with firefighting operations. A group of Buffalo Soldiers from the United States Army's 25th Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Crack Black Regiment,” were sent to the area to assist Greeley with firefighting operations (Pollak & Ives, 2015).
These soldiers were African‐American men who were given the name Buffalo Soldiers by Native Americans. The Native Americans coined this name because of the fierce, brave, nature in which they fought. The Buffalo Soldiers arrived on or about 14 August 1910, with Company G arriving at Avery Idaho, and Company I arriving in Wallace Idaho (Cohen, 2010; Pollak & Ives, 2015).
In comparison to modern‐day IMS Method, this request for soldiers mimics the request for National Guard troops and the military that is sometimes used in modern days disasters. We only need to look at incidents like Hurricane Katrina to see how the military can integrate into almost any disaster response. If we look at the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we also see that the US Coast Guard was the lead agency, and they too integrated other agencies into their response. The use of Buffalo Soldiers resembles federal resources (such as Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA], the military, the Department of Energy and more) that we use in many of the Presidentially Declared Disasters that we see in modern times. Much like modern times, Greeley was the centralized command that these soldiers reported to, yet they had their own level of autonomy to make the decisions of how orders should be ordered.
Turning back to the Big Burn of 1910, Greeley and his crews were working on many small fires that were still burning when hurricane force winds blew into the region, causing instantaneous mass destruction. These hurricane force winds caused the smaller fires to combine into a singular massive fire (Wilma, 2003).
When this fire became a singular massive fire, Greeley and others who were in charge of fighting the Big Burn, used some of the same types of incident management that we see in modern‐day IMS methods. Crews used the divide and conquer method, where some crews were sent to specific areas, while yet other crews were left behind to keep the peace. Additionally, certain select crews were charged with evacuating the towns to prevent the loss of civilian life. The agreements that Greeley forged only a year before were used to reduce the effects of the fires. Multiple trains were sent to various towns to assist in the evacuation of the citizenry. These organizing and actual operational actions that were undertaken were assumed under the direction of crews left behind to manage the evacuations, and those charged with setting backfires to save these cities and towns (“The Great Fire of 1910”, n.d.).
Much like modern‐day IMS methods, each crew was given a job that had specific duties affiliated with that job. This was much different from other responses during this time frame that usually required a crew to be responsible for multiple duties. The previously mentioned Buffalo Soldiers were one of those groups that had specific duties. They are accredited with saving many lives by managing evacuations and by specifically saving the town of Avery, Idaho. While some soldiers worked on evacuations, others set backfires to burn up any potential fire fuels that would in essence protect the cities and towns (Cohen, 2010).
According to historical data, it was recorded that over 10 000 men were utilized to fight this one massive fire. The area that was burned stretched from eastern Washington, into Idaho, and western Montana (Petersen, 1994–1995). It took extensive planning, probably much like what is done in modern IMS methods. In the planning phases, they had to dispatch and manage these firefighters (which included every able‐bodied man that could be found) in the entire region. Over a period of month, these individuals worked cohesively until the incident was over. According to Petersen (1994–1995):
Every able‐bodied man fought the fire. Most were Idaho loggers, miners from Butte, Montana, and skid row bums brought in on trains from Spokane. The pay was 25 cents an hour, plus a bedroll, sourdough pancakes, coffee and canned tomatoes
(para 25).
This too has similarities to the current trends in IMS. When major incidents occur, crews are brought in from multiple agencies. In most circumstances, they receive a pay for their services, and their nutritional needs are cared for. While most modern personnel are vetted, there are wildland firefighting crews on the West Coast who are serving prison sentences. This also is similar to the Big Burn because of the use of those who were in jail during the 1910 fires were used to help fight these fires. We also must recognize that crews on long incidents are provided a place to sleep, food, and pay, until the incident is over. In modern‐day IMS methods, Base Camps are utilized to provide food, certain amenities (showering, shaving, etc.), and a place to sleep.
While the impact of the Big Burn on modern‐day IMS is mostly supposition, one could say that these similarities, no matter how big or how small, could have played a role in helping develop current IMS methods. At the very least, the response to the Big Burn of 1910 played some part in the progression to the systems now in place.
1.3 The Military Connection
While the Revolutionary War may have played a role in helping to shape and form modern‐day IMS methods, later military campaigns, plus research, and trial and error implementations have also been a contributor to modern‐day IMS methods. Since the days of caveman, different countries and different regions have had disagreements. Those disagreements have (in some instances) grown into fights; some of those fights have gone even further and developed into wars (Molino, 2006).
As more wars developed, those who were leading and managing their assigned troops had a seemingly endless mission. That mission was to better their ability to actively engage in, and effectively win the battle, or the entire war. In the furtherance of that mission, the science of war has evolved. In some modern‐day circles, it has become known as the Art of War, and it is often steeped in the writings of Sun Tzu. In the book The Art of War, written during fifth century, Tzu (republished 1772) talks about various facets that are needed to win a war. Many of those facets have traversed their way into modern combat and into the modern‐day IMS methods.
Much of the art of war used today is loosely based on, and revolves around, four distinctive elements that assist in a war's management. Those elements are command, control, coordination, and communications, often known in the US Military as C4. As is common with the military, many acronyms are related to C‐classifications that are often used. Included in these classifications are
C2: Relates only to Command and Control
C2I: Command, Control, and Intelligence
C2ISR: