Rescue Task Force Training Enhances JBPHH Security and Interoperability During Hostile Events

RTF Training is part of the Active Shooter/ Hostile Event Response (ASHER) training program provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The primary purpose of RTF is to integrate the tactics, techniques and procedures of various agencies with the key goal of preserving life. The aim is to achieve effective interoperability between various agencies including security forces and fire departments nationwide. The RTF standard operating procedure is currently undergoing final review and approval.

“We can prepare with drills, and get be as realistic as we can, and it gives us the reps [repetitions] at a time when it’s a safe environment,” explained Chief Master at Arms David Delity, the training chief petty officer for the Navy Security Force on JBPHH. “If there’s an active shooter like we had in 2019 then we know how to respond.”

The 2019 shooting at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard left two victims dead and another injured before the gunman took his own life.

During the October training event, joint security forces practiced moving into a warm zone, a non-fully secured area considered a potential hazard following removal of the immediate threat. In the warm zone, Navy and Air Force security forces exercised team formations and movements to ensure that the federal fire personnel can treat, extract, and safely transfer patients to the next level of care.

“The primary mission of the [Federal Fire] department is people, property and the environment,” said Joshua Sarsona, battalion chief of training for the Navy Region Federal Fire Department on JBPHH. “Our role was to integrate with security forces and provided EMS [Emergency Medical Services] treatment, triage, and transport once the attackers were deemed down and the area was secured.”

Incorporating fire departments into hostile event response has been a priority in recent years across the nation, Sarsona said, noting that research has shown that when fire departments treat severe injuries sooner, it lowers fatality rates.

Since September, JBPHH Security Forces and the Federal Fire Department have coordinated with child development centers around the island to ensure they have established procedures such as sheltering in place, barricading doors and initiating a lockdown to ensure staff members and youth are knowledgeable on what to do when an ASHER event occurs.

Staff Sgt. Vance Niles, Jr., training instructor for the 647th Security Forces Squadron on JBPHH, who coordinated the joint training forces during the RTF event, explained that RTF training ultimately streamlines communication between agencies, increasing the likelihood of a more effective real-world response.

“In the event we do have an active shooter or hostile event, we, in conjunction with the Federal Fire Department and local law enforcement, can all operate on the same tactics and procedures without there being confusion,” he said.