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This report follows extensive research by the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) of after action reviews from major disasters of the past decade into lessons learned. The disasters studied were weather-related events that required responding firefighters to assume duties for which they were unprepared or for situations they never anticipated.

From analysis of post-incident operational evaluations, the report finds that the fire service at many levels and many geographic areas lacks an appreciation of the need for self-protection and preservation of critical response infrastructure. Stated another way, the fire service at large, as post-incident analysis (PIA) of major disasters reveals, is unprepared for large-scale all-hazard operations at the regional and national level.

The report encompasses and updates the information from two existing USFA publications, “TR-162: Fire Department Preparation for Extreme Weather” and “TR-159: After Action Reports — Lessons Learned.”

Operational Lessons Learned in Disaster Response