FEMA IS-15.B: Special Events Contingency Planning for Public Safety Agencies – Questions and Answers

Federal emergency management agency or FEMA is an agency of the United States, having its headquarters in Washington, DC. It was founded in 1979 by Jimmy Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski. This agency’s main aim is to support and assist people during natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.

They are also responsible for creating awareness among the people about how they can protect themselves and the available resources they can use during such situations. To do so, they regularly develop new courses, which are exclusively available on their website.

IS-0015.b, also known as Special Events Contingency Planning for Public Safety Agencies, is one of the courses available on their website. The main aim of this course is to prevent accidents during events and due to mass gatherings of people.

List of Common FEMA IS-15.B Questions:

Click on the specific question to see the correct answer.

• Which position is responsible for establishing incident objectives, strategies, and priorities and has overall responsibility for managing an incident?
• Having a pre-event emergency plan in place will help:
• A multidisciplinary planning team should be composed of the promoter or sponsor and all:
• One of the many advantages of using a team approach to planning for special events is:
• The use of _____ is/are a good way to protect the bases of temporary structures from damage by vehicular traffic.
• A special events hazard analysis should include an analysis of:
• If additional response resources are thought to be required for an incident at a special event, a good option for obtaining those resources is to:
• A special event is nonroutine, places a strain on community resources, may involve a large number of people, and _____
• One way for special event planners to gather information about event specifics is to require the promoter or sponsor to:
• The Public Information Officer, the Safety Officer, and the Liaison Officer are all part of the:
• To help reunite lost children with their parents or guardians, event planners should:
• Whether you are handling a routine emergency, organizing for a special event, or managing the response to a major disaster, the five major management functions that must be covered are: command, planning, logistics, finance, and ____
• Because each special event is somewhat different from others, a hazard analysis should be conducted prior to each event.
• Planners should assign _____ to events that are expected to draw very large crowds and impact mobility throughout the community.
• Because _____ provide a less confrontational security presence, this technique has been effective with young audiences.
• One reason for developing contingency plans for permit-approved special events is to:
• When assessing food safety measures at a special event, the planning team should consider the vendor’s compliance with appropriate State and local regulations related to food preparation, handling, distribution, and storing of food.
• At its initial meeting, the planning team should:
• A national organization has been issued a permit to demonstrate at the State Capitol building. An opposing group has threatened to turn out to disrupt the demonstration. Public safety officials are concerned that the demonstration may turn violent. What should they do?
• The placement of launch pads for pyrotechnic displays must anticipate the following:
• User Pays policies are intended to:
• _____ is the main factor in determining stage configuration.
• Crowds are complex social structures that can assume roles that are different from the personalities of the individuals. Those who provide verbal support for crowd leaders are called:
• Spontaneous events present unique difficulties to public safety personnel because they offer no warning.
• One area of great concern in special events planning is the physical setup of the event. Both temporary and permanent structures must comply with:
• Sponsors of organized auto races conducted by professional racing organizations at permanent facilities typically have sophisticated contingency plans available.
• The purpose of public safety special event planning is to:

The Aim

This course has been categorized into five chapters according to its purpose. We will go about every chapter’s aim in detail afterward, but before that, we should know about the main objective of this course that the FEMA organization has designed.

The main aim of this course is to prevent suffering, death, or any kind of injury which may occur due to poor planning at public events. The  FEMA has provided a complete manual to manage this kind of risk in conducting events, especially when there is a mass gathering of people. The organizers of such types of events are solely responsible for managing as well as ensuring the safety of the people.

Any public event involves not only the organizers or the invited people but also certain health professionals that must be available. The Federal emergency management agency suggests that this course manual should be distributed among promoters, event organizers, public or private organizations, government bodies, managers, emergency service persons, or any other individuals involved in planning the event.

The name of chapter one is “pre-event planning,” which has been further divided into several parts like planning process, managing the mass gathering, planning the meetings, federal roles in terrorism incident prevention, crowd composition, crowd densities, etc.

This chapter contains all the information related to the selection of the planning team, regulations, laws as well as the implementation that should be taken into consideration for planning an event and selecting the site of the event.

The name of the second chapter is “event operational consideration,” which has been further divided into hazard analysis, environmental concerns, Public Health, medical care, hazardous materials, traffic, and transportation, controversial events, spectator, management and crowd control, alcohol, drugs, communication system, lost child and “meet me” selection, weapons, security, etc.

The name of 3rd chapter is “incident command and control,” which has information related to unified command organization, Federal and state resources, Public Information Systems, multi-agency coordinating systems, incidents that may occur during special events, the roles and Expectations of different people involved in the event, etc.

It generally gives the basic overview of the national incident management system and how the command systems can be used in the incident and planning stage.

The name of 4th chapter is “additional planning considerations for specific events” and has information related to laser display events that may involve early teen audiences, powerboat races, Aquatic events, automobiles, and related races, fireworks, etc.

The 5th chapter is “post-event actions” and includes information about demobilization, after-action report, and post-even analysis meeting.

The Course And The Course Material

The course length is about 4 hours, and the material is already available on the website. Any student can directly visit the Federal emergency management agency website’s course page and download the material from there. If you want to read it online or you want a printable document, it’s all up to you!

Furthermore, a student can also register for the final exam by clicking on ” take the final exam online.” When you click on this link, it will redirect you to another page with specific terms and conditions. You will only require your student id to take the final test, but several pieces of information have been asked on the terms and conditions page.

Make sure that you read all the terms and conditions carefully before ticking the  ” I accept”   option because the data is directly linked with government data. So whenever you try to take the final test, make sure you read every option very carefully. For now, if you have decided to go through this course and take the final test, we wish you all the best!

Conclusion

We all know that planning for an event is complicated because an event organizer must consider the potential risk and hazards associated with the event.

The organizers have to take care of these factors because it helps make the event successful. Managing a large audience, following the rules and regulations, considering hazardous situations, the type of events, the types of people involved in the event, etc., play a vital role in preventing accidents, injury, and loss of life.

As per FEMA, everyone involved in the events should go through this manual. The course length is about 4 hours, and a student can register for the final exam through the website.