N3 4 GD National Commander s Group response guide Redacted.pdf

Activation
NCG activation
NCG activation
The diagram below shows how the National Commander‟s Group (NCG)
process
is activated, following a trigger incident or event.
ComCen notified of
trigger incident/event
ComCen issues a pager
alert, prefixed with the
letters “NCG” and the
issuing ComCen
NCG
Duty Officer
ComCen issues
Any available member
acknowledges within
No
second page.
of the NCG should
respond.
10 minutes?
Yes
Is
NCG Duty Officer provides
NCG physical
strategic advice and guidance
response
No
as necessary. Provides
required?
briefings to the National
Commander as required.
Yes
In all cases, NCG
NCG Duty Officer responds to
Duty Officer keeps a
NCMC, incident location, or other
log of all activities,
location as required.
decisions, advice etc.
Provides briefings to the National
Commander as required.
NCMC and NCC activation
NCMC activation
If the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) is activated, the NCG
Duty Officer wil  be notified via their pager and wil :
 advise the National Commander of the NCMC activation
 determine what role is required by the NZFS at the NCMC
under the Official Information Act 1982
 ensure that a suitably authorised NZFS officer takes up the
position of NZFS Liaison at the NCMC if required.
Further information on access to and use of the NCMC is found in the
NZFS NCMC User Guide. Al  members of the NCG are to be familiar
with this guide and have access to it at all times whilst on duty.
NCC activation
If the National Commander or Deputy National Commander determines
that the National Coordination Centre (NCC) is required for an
incident/event, they wil  appoint a National Coordinator. This may be a
member of the NCG.
Released Refer to M5 PL National Response Plan and M1-4 POP Operations
Centres for more information on this role and the NCC.
NZFS National Operations
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4th alarm or greater fire events and K41 notifications
Introduction
This section outlines the role of the NCG with regard to 4th alarm or
greater fire events and K41 notifications for fire fatalities.
Role of the NCG
These events are managed using Area and Regional resources. The
role of the NCG is to:
 contact the issuing COMCEN and speak to the Shift Supervisor,
to:
 capture key details
 confirm whether Area/Regional Executive Officer(s) are in
attendance/aware of the incident
 consider contacting Area/Regional Executive Officer(s)
 offer to assist in the coordination of inter-Regional support (where
necessary)
 consider whether the National Commander needs to be
appraised of the incident (if out of hours, can it wait until the next
working day?)
 consider wider community and organisational implications (e.g.
significant political/media interest in the event).
under the Official Information Act 1982
Released
NZFS National Operations
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National Civil Defence notification or response
Introduction
This section outlines the role of the NCG with regard to national Civil
Defence advisories, alerts, warnings and responses.
NZFS
NZFS Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) roles and
responsibilities
responsibilities are detailed in M4-1 GD NZFS Guide to civil defence
emergency management.
NZFS organisational responsibilities can be summarised as:
 firefighting - to control, contain, and extinguish fires
 containment of releases and spil ages of hazardous substances
 Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)
 limitation of damage - salvage of essential material from
endangered locations
 redistribution of water for specific needs - preservation of health
and hygiene in stricken areas.
Role of the NCG
On notification of a Civil Defence event, the role of the NCG is to:
 contact the issuing COMCEN and speak to the Shift Supervisor
to:
 capture key details
 confirm the MCDEM point of contact and contact details
(usually this is the MCDEM Duty Officer)
 provide NZFS advice and support to the CDEM National
Controller as required, including:
 advice on NZFS areas of operations
 provision of DSI (data and spatial information) support
 general staff support (e.g. staff to support MCDEM desk
functions)
 deploy to the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) if
required
 activate and coordinate other NZFS resources as required
 issue internal alerts and warnings where required.
NCMC support
If MCDEM activates the NCMC, the NZFS may be asked to provide
operational support to the NCMC (administrative and operational
personnel).
under the Official Information Act 1982
The NCG representative at the NCMC wil consider requests on a case
by case basis, and arrange to provide this support wherever possible.
USAR support
The NCG wil forward any request to activate USAR to the NZ USAR
Management Team (NZ-UMT).
This is done by contacting Central COMCEN and asking them to alert
the USAR Duty Officer.
Released
NZFS National Operations
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National tsunami response
Introduction
This section details the initial activities required in responding to the a
tsunami notification (advisory, warning, or threat).
Introduction
New Zealand is a member of the Pacific Tsunami Warning System
(PTWS) (an international system under the auspices of the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO) designed
to provide timely and effective information and warnings about tsunamis
generated in the Pacific Basin.
In New Zealand the system is complemented by GNS Science
geological hazards and sea level monitoring.
The Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management (MCDEM) is
the agency responsible for disseminating national tsunami advisories
and warnings to the communities of New Zealand.
National Warning
MCDEM uses the National Warning System (NWS) to disseminate
System
official tsunami notifications in the form of national advisories and
warnings on a 24/7 basis. MCDEM is supported in this function by the
NZFS Communication Centres.
NCG
The National Commander's Group is responsible for:
responsibilities
  receiving pager and email notification of a tsunami advisory,
alert or warning from MCDEM (the email wil  provide specific
detail regarding the actual or potential event)
  assessing the information
  making decisions on appropriate response options, which may
include:
  no action required, or
  issuing a national NZFS advisory, warning or cancellation.
NCG Duty Officer
When a MCDEM tsunami notification is received by the NCG Duty
actions
Officer, they wil :
1.  Acknowledge the alerts.
2.  If the information is unclear, or further advice is required,
contact the MCDEM Duty Officer.
3.  Assess the information received.
4.  Determine the appropriate response. This could be to:
  take no further action, or
under the Official Information Act 1982
  issue one or more of the following notifications by pager
alert and email:
Notification type  Code
Message
National Warning  Red
Tsunami Threat
National Advisory  Amber  Potential Tsunami Threat
National Advisory  Green
 No Tsunami Threat, or
 Cancellation of Advisory/
Warning

