Community Emergency Plans

A community emergency plan is designed to help a community to become resilient and use their own available resources to prepare for, respond to, withstand, and recover from major emergencies and incidents.

The plan is divided into six sections:

1. Act
2. Communicate
3. Resources
4. Local Hazards & Vulnerable People
5. Flood Planning
6. Handover & Stand-down

If your plan is activated, the Emergency Planning Duty Officer (EPDO) must be informed immediately.

The EPDO will be the primary contact with emergency services within the incident zone. They will convey your concerns information about vulnerable individuals and your actions to the Incident Commander.

Activation of the plan will occur when at least two members from the list of people you have written into your plan consider it necessary to take action in response to an incident. Activation may also happen when action cannot be taken effectively without triggering the arrangements outlined below.

During an emergency, getting the right information is vital to running a co-ordinated response. The flowchart below will provide some guidance to this.

However your emergency plan is activated, whether it is done by yourselves or the EP Duty Officer (EPO) requests that you activate it, you must maintain regular contact with the EPO. Any additional resources or voluntary groups will not be able to be stood up and provide support if the EPO is not informed.

The plan template, which is available from the Lincolnshire LRF website, has been designed and structured in a way which is user friendly and requires minimal work to fill out. Where there is anything highlighted in yellow, there is information which needs to be inputted.

 Resilient Communities Programme - Lincolnshire Resilience Forum 

The plan template also includes a list of contact details for agencies such as Lincolnshire Police, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, EMAS and many more.

In addition to this there are sections where you will be able to add details for your local district or borough council as well as your neighbouring parish council contacts.

Never put yourself at risk of harm

Before you respond to any kind of incident, it is important that you:

• Think - is it safe for you to take action?
• Communicate - with your team, families and the Emergency Planning Duty Officer (EPO)
• Plan - what are you trying to achieve?
• Take action - as agreed by the whole group and/or the EPO.
  • Remember, sometimes this may include taking no action at all.

Action Steps:

1. Activate the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and gather information: Use the  ETHANE  principle to collect details about the emergency, including location, type, hazards, access, number of people/properties affected, and involved organisations. Start an incident log.
2. Contact Emergency Planning Duty Officer: Notify the EPDO via Fire & Rescue Control, remember to leave your contact number.
3. Assume Control: Manage the situation until emergency services arrive, this may also include doing nothing but monitoring the situation. Contact additional CERT members.
4. Follow Instructions: Adhere to the advice given to you by the emergency services.
5. Prioritise Safety: Protect yourself and others. Avoid floodwaters, rescue attempts, and clearing blockages.
6. Assess Work Location: Determine if working from your current location is safe or if relocating to an alternative venue is necessary. Only work outdoors if the weather permits.
7. Coordinate with EPDO: Be prepared to establish the shelter if necessary.
8. Open Emergency Support Centre: If needed, open a place of safety as identified in the plan, or as directed by the EPDO and arrange for CERT members to undertake defined roles.
9. Warn Residents: Alert local residents about dangers if is safe to do so.
10. Support Vulnerable Individuals: Contact and assist those identified in the plan.
11. Gather Resources: Identify and prepare necessary resources for operating a place of safety.
12. Monitor the Media: Listen to your local radio stations and advise the community to do the same.
13. Maintain Communication: Regularly communicate with the CERT, your community and the EPDO.

Community Impact Assessment (CIA)

A community impact assessment is a process to evaluate the potential effects of an emergency on your community. It will help you to identify vulnerable populations, critical infrastructure, and potential hazards.

CIAs also help in identifying community resources and capabilities, which can be crucial for effective emergency management.

What are the key priorities?

Your initial response efforts should be focussed on providing immediate welfare assistance and sometimes, temporary shelter. You should avoid becoming responsible for extended community support such as supplying food or long term accommodation - this is a responsibility of your local authority. If you feel as though this situation may be imminent then there has been a breakdown in communication and you should contact the EPDO without delay.

When providing immediate assistance there are a couple of considerations you should consider:

• Immediate temporary place of safety (warm and dry)
• Water

Volunteer Briefings

Before any volunteers are deployed, it is vital that they have been briefed on the current and expected situation as well as what is expected of them before they are mobilised.

All volunteers have a legal responsibility to take reasonable care for their own Health and Safety, and that of others which may be affected by their actions.

