Critical Infrastructure Protection is the link between risk management and infrastructure assurance. It provides the capability needed to reduce or eliminate potential vulnerabilities related to essential city assets.
The fire department’s CIP program works in concert with city departments, emergency management, private industry, and businesses to determine community vulnerabilities, analyze alternatives, and prepare for and support incident responses.
CIP Program Responsibilities
BFRS’s liaison officer manages the CIP program for the Fire Department. He/she is responsible for the following:
- Advance incident planning with fire department personnel, local business, and industry
- Opticom systems coordination with Traffic Division and the Texas Department of Transportation
- Fire hydrant systems coordination with the Water Utilities Department
- Regional radio communications systems coordination with the Communications Division, Sabine-Neches Chiefs’ Association, and local hospitals
- GIS mapping coordination with the Technology Services and Engineering divisions
- Hazardous materials Tier II coordination with local industry
- Local Emergency Planning Committee liaison
- Emergency management coordination with the Emergency Operations Center
The Six Phases of the CIP Life Cycle
The six phases of the CIP life cycle build on one another to create a framework for comprehensive infrastructure assurance. The life cycle phases occur before, during, and after an event that may compromise or degrade the infrastructure. A synopsis of the six phases are:
- Analysis & Assessment identifies the assets critical to mission success and determines the assets’ vulnerabilities, as well as their interdependencies, configurations, and characteristics. An assessment is then made of the operational impact of infrastructure loss or degradation.
- Remediation involves precautionary measures taken before an event to fix the vulnerabilities that could cause an outage or compromise critical infrastructures or assets.
- Indications & Warning involves daily sector monitoring to assess the mission assurance capabilities of critical infrastructure assets and to determine if there are event indications to report. Indications are preparatory actions that indicate whether an infrastructure event is likely to occur or is planned. Warning is the process of notifying asset owners of a possible threat or hazard.
- Mitigation comprises actions taken before or during an event in response to warnings or incidents.
- Incident Response comprises the plans and activities taken to eliminate the cause or source of an infrastructure event.
- Reconstitution involves actions taken to rebuild or restore a critical asset capability after it has been damaged or destroyed.
The Fire Department's Role in Emergency Management
In preparation for and during disaster operations, the Fire Department’s Planning Section Chief acts as deputy emergency management coordinator for the city. This involves education and awareness, threat assessment and investigation, and support of incident operations.
The process includes assessments of the following:
Protection -The state of being defended, safeguarded, or shielded from injury, loss, or destruction from natural or unnatural forces- Vulnerability – The quality of being susceptible to injury or attack, warranted or unwarranted, by accident or by design
- Risk – The possibility or likelihood of occurrence
- Mitigation – The ability to alleviate, reduce, or moderate a vulnerability, thus reducing or eliminating risk
To find out more about the City of Beaumont’s emergency management functions, visit their webpage.