Released

NZFS National Operations
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NCG Duty Officer
5.  If issuing a tsunami notification, proceed as follows:
actions (continued)
  contact
and ask to speak to

(NCG Duty Officer may not have access to a computer
when first notified)
  request that a National Advisory/Warning (include colour
code) be:
o  paged to the necessary Regions via the National
Warning Pager RICs
o  emailed to Regions via the National Fire Warning
email account [email address].
6.  Follow up any Amber or Red notifications sent as follows:
Notification
Code
Follow up with
type sent
National
Amber
 a “National Warning – Code
Advisory
Red – Tsunami Threat”
or
 a cancellation,
once more information is known.
National
Red
 hourly (or more frequently if
Warning
required) updates,
then
 a cancellation message,
once it has been determined that
there is no further threat.

Tsunami situation
Once the NCG Duty Officer has established IT and communications,
reports
they are also responsible for issuing Situation Reports and updates via
email, as required.
Additional
Additional information can be found in M4-2 National Tsunami Alert
information
Plan.

under the Official Information Act 1982
Released
NZFS National Operations
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National Counter Terrorism Plan activation
Introduction
This section details the initial activities required in responding to the
activation of the National Counter Terrorism Plan and/or arrangements.
What is a
A terrorist act is defined for the purposes of New Zealand law as one
terrorist act?
that has the purpose of advancing an ideological, political, or religious
cause, and has the intention of inducing terror in a civilian population, or
of compel ing or forcing a government or an international organisation to
do or abstain from doing any act, through causing one or more of the
following outcomes:
  death or serious bodily injury
  serious risk to the health and safety of a population
  destruction of, or serious damage to, property of great value or
importance
  major economic loss/environmental damage
  serious interference with, or serious disruption to, an
infrastructure facility with the intention of causing large-scale
impacts on the normal functioning of society
  devastation of the national economy of a country through the
introduction or release of a disease bearing organism or
significant contamination of the environment.
National Counter  The National Counter Terrorist Plan (NCTP) sets out the national policy
Terrorism Plan
and organisation for counter terrorism in New Zealand. Its aim is to put in
place widely understood organisational arrangements that facilitate well
coordinated collective efforts within which government departments and
agencies can prepare their own detailed plans and procedures.


National Counter  Counter terrorism incidents are usually led by the NZ Police, and at a
Terrorism
national level are managed via the Domestic & External Security
Standard
Coordination (DESC) system. The National Counter Terrorism Standard
Operating
Operating Procedures NCTSOPs describe the Al  of Government
Procedures
operational procedures to respond to a CT Incident in order to fulfil the
NCTP.