Any incidents or hazards should be reported back to the Community Emergency Planning Co-ordinator immediately. This should also be recorded and the EPO informed.

Current Situation & Updates - Following the  ETHANE  Framework, brief all volunteers on the current situation. A frequency of when you will update your volunteers must also be agreed.

Weather Conditions & Precautions - Ensure all volunteers are aware of any current weather forecasts and environmental challenges. Volunteers must take steps to remain well informed and ensure they are wearing suitable clothing. There will be some situations where it is unsafe for volunteers to go out in weather which may put them at a greater risk of harm. If there are any changes or disruption to you or the task you are carrying out, you must report it as soon as possible to the Community Emergency Planning Co-ordinator.

Expectations - What are your expectations? Are you able to explain these to your volunteers in a way which they are going to clearly understand? Once the volunteers have been deployed how are you going to communicate further expectations to them out in the field? A clear route of how this is going to happen must be decided.

Volunteer Responsibilities & Tasks - Brief your volunteers on the specific tasks that they will be allocated. Tasks may include door knocking, meet and greet at the designated place of safety etc. It is vital that the volunteers are clear on what their tasks are, failure of this may result in avoidable additional work.

Time Commitments & Rotations - How long will volunteers be expected to carry out their tasks for? Have you got a rota system in place? You must take into account that although the professionals may be able to work for a prolonged period of time, your volunteers will not be able to do this.

Welfare Support - What kind of provisions are available to volunteers undertaking the tasks? Is there somewhere they can have a break and get refreshments if they wish to do so? Is there any other support available to them, such as mentoring, psychological support etc.

Communication Procedures - How will volunteers be communicating with the coordinating group, each other and the people they are providing assistance to? You should be mindful that there may not always be adequate telephone signal or internet connection.

Safeguarding Guidelines - This can be defined as " the action of protecting people's health, welfare and human rights, enabling them to live free from abuse, harm and neglect." Everyone has a role to play in safeguarding and promoting the welfare of any individual at risk.

If one of your volunteers has concerns around safeguarding, they should immediately report it to the co-ordinator who will in turn inform the EPO. Safeguarding is there to protect you as well as those around you. If you wish to read the LCC Safeguarding Brief, it can be found in the community emergency box.

Reporting incidents & accidents - In the event an accident occurs, how will this be reported and who is responsible for doing this?

Health Protection - In some circumstances such as human and animal pandemics, personal protective equipment (PPE) may be necessary. It is your duty to ensure that all volunteers have been briefed and are aware what the acceptable behaviours and good practices are. These may include but are not limited to:

• Face coverings
• Hand washing
• Social distancing
• Animal protection zones

Stand Down - Who will be the person making the decision to stand down? How will this be communicated to volunteers out in the field?

Although you may have contact numbers/ group chats for your CERT team it is important that you also detail them in your plan as well as contact details for flood wardens if your parish has them. If there is an incident in your area and we need to notify you, we will use your plan to do this.

Your key contacts sheet can be split into the following groups, as shown below:

In addition to your community key contacts, there are also out of community key contacts detailed in the plan, these include:

• Emergency Planning and Business Continuity Team
• Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue
• Lincolnshire Police
• EMAS
• Lead Local Flood Authority (LLFA)
• Environment Agency
• Local District Authority
• Utility companies
• Internal Drainage Board
• HM Coastguard, RNLI & Coastwatch

Including details of any neighbouring communities such as town or parish councils, flood action groups and other local CERTs is also beneficial as an emergency wont stop at your parish or ward boundary and in some cases you may also need to make your neighbours aware.

The resource section of your plan will cover the following areas:

• Community Incident Room
• Community Places of Safety
• Emergency Kit

Community Incident Room

In the event your Community Emergency Response Team is brought together to discuss the community response, an agreed meeting place will need to be sought out (this may be your village hall, community centre, local library etc).

In your plan there is a section which you will need to fill out; detailing the name and address of the venue, What3Words reference, any named key holders plus their contact details.

It is a good idea to have more than one designated meeting place as the other may be in use for those in your community who have been affected by the incident.

Community Places of Safety

On occasion, it may be necessary for you to open a place of safety for residents in your community. The EPDO may ask you to do this until they can get resources there to take over, if this is the case it is essential you have the contact details of the venue's key holder - there is a designated section within your plan for these details.

