Facing biological interventions: coming back to the experience of firefighters of Paris. Pt2.

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1 Colonel Grandjean, chief veterinarian of the Paris Fire Brigade (PFB) and Major Libeau, former senior CBRN technical advisor to the PFB, come back on pioneering work they launched in France in order to increase the ability and the capabilities of Paris firefighters to deal with a biological intervention Facing biological interventions: coming back to the experience of firefighters of Paris. Pt2. The partnership between PFB and CLPP for biological intervention The Police Prefecture of Paris put the PFB and the Central Laboratory of Police Prefecture (CLPP) on the same level and the two institutions have worked together for decades on fire issues, the first extinguishing fires, the second doing forensics. PFB officers meet CLPP engineers and technicians daily on technical committees for safety and against fire and panic and assessing risks in public buildings. It is logical that this strong partnership in chemical intervention is extended into the biological field. As stated earlier (see Pt1. in CBRNe World June Ed), this collaboration is implemented through a new joint operational capability, the DISV. Two firefighters drive the DIS vehicle into the field where two CLPP people join them to operate this mobile laboratory. Behind this partnership is the French national network of biological and chemical laboratories. BIMU and DISV must now be considered as the first stage of a rocket, with the appropriate laboratory at the top. This network, gathering all national references in a wide variety of biological fields, needs samples of the highest quality to work efficiently and produce reliable analyses. Samples need to be collected according to best laboratory practices, making sampling an important issue for firefighters. Training and operational readiness Having considered why and how the Paris firefighters came to focus on biological issues, their operational methodology and relationships with other agencies working in this field, let us now turn to matters of education, training and exercises for operational readiness. From experimental to validated training Training the operators for bio interventions was a huge challenge. Indeed, biological risks look like new areas for firefighters, even for hazmat specialists, and new working methods are required. But this challenge has been met twice before when firefighters engaged with nuclear and radiological issues after 1980 (Three Mile Island) and chemical issues after 1986 (Bhopal). The PFB would claim that it has made good progress in both areas, even though it has taken several decades for French firefighters to promote these two new operational cultures, and to understand two scientific and industrial worlds very far removed from their pre 1980 environment. We need to consider the development of a comprehensive education and training programme alert to the size of the cultural, scientific, operational challenge. It takes at least a year or two years to disseminate a new operational culture in a job that is already very broad. And remember, French firefighters took over twenty years to establish their competence in radiological and chemical hazards, in the public mind, it is going to take time. Inspired by classic methods New ideas are more powerful when inspired by proven methods. With this in mind, the training designers built on a good existing model, adapting only what was necessary. out of a desire to win minds by fitting this new course into an existing structure. The PFB organised operational jobs in hazmat specialties as follows. The firefighters (privates) comprise the vehicle crews. Corporals and lance-corporals are team leaders. This operational level corresponds to level 1 in terms of radiological and chemical training courses. NCOs (sergeant to chief warrant officer) are the vehicle leaders with two teams in each vehicle. This operational level is level 2. At level 3 an officer, usually a captain or lieutenant, is the detachment commander leading a group of two engines with four teams. Finally, and depending on the nature of the intervention, it may be necessary to deploy several groups of hazmat vehicles. In that case a senior officer (lieutenant-colonel or major, sometimes senior captain) is the hazmat and CBRN technical advisor at level 4. Matching training to jobs The first step in designing the training was to match the levels to the training. This common scheme was applied to the biological issues because it was about the same men in the same roles. We also defined four levels for biological interventions. Private ranks are trained as team mates and team leaders, as described above at the BIO 1 level. They receive simple targeted training on protective clothing, instruments, devices and tools used. NCOs are trained as vehicle leaders at BIO 2 level, with particular emphasis on sampling because we decided to give the NCO this responsibility, supported by one or two levels 1. Junior officers are trained as group leaders in biological intervention (BIMU chief) at BIO 3 level. Senior officers undergo training to be members of the assessment and expertise team at BIO 4, as well as doctors, veterinarians, and pharmacists, and members of the health and medical emergency service. Education to meet the needs The prevalent educational pattern in French radiological and chemical training (see the National Reference 40 CBRNe WORLD August

2 The Paris Fire Brigade built on their chemical and radiological capability with a bio detection one CBRNe World August 2014 CBRNe WORLD 41