under the Official Information Act 1982

NCG role
The NZFS NCG is responsible for providing national Fire Service
coordination and support to the lead agency in responding to a domestic
terrorist event, and wil  be alerted by the Department of the Prime
Minister and Cabinet (DPMC).
In the event that the NZFS are asked to report to the NCMC, the NCG
Duty Officer wil :
  confirm entrance
Released   access a copy of the NCTP and NCTSOP

  carry NZ Government Common Security Pass (required).
NZFS National Operations
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NZFS functions
The NZFS may be required to provide the following functions during a
counter terrorism incident:
  ODESC / Watch Group representation
  Fire Incident coordinator
  Fire Liaison Officer(s) within the Police EOC/NCMC
  Fire Liaison Officer(s) within the Police EOC/NCMC CT Media
Centre
  Analyst within the Joint Intelligence Group or Scientific Technical
Advisory Commit ee if requested
  Fire Liaison Officer(s) at scene/Police District Headquarters.
Some of these functions may be undertaken by the same individual,
depending on workload.
Temporary
The NZFS National Commander/Chief Executive can authorise
clearance to a
temporary access to material one level higher in the event of an
higher level
emergency. Temporary clearance will only be issued when necessary
and for a defined period of time on a one-level up basis as follows:
Staff who have undergone NZ SIS
can be granted temporary
vetting, and have been granted
clearance to access...
routine access to...
CONFIDENTIAL (this also covers
SECRET material
RESTRICTED) material
SECRET material
TOP SECRET material

The NCMC during terrorist incident response
Access
Al  members of the NCG are registered with DPMC and the NZ Police as
requiring access to the NCMC during the response to a terrorist incident.
The NCG Duty Officer wil  be asked by DPMC and the Police to confirm
the names of the NZFS personnel required in the NCMC (being
registered as an official representative of the NCG and/or carrying a
parliamentary identity card does not guarantee access).
Electronic
If responding to a terrorist or other security related event, you must not
equipment
take any electronic items beyond the reception desk of the NCMC,
including:
under the Official Information Act 1982
  mobile / smart phones / pagers
  USB or similar data storage device
  audio / visual recording media
  MP3 / MP4 devices or similar
  laptops.
If unsure whether something is appropriate for the NCMC, check with the
NCMC reception team.

Released

NZFS National Operations
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Secure communications
Introduction
A terrorist event is likely to generate a large number of notifications to
the NCG, including phone calls, emails, texts and pages from the sector
and from other agencies. Whilst elements of the incident wil  already be
public, there wil  stil  be a need to utilise secure communications and
security cleared staff as far as is possible.
Broadly speaking, there wil  be a much higher imperative to utilise
secure communications during an intelligence-led incident than during
the response to an incident that has already occurred.
Unclassified

systems

Classified

systems

Registry and

handling of data

Any data downloaded by the NZFS wil  either need to be read at the
laptop, or disseminated to officials as appropriate, in compliance with the
Security in the Government Sector Guidelines and the NZFS Security
Policy.

under the Official Information Act 1982
Released
NZFS National Operations
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National health emergency
Introduction
This section details the initial activities required in responding to the
activation of the National Health Emergency Plan.
NCG role
The NCG wil  be alerted by the Ministry of Health Duty Officer, and is
responsible for providing national Fire Service coordination and support
to the lead agency in responding to a health emergency.
Examples of health emergencies include:
  pandemics
  mass fatalities
  communicable diseases outbreak
  actual or threatened release of a biological material.
NHCC
The National Health Coordination Centre (NHCC) is located in No 1 The
Terrace.
The national health duty officer can be contacted via a 24hr duty number

ODESC / Watch Group activation
NCG role
ODESC and Watch Groups are an integral part of the NZ national crisis
coordination system.
The NCG wil  be alerted by the Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet (DPMC) of ODESC and Watch Group meetings where NZFS
representation is required.

Firefighter injury/death
Introduction
This section details the initial activities required in responding to the
notification of a firefighter injury or death.
The NZFS Safety and Wellbeing Manual contains information about
the protocols around contacting next of kin in the case of firefighter
injury or death, as well as an emergency contact matrix.
under the Official Information Act 1982
Firefighter injury   The NCG Duty Officer wil  contact the Comcen and ascertain the
severity of the the accident. If minor then no further action required. If

severe, then contact the relevant Fire Region Manager and discuss if
any support needed from NHQ.
Firefighter death
The NCG Duty Officer wil  contact the the relevant Fire Region
Manager and discuss the level of support required from NHQ.

If the death occurred on duty and is attracting significant media
attention consider activating the National Coordination Centre (NCC)
to provide support.
Released

NZFS National Operations
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Media management
NZFS policy and
The NZFS policy M1-1 POP Media at Incidents applies to all media
procedure
interactions during and following NZFS attendance at an incident.
The document M1-1 SOP Media at incidents procedure provides steps
for media management at incidents.
National media
Depending on the nature of the incident, the NCG should consider
support
whether direct national support for media management is required, either
during or after an incident.
Options include:
  national media interviews
  press release
  deployment of additional NZFS media support personnel
  activation of agreements with NZ Police to utilise their media
support staf .

under the Official Information Act 1982
Released
NZFS National Operations
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