Having a secondary place of safety location is crucial for effective contingency planning. This alternative site will provide flexibility in the event the primary location becomes unsuitable due to damage, overcrowding, or other unforeseen events.

Emergency Kit

All members of your community emergency planning group must know exactly where the box is kept in the event you are called out to help during an incident.

Once you are in possession of the box it is then your group's responsibility to replace/replenish any items which break, become lost or run out.

There should be a full list of kit contents in the plan as well as a sign off sheet to keep a track of when the kit was last checked.

The box will contain:

• 1x first aid kit
• 1x loudhailer
• 1x walkie talkie pair
• 1x wind-up radio
• 2x packs of facemasks
• 10x LED torches
• 10x foil blankets
• 10x hi-vis tabards
• 10x pairs of gloves
• 10x emergency whistles

The local risk and threats are thing which specifically affect your community, situations or incidents that could disrupt normal life, cause harm, or damage property. The risks are unique to your community and must be identified and assess in order to develop an effective emergency plan.

The types of local risks and threats can be categorised into several types:

Natural Hazards: events caused by natural processes such as flooding, storms, earthquakes, wildfires, sink holes, and extreme heat or cold.

Accidental Hazards: events caused by human activities such as accidents (chemical spill, transportation accidents), infrastructure failures (power outages, bridge collapses), and intentional acts (terrorism, cyberattacks).

Health Related Hazards: threats to human health and well-being such as disease outbreaks, pandemics, chemical releases.

The screenshot to the right is the section where you can include any details about local risks and hazards. You should try and include as much detail as you can in your plan.

Vulnerable People

If you know of any vulnerable people in your community who may need some additional support during an incident, ensure they are listed in your plan. However, it is important that you only list locations rather than names or contact details.

For example, 'Church Lane' may indicate potential residents requiring assistance, such as those with mobility issues.

It is important that your CERT has clearly defined trigger points to ensure your response is timely and effective. The triggers can be categorised into various levels of severity, depending on the potential impact and the resources required.

The handover section of your plan details the process you should follow to ensure an effective handover to the emergency services or EPDO when they arrive.

The stand-down procedure will give you guidance on what to do once you have been instructed to stand-down. They include the following steps:

• Task completion
  • Ensure all tasks have been completed or delegated to the correct person.
  • Check all equipment and supplied have been returned and are accounted for.

• Debriefing
  • Conduct a CERT debrief meeting to discuss the incident. Think about what worked well, what did not work so well and if it were to happen again, what you would do differently.
  • Record the outcome of your debrief and assign any actions to be followed up.

• Equipment and supplies
  • Clean and maintain any equipment that was used.
  • Replenish any supplies which were used.
  • Store your equipment and supplies securely so they are available the next time you require them.
  • Ensure the facilities used are left in the same state they were found in.

• Documentation
  • Complete all relevant paperwork
  • Submit any reports to the appropriate personnel (EPDO or other official).

• Communication
  • Inform all relevant parties about the stand-down.
  • Provide contact details for follow-ups and further debriefs.

• Demobilisation
  • Dismiss CERT members.
  • Ensure the safe departure for the site.

The self-generating community emergency plan has been designed to make it simpler and quicker for community groups to create their plan.

By inputting the necessary information into the Microsoft Form, your plan can be generated and sent to you within just 7 seconds!

A copy of the plan will be sent to the email address used as well as the LCC Emergency Planning & Business Continuity shared inbox. You will be able to edit the plan once it has been sent to you, if for example there has been a change in CERT membership. We just ask that you email the updated version to us for our records.

Following an incident in your community, the CERT will play an important role in supporting recovery efforts and facilitating your community's return to a new state of normality. The recovery section of the plan outlines the CERT's responsibilities and procedures during the recovery phase.

Your community team can help recovery operations by doing the following things:

• Support recovery activities within the community, i.e. helping with clean up and restoration following flooding.
• Collaborating with relevant agencies and organisations to ensure a comprehensive recovery effort.
• Providing necessary resources and support to affected community members.
• Monitoring the community's progress and identifying ongoing needs.

In order to align with the broader recovery initiatives, your CERT should maintain communication with the EPDO and/ or, if established, the LRF Communities and Volunteer Coordination tactical cell at the County Emergency Centre.

