Hell of an MCI...

[Eydawn]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36077879/ns/world_news-europe/

Take a look at the pictures they've released so far... how the hell do you respond to something like this? I know we all have policies and procedures that tell us what to do... but I can't imagine actually being there and responding to it.

Looks like they were just doing the best they could. I wonder what Russian EMS is normally like?

My thoughts go out to all the victims and their families...

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Jeepluv77]

I was noticing the same thing in the videos. They appear to be getting it done despite the chaos. I can't imagine being on a scene like that. And it does raise the question of what Russian EMS is like. How much and what type of training and protocol do they have in place for an MCI? Another thing that I have to wonder, too, is how much does that training really help in such an event?

[Richard B the EMT]

Like us outside of the former "Iron curtain" countries, I feel that those of the former USSR have some kind of Pre-Plan for almost anything, just like most of us are supposed to.

Then, again, sometimes following the "Pre-Plan" can be disastrous: everyone was where the plan called for them to be, and that's why the FDNY lost so many of their senior supervisors when the World Trade Center fell on top of them.

[joesph]

We had better stay vigilant about terrorism because they are still out there and they have been studying us the whole time and when the are ready they will definitely attack.

[Chief1C]

Does Russia even have an organized EMS System?

[brentoli]

You're one person. Until backup arrives you can only do what you can do.

The major MCI potential is everywhere. Do you have a school? Do jets fly over head? Interstates?

Personally, I think being the very first person on scene would be the best position, you will have to take the time to size up everything and do your physical/mental 360* of the scene. Yeah thats fire-monkey talk, but if you are going to corridnate the MCI response you need to know what you are getting your people into.

We don't train nearly enough for MCI's and the training we do for the most part is lackluster. How many of you have been on an MCI with 35 high school drama students presenting on the ground in nice clumps with uniform injuries?

[Richard B the EMT]

The major MCI potential is everywhere. Do you have a school? Do jets fly over head? Interstates?

And tall buildings housing residences and offices.

Are you by chance not including natural disasters, like tsunamis, hurricane/cyclones, tornadoes, and the ever popular earthquake? I am sure that someone has a pre-plan for the asteroid strike, but this started with discussion of 2 women, possibly Chechen "Black Widow" suicidal bombers, that detonated themselves in the Moscow Transit System.

While the bombs themselves must have been a political statement, the fact that one went off in the subway station practically under the offices of the former KGB was a statement in itself.