Bonfire Collapse - Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas - November 1999) » Key Issues

Issues	Comments
Communications	An event of this magnitude can quickly exceed the capabilities of not only the communications systems utilized by the emergency responders, but also the telecommunications sytems used by the community at large. University students were instructed to call home and to notify their families that they were okay. The enrollment at the University exceeds 43,000 and the volume of calls that were made overwhelmed both the telephone and cellular systems. Additionally, so many calls were placed to the two local hospitals that their telephone systems were overloaded as well. College Station uses an 800 MHz trunked radio system. Bryan uses a VHF system, but had just installed 800 MHz radios in their apparatus just ten days prior to the incident. College Station also has VHF radios for a totally redundant system. The use of cellular phones by rescuers and the news media contributed to the overloading of the cellular system for much of the event.
Pre-Incident Planning	There was an inter-jurisdictional emergency management plan in effect. A tabletop exercise had been conducted one week prior to the event with both cities and the university participating. The local plan was up-to-date and the key people involved knew each other and work together on a regular basis. As one individual described it, there was "no need for an introduction" at the incident site. The University EMS service had also conducted a MCI drill just two weeks prior to the incident.
Incident Management	More than 3,200 people from more than fifty agencies were involved in the resolution of the incident. An incident management system is absolutely critical for an incident of this magnitude. Fortunately, such a system was in place and was utilized to resolve the incident.
Resource Management	An event of this magnitude requires a considerable amount of human and material resources. The availability and source of these resources must be identified prior to an event actually occurring. Resource lists must be kept up to date and procedures must be in place that allow for the rapid mobilization of the resources.
Community Impact	The outpouring of support and assistance from the community was overwhelming. As one rescuer stated, you would ask for one of something and suddenly three would appear. Local restaurants supplied food to the rescuers and area hotels provided accomodations for the family members of the victims. The tragic loss was felt in the tightknit community as well.
Rumor Control	So much misinformation was being broadcast about the incident that the television sets in the two local hospitals were all turned off to reduce the anxiety of the friends and family members of the victims of the incident. The PIO staff at the incident did a good job, however, of conducting timely briefings to keep the media informed. Over fifty television satellite trucks responded to the incident.

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