Emergency
Services
The Emergency
Services Department of the
Black Rock Rangers (ESDR) consists of highly trained professionals
from a variety of emergency services fields. These volunteers work long
hours to ensure the safety and well-being of all Black Rock City citizens.
The ESDR staff also interfaces with outside agencies and other teams within
the Burning Man organization, both on-playa and year-round. The core staff
consists of four chiefs and a support team of about twenty coordinators,
supervisors, and managers. Preplanning efforts require a minimum of 36
internal planning meetings and numerous trips to Nevada to coordinate
with outside agencies. The ESDR consists of four branches: Fire, Medical,
Communications and Crisis Intervention.
Photo of
Comm Center: by Damon LaRose |
Fire
The Fire branch not only keeps Black Rock City safe from fires that
endanger life and property, but more importantly, the Fire branch ensures
all intentional "burns" are reasonably safe and enjoyable. The Fire branch
cooperates with the Art department, the pyrotechnic team, North
Tree Fire (Burning Man's fire services vendor) and the Ranger Burn
Activities Team. The Fire branch's key role is to provide safety planning
and Rapid Intervention Teams during these intentional burns.
The Ranger Fire branch, along with North Tree Fire, provides fire engines
and firefighters to the three 24-hour Ranger stations in Black Rock City.
Though fire plays a central role in the event, actual fire responses remain
consistently low in both frequency and severity.
Medical
The Medical branch works closely with REMSA
(Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority), the Fire branch, and
North Tree Fire to provide a municipal-style Emergency Medical Services
much like that which serves any city in the United States. The Medical
branch staffs a 24-hour station at the two community plazas and provides
rapid first response medical care anywhere within Black Rock City. Each
station has a vehicle dedicated to medical responses, in addition to bike
teams on duty. These stations are jointly served by fire engines from
North Tree Fire and the Fire branch. These engines also function in an
emergency medical service role when needed.
REMSA provides ambulance service within Black Rock City and staffs the
Center Camp clinic. REMSA also handles all ground and air transportation
to local hospitals.
In 2001, on average there were 200 patient contacts per day, the majority
of which were dehydration, "booboos", and minor injuries. Other common
medical problems included lacerations and heat-related injuries. On the
whole, serious injuries and deaths associated with the event are statistically
lower than average for a city of 26,000 people in a harsh desert environment.
Communications
The Communications branch provides two major services: an emergency
dispatch center and the communications infrastructure for the entire event.
The dispatch center functions as a 911 public safety answering point.
Dispatch coordinates all emergency responses within Black Rock City. The
dispatch center also provides the interface to all outside agencies, including
law enforcement. Utilizing the latest technologies, the dispatchers have
a variety of tools at their disposal, including alphanumeric paging, satellite
communications, computer-aided dispatch and radio system control consoles.
All of the departments that make Burning Man happen depend on reliable
two-way radio communications. The Rangers communications infrastructure
uses a network of radio repeaters, both on and off the event site, to
create a redundant, fail-safe system to function successfully under the
harsh conditions of the Black Rock desert. This requires several months
of planning and more than 900 staff hours of work.
The Communications branch also enables departments to communicate throughout
the region year-round, coordinating communications between the Gerlach
office, Black Rock Station, and Black Rock City.
Crisis
The Crisis Intervention Team consists of six highly trained and dedicated
psychiatric professionals. They respond to psychiatric cases, perform
crisis intervention for crime victims, and provide victim advocacy to
participants who come in contact with local agencies such as law enforcement
and local hospitals. This year, as in previous years, they responded to
less than a dozen calls on the playa. 