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Volume 21 — Issue 45 | November 11, 2021

Forest Service releases Reset: Firefighter and Family Members’ Reintegration Guide

As the 2021 peak wildfire season winds down, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service (USDA Forest Service) has released a new resource to support wildland firefighters and their families, entitled Reset: Firefighter and Family Members’ Reintegration Guide (Reset Guide).

Wildland firefighting personnel must navigate a significant transition after the end of an assignment or wildfire season. The adjustment from spending weeks or months at a time on the road as part of a high-functioning wildland firefighting team to reunification with family, friends, and daily routines can be challenging.

The Reset Guide is intended to provide acknowledgement, affirmation, and support regarding the need for an adjustment period. It is not prescriptive, nor does it set any standards or mandates.

The Reset Guide is divided into two parts: 1) Reset after an assignment; and 2) Reset at the end of the season. The Guide offers practical guidance for making a healthy transition, such as:

• Taking time to reflect on lessons learned using After Action Reviews.
• Achieving closure with an end-of-season gathering with teammates, family and friends.
• Using a Buddy Check system during the months away from teammates.
• Recognizing and managing stress.
• Adopting positive attitudes around asking for help and support when needed.

The Reset Guide also includes several suggested podcasts and videos in its “Keeping It Real—New Perspective Support Toolbox”, and a list of crisis hotlines and resources that support the mental health of wildland firefighting personnel, such as the USDA Forest Service’s employee resource, Roadmap for Accessing Mental Health Support in the Forest Service.

This Guide is a companion document to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s (NWCG’s) Preparedness Guide for Firefighters and Their Families, released in 2019. The NWCG’s Preparedness Guide provides information to help prepare wildland firefighting personnel and their families for the realities of a career in wildland firefighting. Together, these documents are intended to support transparency around the risks and rewards related to wildland firefighting.

The Reset: Firefighter and Family Members’ Reintegration Guide is available on the USDA Forest Service’s website. It will be available as a print “coffee table” booklet after the first of the year.

(Source: USDA Forest Service)

Highlights

Forest Service releases Reset: Firefighter and Family Members’ Reintegration Guide

FEMA requests feedback on 24 fire management and suppression resource typing documents

Planning for soft target security: Week 2 of Infrastructure Security Month

Webinar: Next Generation Healthcare Coalitions - Learning and Evolving from COVID-19

Cyber Threats

The U.S. Fire Administration operates the Emergency Management and Response – Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC).

For information regarding the EMR-ISAC visit www.usfa.dhs.gov/emr-isac or contact the EMR-ISAC office at: (301) 447-1325 and/or fema-emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.

FEMA requests feedback on 24 fire management and suppression resource typing documents

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) National Integration Center is seeking public feedback on 24 fire Management and suppression resource typing documents. This 30-day national engagement period will conclude at 5 p.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 10, 2021.

These National Incident Management System (NIMS) resource typing documents enhance the interoperability and effectiveness of mutual aid by establishing baseline qualifications for NIMS-typed teams, personnel and equipment. This facilitates the sharing of deployable resources at all jurisdictional levels. National engagement provides an opportunity for interested parties to comment on the draft documents to ensure they are relevant to all implementing partners.

The 24 fire management and suppression resource types include 9 position qualifications for personnel, 6 typed teams, and 9 types of equipment.

Draft position qualifications for personnel include:

1. Airport Firefighter
2. Emergency Vehicle Technician
3. Fire Apparatus Operator
4. Fire Inspector
5. Fire Officer
6. Firefighter (Structural)
7. Plans Examiner I/II
8. Wildland Firefighter
9. Wildland Urban Interface Protection Specialist

Draft descriptions of typed teams include:

1. Area Command Team, Firefighting
2. Crew Transport (Firefighting Crew)
3. Fire Engine Strike Team (Structural)
4. Hand Crew
5. Incident Management Team (Firefighting)
6. Interagency Buying Team (Firefighting)

Draft descriptions of typed equipment include:

1. Aerial Apparatus, Fire
2. Engine Pumper
3. Fire Boat
4. Foam Tender, Firefighting
5. Fuel Tender
6. Helicopter (Firefighting)
7. Portable Pump
8. Support Water Tender, Firefighting (Tanker)
9. Tactical Water Tender, Firefighting (Tanker)

To provide comments on the draft documents, please complete and submit FEMA’s feedback form. You can download the feedback form here (Excel file); it is also available as the last document listed on FEMA’s request for comments page. Submit the feedback form to FEMA-NIMS@fema.dhs.gov no later than 5 p.m. EST on Dec. 10, 2021.

(Source: FEMA)

Planning for soft target security: Week 2 of Infrastructure Security Month

November is Infrastructure Security Month, and this year’s theme is “Build It In,” emphasizing the importance of considering infrastructure security and resilience from design concept all the way through development and implementation. For Week 2, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has designated a sub-theme: “Plan for Soft Target Security: Build in security for mass gatherings starting with your planning.”

For the Emergency Services Sector (ESS), now is an excellent time to strengthen plans for a variety of security risks to public gatherings and ensure plans and training are up to date with the latest techniques and tactics.

The following are a selection of resources created by CISA and partner agencies to assist ESS personnel in countering threats to soft targets from active shooters, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), vehicle-borne attacks, and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).