Recovery Action Steps

1. Maintain log
2. Take photographs of affected areas
3. Where possible, without putting yourselves at risk of harm/ drowning, record flood water depths. Do not enter flood water under any circumstances.
4. Support agencies with community impact assessments and data collection. These are to aid investigations and ensure residents get the right support from the right agencies.
5. Support residents with clearing tasks.
6. Do not throw anything away until photographs have been taken and any insurance providers have been consulted.
7. Support with community information sessions.
8. Participate in any agency debriefing sessions.
9. Review and update your community emergency plan.

Local Flood Map

There is an interactive map provided by the Environment Agency whereby you can put in your address and it will show what flood risk zone you are in. The map is downloadable and printable should you wish to do so.

The image below is an example using the County Emergency Centre postcode.

On the LRF website there is also an interactive Public Information Map which provides a more detailed look at your community and surrounding areas.

One of the first things all groups should do before responding to anything is to start an incident log. Incident logs help you to understand what has happened, when it happened and what steps your group took to support its community. Regardless whether you are contacted by the Emergency Planning Duty Officer or self-activate, starting an incident log is really important.

Have a look at this example of an incident log, based on the information received from the emergency planning duty officer above, are you comfortable with the level of detail recorded?

Running alongside your incident log, its always useful to use an ETHANE report to capture really important information. ETHANE represents:

• E = Exact location of incident
• T = Type of incident
• H = What hazards are present or anticipated
• A = Access, can the emergency services get to the incident, can you get out
• N = Numbers of casualties, properties affected, etc. This is an estimation in the early stages of an emergency as the exact number may not be fully understood.
• E = Emergency services. Are they present at the scene, and if so, which ones.

ETHANE will guide you into gathering information in a structured fashion and will make completing you incident log more straight forward initially. You will find an ETHANE report template in your community emergency plan. There is a section further in this storymap describing the principles of ETHANE but for now lets apply this principle to the information received from the emergency planning duty officer above.

Using this report and any notes you have made such as times and peoples names, lets have another go at an incident log

An incident log is vital for building up a chronological timeline of events. It is not a means of proportioning blame!

Emergency Support Centre Roles

There are several roles when setting up and managing a place of safety during an incident. There is full training available for the following roles:

• Emergency Centre Manager
  • Responsible for the safety & security of the centre
  • Co-ordination of any volunteers working in the centre
  • Chair management team meetings
  • Escalation through appropriate channels
  • Single point of contact for emergency services and other responders

• Deputy Emergency Centre Manager
  • Provide support to centre manager and lead when required
  • Provide briefings to volunteers and evacuees

• Meet and Greet
  • Provide initial greeting to emergency centre
  • Identify any initial concerns and escalate as appropriate
  • Keep track of those entering and leaving the emergency centre where possible

• Loggist - if required
  • Provide administration and loggist support to the centre and the management team
  • Minute any meetings which take place
  • Collate registration information
  • Keep a record of any donations made to the centre

• Registration Team
  • Co-ordinate and carry out the registration process for evacuees
  • Triage and escalation to evacuation centre manager
  • Report back information to the loggist for collation
  • Work with other agencies to collate and identify missing or vulnerable people

• Welfare Team
  • Provide emotional welfare to evacuees and provide as much information as is available in support of the deputy evacuation centre manager
  • Provide assistance for evacuees with pets
  • Engage with new arrivals and provide informal wellbeing check ins
  • Identify any concerns and escalate through appropriate channels

JESIP models and principles have now become the standard for interoperability within the UK. The JESIP principles should be used throughout all phases of an incident; spontaneous or pre-planned and regardless of the scale of the incident.

This model was created in order for responders and control rooms to be able to share information and have a common reporting structure when responding to incidents.

Although this model was initially designed for the emergency services, you will be able to utilise it when assisting during an incident or even in day to day life, should you come across a situation where an emergency service is required.

It is important to remember that the general public/ volunteers are not able to declare a major incident, but the ETHANE part will be extremely useful.

If you would like infographics, posters etc to put into your community emergency box or put up in your local village hall, visit the JESIP website via the following link  M/ETHANE - JESIP Website 

There is also a JESIP app which can be downloaded to your smartphone or tablet. It is a useful way for you to familiarise yourself with JESIP and provides some essential reminders about the principles of joint working. The app also has an online version of the M/ETHANE report which can be completed and sent directly.