Summary

Terrorist Bombing, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
169 people killed
April 19, 1995

NFPA Report by Ed Comeau

Summary

On April 19, 1995, a bomb exploded outside of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The explosion resulted in the death of 169 people. All nine floors of the Murrah Building were severely damaged, with about 50% of each floor collapsing, trapping a number of the occupants.

The response to the incident from the various public safety agencies and from the general public was overwhelming. Fire fighters, police officers, and civilians, all working side by side, without thought to their own safety, pulled out trapped and injured victims. All of the trapped victims that survived the bombing were extricated by Oklahoma rescue crews and citizens within the first twelve hours of the incident.

Fire departments from around the state responded by sending personnel and equipment to assist. At no time was a formal request for mutual aid assistance necessary--the response was tremendous.

Not only was there a response from the public safety agencies, but a number of private sector organizations offered their assistance.

Construction companies provided workers, cranes, back hoes, excavators, and trucks to help with the building stabilization and debris removal. Due to the severe damage, extensive and sophisticated shoring had to be fabricated and installed, which was done around the clock.

Feeding the hundreds of rescue workers was a task that was undertaken by the Oklahoma Restaurant Association, which was having a conference at the Myriad Convention Center on the day of the explosion. They immediately established a mass feeding operation in the Myriad, and food vendors started trucking in supplies to support the operation. A number of spontaneous field kitchens and food distribution areas were established, including a local pizza vendor that supplied pizzas around the clock for the entire duration of the incident.

The medical community responded aggressively by providing personnel and equipment on the scene and immediately upgrading their preparedness at the hospitals. Personnel returned to duty without being asked and staffed the emergency rooms and supporting areas for a number of hours.

Within hours of the explosion, federal resources were mobilized by FEMA to support the rescue operations. The Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Task Forces, which had been established to respond to a variety of natural disasters, were called. The Phoenix and Sacramento Task Forces were activated at once, followed very quickly by New York City and Virginia Beach. By the end of the incident, 17 days later, a total of 11 Task Forces were used, including Los Angeles County, Montgomery County (MD), Puget Sound (WA), Fairfax County (VA), Metro Dade (FL), Menlo Park (CA), and Orange County (CA). This event was the first, widespread use of Task Forces from across the country on a single incident.

The size and complexity of this incident was a challenging opportunity from a management perspective. Not only were there a large number of fire personnel operating in a hazardous environment, but law enforcement and civilian personnel were present that were not used to functioning cohesively under the Incident Management System. Efforts were started at the very beginning of the incident by the Fire Department Incident Commander to coordinate the operations of everyone working on the scene.

The National Fire Protection Association's Fire Investigations Department responded to this incident with a team of three investigators, and they were on site for 13 days. During this time they were provided with complete access to the site and to the personnel involved in the rescue and recovery operations. Interviews were conducted of all of the first responders and the command officers involved in the incident. Members of the team attended the daily briefings conducted by OCFD and the Incident Support Team. Also, interviews of the rescue personnel were conducted to provide a broad picture regarding the activities involved in this highly technical and challenging incident.

This report was prepared to document the emergency response aspect of the incident. The objective is to provide the public safety community with lessons that were learned from this tragedy and that could be applied elsewhere, if needed.