• The Emergency Services Sector Active Shooter Guide. This guide helps emergency services personnel collaborate within communities to develop an Active Shooter Program.
• Security and Resiliency Guide: Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Concepts, Common Goals, and Available Assistance. This guide and corresponding annexes provide individuals, businesses, first responders, and law enforcement with guidance to enhance preparedness for potential IED incidents in their communities. It is complemented by five annexes with additional information relevant to venues at high risk for IED-related incidents, such as lodging, outdoor events, public assembly, and sports leagues and venues.
• Vehicle-Borne Attacks: Tactics and Mitigation. This First Responder’s Toolbox includes planning considerations for special events and physical security, and tactics for the most effective vehicle barriers and traffic calming measures.
• Responding to Drone Calls: Guidance for Emergency Communications Centers. This guide provides an overview of safe and unsafe drone flight and a recommended script that Emergency Communications Centers may follow when responding to drone-related calls.
• Unmanned Aircraft Systems: Considerations for Law Enforcement. This document provides an overview of UAS, the legal and operational considerations for law enforcement before taking action, and a list of additional resources. It is available as part of CISA’s resource collection on UAS for law enforcement.

For more information on programs, training, and guidance available from CISA and partner agencies for the ESS, visit CISA’s Active Shooter Preparedness and Securing Public Gatherings resource collections. You can also check out CISA’s Infrastructure Security Toolkit.

(Source: CISA)

Webinar: Next Generation Healthcare Coalitions - Learning and Evolving from COVID-19

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the healthcare system serves as a stark reminder of just how important local, regional, state and national preparedness is. Collaboration among public safety and healthcare partners is critical for effective and safe response. One of the many innovations that came out of the September 11 terrorist attacks was healthcare coalitions (HCCs), and today, all U.S. states, tribes and territories are served by one or more HCC.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines HCCs as “groups of individual healthcare and response organizations working in a defined geographic location to prepare for and respond to disasters and emergencies.” Coalitions can be made up of a wide variety of partners, but HHS considers hospitals, emergency medical services (EMS) providers, emergency management organizations and public health agencies as the core members.

Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) leads the nation’s medical and public health preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters and public health emergencies.

Over the past year, ASPR’s Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) in collaboration with ASPR’s National Healthcare Preparedness Programs (NHPP), conducted a multi-phased effort to gather and analyze information to identify successes and challenges that healthcare coalitions experienced during their pandemic response. In September 2021, project findings were published in a report, Healthcare Coalition Engagement in COVID-19 Assessment, and summarized in a 2-page infographic.

On Wednesday, Dec. 8 at 2:30 p.m. EST, ASPR TRACIE will conduct a webinar, “Next Generation Healthcare Coalitions: Learning and Evolving from COVID-19.” The webinar will discuss key findings from this effort, how these findings will help to inform future ASPR guidance, and how HCCs can use this information now to improve their future preparedness, response, and recovery efforts.

For more information, see ASPR TRACIE’s webinar flyer. The webinar is free and open to anyone, but registration is required.

(Source: ASPR TRACIE)

Cyber Information and Incident Assistance Links

MS-ISAC
SOC@cisecurity.org
1-866-787-4722

IdentityTheft.gov

IC3

Cybercrime Support Network

General Information
Links

FTC scam list

CISA alerts

Law Enforcement Cyber Center

TLP Information

MS-ISAC: Critical patches issued for Microsoft products, Nov. 9, 2021

Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in Microsoft products, the most severe of which could allow for arbitrary code execution in the context of the logged on user. Depending on the privileges associated with the user, an attacker could then install programs; view, change, or delete data; or create new accounts with full user rights. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than those who operate with administrative user rights.

A full list of all vulnerabilities can be found here: https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide.

(Source: MS-ISAC)

CISA releases security advisory on Siemens Nucleus RTOS TCP/IP stacks, which could leave millions of connected medical devices open to attack

The vulnerable TCP/IP stacks – communications protocols commonly used in connected devices – are also deployed in other industries, including the industrial sector and the automotive industry.

Now owned by Siemens, the Nucleus TCP/IP stack was originally released in 1993 and is still widely used in critical safety devices, particularly in hospitals and the healthcare industry where they're used in anaesthesia machines, patient monitors and other devices, as well as for building automation systems controlling lighting and ventilation.

CISA has released an Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisory detailing multiple vulnerabilities found in Siemens Nucleus Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and supporting libraries. A remote attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.

CISA encourages users and administrators to review ICS Advisory: ICSA-21-313-03 Siemens Nucleus RTOS TCP/IP Stack for more information and apply the necessary mitigations.

(Source: ZDNet, CISA)

Midwest's grid security to get boost from NSA-backed research group

Researchers at Iowa State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are leading a new effort to improve the cybersecurity of the electrical grid in nine Midwestern states, as part of a program supported by the National Security Agency. The Regional Coalition for Critical Infrastructure Protection — also known as ReCIPE — plan to spend two years using a $2 million grant developing attack simulations and training materials to better protect the rural region’s energy sector.

(Source: StateScoop)

US charges 2, seizes more than $6 million as part of dragnet against REvil ransomware gang

The U.S. government announced a sweeping set of actions Monday, Nov. 8, targeting alleged REvil ransomware attackers in Europe, including an arrest, an indictment, seizure of more than $6 million in stolen money and new sanctions against a cryptocurrency exchange service and companies that support it.

Along with the criminal charges and seizures, officials announced new U.S. Treasury sanctions against Chatex, a virtual currency exchange, and a trio of companies accused of helping Chatex operate. Chatex is accused of facilitating transactions for ransomware actors.

(Source: CyberScoop)

The InfoGram is distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures.

Fair Use Notice:
This InfoGram may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The EMR-ISAC believes this constitutes “fair use” of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond “fair use,” you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Disclaimer of Endorsement:
The appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement of the linked websites or the information, products or services contained therein. Reference to any specific commercial products, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the EMR-ISAC or the U.S. government.

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