New York City Fire Department Chief Officer's Evaluation of the Citywide Incident Management System as It Pertains to Interagency Emergency Response

摘要

A review of the events of September 11 in New York City shows that inadequate inter-agency coordination or interdisciplinary collaboration existed among the rescuers arriving at the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The 9/11 Commission recommended and NIMS mandated better coordination between the several agencies, specifically the fire and police departments. In 2004, New York City created the Citywide Incident Management System (CIMS) to address these shortcomings. The goal of this research is to provide an evaluation of CIMS several years after implementation; has it changed emergency response in New York City or are the same problems occurring. A survey of the FDNY chief officers was conducted and the results show that CIMS' policies are not consistently enacted. The history and creation of CIMS shortly following the September 11 terrorist attacks is discussed along with a brief background on interagency emergency operations. The history of conflict between the FDNY and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and its motives are not the subject of this thesis, although they are discussed briefly. In closing, many of the same problems that plagued the emergency responders on September 11 still exist according to the survey results.