Written by more than 30 emergency physicians with first-hand experience handling medical care during disasters, this volume is the only single comprehensive reference on disaster medicine. It provides the information that every emergency department needs to prepare for and handle the challenges of natural and manmade disasters. The contributors present guidelines for assessing the affected population's health care needs, establishing priorities, allocating resources, and treating individuals. Coverage encompasses a wide range of natural, industrial, technologic, transportation-related, and conflict-related disasters, with examples from around the world. This edition has more illustrations and more information on weapons of mass destruction and explosions.

This report is designed to arm the fire service and others with a statistical overview of the fire problem in the U.S. -- deaths of thousands of Americans each year, injury to tens of thousands, and destruction of billions of dollars in property -- that can motivate corrective action. It can also be used to select priorities and help target fire programs, serve as a model for state or local analyses of fire data, and provide a baseline for evaluating programs. Data was collected from the more than 13,000 fire departments that participate in the National Fire Incident Reporting System, and analyzed. One chapter focuses on deaths and injuries to firefighters.

Collapse Operations for First Responders discusses in detail the common warning signs of structural collapse and what to do when they are encountered, providing a practical, hands-on approach to operating safely and effectively in collapse rescue situations. Discussion is chiefly directed toward one of the most common types of structures around the country, wood and brick-and-joist (ordinary-constructed) buildings, known as URM (unreinforced masonry) construction. Various types of shoring and cribbing techniques vital to collapse rescue operations, as well as void size-up, safety at collapse operations, tools used in voids, and void procedures are explored. Collapse Operations for First Responders is a must-have resource for firefighters, officers, chiefs, and technical rescue response personnel.