As they prepare to host Super Bowl LIII early next year, the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, GA, are leaning forward and adopting an Area Command concept to help manage more than a dozen geographic and functional command posts planned for the 10-day event. As part of their preparedness preparations, EMSI delivered a customized ICS-620 Area Command Course last month to help familiarize responders with how to manage the overall strategy for security operations and allocate critical response resources across Super Bowl venues. More than fifty-five response personnel from local and federal agencies attended the ICS-620 course, which was funded by the Atlanta Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).

This three-day course served two purposes for the attendees. First, it enabled responders to build their knowledge of this advanced ICS tool for management of large-scale, geographically dispersed simultaneous events and incidents. Information on Area Command functions and processes was delivered through instructor-led lecture, facilitated discussion, and practical application exercises.

Second, the course was used as a forum for further development of the interagency Area Command management plan for the actual Super Bowl event. Participants took advantage of the opportunity to coordinate planned activities with their colleagues and counterparts from the various response agencies involved in the event. This networking and pre-event coordination is critical to the success of an event of this magnitude. Additionally, decisions made and products developed during practical exercises and group discussions were collected for incorporation into a real-world Area Command Management Plan currently under development for use during other real-world responses. Best practices and lessons learned during exercises enhance policy and plan updates to ensure responders are prepared for any incident.

In addition to leading the course delivery for Atlanta/Fulton County, EMSI coordinated participation in the class from our clients at the Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA). EMSI delivers operational support to DOE’s Office of Nuclear Incident Response, which in turn provides technical assistance to high-profile events such as the Super Bowl response including Preventative Radiological/Nuclear Detection (PRND) activities to ensure a safe and incident-free event. The training was successful in facilitating meaningful interactions between key personnel from Atlanta, Fulton County, and DOE/NNSA in preparation for Super Bowl LIII.

EMSI has provided emergency management contract support to DOE/NNSA since 2007 and currently works with several DOE programs. EMSI’s vast experience in complex incident management and hazardous materials response has helped inform some of the advanced incident management approaches to Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) incident management. EMSI personnel have been involved in the management of several complex hazardous materials incidents, including the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster in 2011; and PRND activities at Super Bowl LI in Houston and Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis.

EMSI, a global leader in ICS training and application, is one of the leading providers of Area Command training. With a deep team of Area Command qualified ICS practitioners, EMSI maintains the ability to deliver Area Command training for the all-hazards response environment, and currently delivers Area Command training for the U.S. Coast Guard.

EMSI is a service-disabled veteran owned, minority business enterprise (MBE) that supports a broad range of clients. To learn more about EMSI and how we can help your organization’s response preparedness, please visit www.emsics.com.