Gadbois Cites Unified Command as Key to Incident Response Success in Air Medical & Rescue Show
When incident responses require actions by multiple agencies, a unified command structure is essential to successful operations and outcomes, according to Christian Gadbois, president and CEO of SRT Helicopters of Bakersfield. Gadbois shared this and other insights during a recent presentation at the Dubai Air Medical & Rescue Show during the Dubai Helishow ’08, in the United Arab Emirates.
Gadbois is founder and CEO of SRT Helicopters, a globally recognized company providing airborne emergency services, including aeromedical evacuation, search and rescue, and international disaster response. His presentation to an international audience focused on his years of experience in responding to multi-jurisdictional rescue operations in the state of California and other U.S. and worldwide locations.
“We are very pleased to have Chris Gadbois from SRT Helicopters join us at the Dubai Aero-Med Conference. Chris’s comfortable style of delivery and humorous undertones helped the audience gain insight into multi-jurisdictional SAR experiences in the U.S and relate them to their own experiences no matter what field of occupation or designation. He was able to impart practical methods to deal with any event from minor to major with a systematic approach,” said Caitlin Picker, director of the Air Medical & Rescue Show at Dubai.
“Experience has proven that in incidents involving several agencies, there is a critical need for integrating management of resources into one operational organization that is managed and supported by one command structure,” said Gadbois. “This is best established through an integrated, multi-disciplinary organization such as the Incident Command System (ICS), the U.S national standard, which employs what is known as Unified Command.”
Gadbois noted that California started the ICS in the 1970s in response to major wildfires in the Los Angeles Basin. “The system created effective management by developing common terminology, common communications, interoperable equipment and a clearly defined span of control,” he explained. “ICS applications include search and rescue, air medical, fire-fighting and large, complex events. The system creates a modular organizational structure with almost limitless flexibility to address emergencies of all kinds, and it quickly became the U.S. standard.”
Frequent, realistic training is a prerequisite for complex incident response, Gadbois added. “Training activities familiarize participating agencies with their respective roles and responsibilities and clarify the capabilities and limitations of each agency involved,” he said. “A successfully managed multi-agency incident occurs only when the participating agencies’ personnel have confidence in everyone’s competencies, authorities, responsibilities and limitations. A cooperative attitude is fundamental; and everyone must share a focus on coordinated strategy, tactics, and resource utilization.”
“SRT’s goal is to enable international rescue agencies to operate at the highest possible levels of safety, effectiveness and efficiency,” Gadbois concluded. “It is important for response professionals to share their experiences with their colleagues around the world, and the Air Medical & Rescue Show in Dubai was a perfect venue for useful interchange in the Middle East.”
About SRT
SRT based in Bakersfield, Calif., is a full service helicopter company that specializes in providing high risk operational services and training for private business, military, local, state, and federal agencies. SRT’s training staff is comprised of working professionals who regularly respond to real-world missions, which ensure that the company's training methods and curriculum are current, relevant, and designed to address real-life operational scenarios. SRT training is customized to meet the requirements of each customer's missions and includes initial and recurrent pilot training; CRM/human factors for aircrew and management personnel; technical rescue training including hoist operations and maintenance; incident management and incident command training; special operations, including airborne use of force; and operations in austere environments.
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