3 Facing biological interventions Guidelines) involves progression from level 1 to level 4. The PFB, however, has built the initial biological education course according to the "general in particular" principle, following another educational pattern, where you progress from level 3 to level 1. This point needs some explanation. During a four day training session, only level 3 students are present on the first day and are taught according to their operational role. They are joined on the second day by the level 2 trainees, which gives everyone the opportunity to address issues of tactics engagement and understand the importance of sampling. On the third day, future level 1 team mates, complete the group to cover the details of tools, samples materials and measuring instruments. Then every trainee, including level 3 officers, learns how to manipulate and sample in accordance with best practice. Finally, day four is an exercise for learning restitution, and concludes with a debriefing. The training of firefighters in Paris is certified under ISO 9001, so each trainee gives their own assessment of the course and the chairperson of the trainee group gives a collective assessment. The trainers make a collective assessment about the course in general and the session in particular. Levels mentioned above must be considered as the minimum. Indeed, there are opportunities, subject to the number of available places, for specialised unit commanders to send their people to levels above the minimum required. Exam? Did you say exam? Nope! There isn t one for two reasons. Firstly, there is no national certification for this training. It remains a course adapted to a specific operational role for limited numbers of PFB staff and is officially attached to the chemical and biological hazards national training course. Secondly four days is too short a time to accommodate at least a half day for the exam. The final restitution exercise ensures that the group has a whole has added value and provides an opportunity for feedback during the debriefing. Education and training with partners Real biological interventions never involve firefighters alone; and because knowledge and competence are also found in other organisations firefighters training on biological hazards response can benefit from training with partners who are as leaders in their own particular areas. It s also helpful to consider radiological and chemical training models when designing biological training. For awareness of nuclear and radiological issues, for example, French specialists firefighters contacted private and public organisations in this field including: CEA, EDF, COGEMA (né AREVA), and ANDRA. The firefighters learned a lot from the producers/users of civil nuclear power. In this spirit of partnership, PFB developed relationships with several organisations identified as references in the field of biology. First, by chronology and importance, is the collaboration with the National Veterinary School of Alfort (ENVA in French), based on the dual membership of Dr Grandjean, associate professor and colonel - chief veterinarian of Paris firefighters, which adds real value to this training course. Relationships have been established with several other entities. They include the Pasteur Institute, whose headquarters and main facilities are in the centre of Paris and parts of the Ministry of Agriculture: National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), National Agency for Security Environment and Health (ANSES). For the PFB, these links ensure access to a huge pool of expertise for training officers, as when the PFB hazmat and CBRN training centre is supported by speakers from ENVA or ANSES or the Pasteur Institute. Secondly it provides opportunities for joint exercises with these partners in a BSL 2/3 environment. All these relationships are formalised through paid for or reciprocal official bipartite agreements, meaning a win-win in these cash strapped times.. Conclusion Since the formation of BIMU in 2008, the Paris Fire Brigade has steadily gained experience in real world operations. On March 17th, 2008, less than three months after its creation, BIMU was called to the Gare-du-Nord railway station, following the discovery of a rack of test tubes in an SNCF staff rest room fridge. The samples were There are three levels of Parisian bio training CBRNe World 42 CBRNe WORLD August

4 Quick and Accurate Analysis When it Matters Most Gather and interpret large amounts of data to achieve detection and early warning of health threats Analyze large numbers of bioassays quickly, cost-effectively and accurately Meet the needs of applications requiring both high density and high throughput at the same time

5 Facing biological interventions The biological cell of the Paris Fire Brigade CBRNe World labelled "tularemia", "plague", "smallpox" and other sweeties on the A list of biological threat agents. Once over the first astonishment (is a normal firefighter ever surprised?), the BIMU firefighters,supervised by CLPP agents and numerous representatives of counter-terrorism forces conditioned and packaged the specimens in safe transportation packages for prompt delivery to a laboratory specialising in biological warfare agents. A year later, the BIMU was asked to intervene at a national agency legally authorised to handle biological agents where a handling error, belatedly identified, had potentially contaminated five laboratory workers with anthrax (bacillus anthracis). The complexity of this intervention was tactical rather than technical, and was complicated by a crisis management scenario whereby representatives of the public agency involved were not quite in line with the public emergency services. It did, however, show how the value-added aim of the assessment and expertise team works, through its ability to interface with all stakeholders. All this pioneering work and experience leads today to further perspectives: firstly, the four civilian fire departments defending the districts adjacent to the PFB s jurisdiction wanted to take advantage of the PFB s approach to biological issues. A working group began to adapt operational methodology and training for firefighters to suit their needs, their organisations and their means. In addition, a joint working group, bringing the Paris firefighters together the laboratories and training facilities of several with public agencies (ENVA, INRA, ANSES, Pasteur Institute), began to develop several aspects of operational intervention in confined (BSL) laboratories: covering assistance to the injured; fire in the laboratory, etc. Today, the PFB stands at the crossroads as regards its operational capacity for biological intervention and new avenues are open to it. Internally, there are three areas to consider. As a first step, it is timely to enhance the value of the training by combining training courses for BIMU with courses dedicated to the biological element of the new DIS mobile lab. The PFB also needs to involve more doctors and veterinarians (whose basic biological education is focused on human considerations) and paramedics from the health and medical emergency service for training and operational engagement. Then there are the needs of the trainers and trainees, who all clamor for more training and exercises. Beyond the confines of Paris, two major issues have emerged. It is now time to get the PFB s concept, doctrine and operational methodology validated by the national authorities along with the training. The third element is integrating the external representatives of research agencies in the assessment and expertise team, which is to say in the crisis management on the field. Otherwise, the next stage would probably be to integrate biohazard specialist firefighter competencies in operational biological epidemiology of the major national public health agencies. 44 CBRNe WORLD August