Houston Fire Department Mass Casualty Management Review

Vocabulary and procedural terminology based on Houston Fire Department Guideline III-09 regarding Mass Casualty Management.

Advanced Life Support (ALS)

The level of medical care provided by paramedics who perform advanced procedures under the delegated medical practice of a licensed physician.

Ambulance

A ground transport unit staffed by at least 2 persons, capable of carrying 2 patients lying or 1 lying and 4 sitting.

Base Station

Located in the Houston Emergency Center (HEC), it is the coordinating entity for movement and transportation of HFD patients; also known as Telemetry.

Catastrophic Medical Operations Center (CMOC)

A regional entity housed in the Houston Emergency Operations Center that assists with coordination of patient movement, asset organization, and regional patient tracking during mass casualty or fatality issues.

EMResource

A regional web-based program used to report asset capabilities (e.g. beds, ventilators) and designate a healthcare facility's current capability to accept patients.

EMS Strike Team

A responding group of like assets, such as 3 BLS Ambulances.

EMS Task Force

A responding group of assets including 1 EMS Sector Supervisor and 5 transport units, with at least two units being ALS capable.

EMTrack

A regional web-based patient tracking system that allows responders and managers to track individual movement throughout the disaster continuum.

Expectant

A term for patients not expected to survive given their injury/illness and the amount of medical resources available.

Level 1 MCI

An incident involving approximately $10-20$ potentially transportable patients with a significant number having presumed substantial acuity (yellow/red) or decontamination.

Level 2 MCI

An incident involving approximately $20-50$ potentially transportable patients with a significant number having presumed substantial acuity or decontamination.

Level 3 MCI

An incident involving a large number of casualties ($>50$) likely requiring regional or multi-jurisdictional medical mutual aid.

Level 1 Staging

Units staged in their direction of travel, uncommitted, approximately one or two blocks from the scene.

Level 2 Staging

A formal staging area where companies report, as designated by Command.

Modified START Triage

A method of triaging used to determine the acuity of a large number of patients of all ages, typically used for prolonged incidents.

Multiple Patient Incident

An incident requiring more than 3 transport units where the number/acuity of patients does not require a full MCI level response or decontamination.

Multiple Patient Vehicle (MPV-602)

Housed at station 8, also known as the AMBUS, it is designed to carry 18 patients lying down or $24-26$ sitting.

Office of Emergency Communications (OEC)

The division of HFD responsible for the dispatch and allocation of HFD resources throughout the city.

SORT

A mechanism used by responders to rapidly triage and identify Immediate, Minor, and Dead patients; there are no 'Yellows' during this phase.

Transportation Area

The area utilized for loading patients for transport and from which the Transportation Group supervisor communicates with Base Station.

Triage vs. Treatment Documentation

A general guideline where Triage utilizes Ribbons and Treatment utilizes Tags (Regional Disaster Tags).

Orange Ribbon (Hot Zone)

Utilized in the Hot Zone for responsive patients to give them first priority for decontamination.

Blue Ribbon (Hot Zone)

Utilized in the Hot Zone for unresponsive patients to give them second priority for decontamination.

Regional Disaster Tag Placement

The preferred order for placing the tag is: neck $>$ right wrist $>$ left wrist $>$ right ankle $>$ left ankle.

Stretcher Patient Transport Ratio

The guideline to order 1 ambulance for every 2 stretcher patients.

Bus Transport Staffing Ratio

The requirement of at least 1 EMT or paramedic per 10 patients on a bus.

Medical Branch Radio Call Sign

The specific radio call sign designated as 'Medical'.

Level I/II Trauma Center Capacity

Initial hourly capacity defined as 10 Immediate patients and 15 Delayed patients.

Level III Trauma Center Capacity

Initial hourly capacity defined as 5 Immediate patients and 5 Delayed patients.

Non-Trauma Center Capacity

Initial hourly capacity defined as 3 Immediate patients and 5 Delayed patients.