UK fireman gives expert advice on responding to terrorist attacks

On arriving he saw the devastating effects of a suicide bomb – the first time such a bomb had been detonated in Britain – that reduced a double-decker commuter bus to mangled metal and killed 13 people. Experiences such as these, and the many others he has had during his 26 years in one of the world’s busiest fire services, make Wolf one of the best civil experts to advise NATO and its partners on preparing to deal with terrorist attacks.

Civil emergency planning is an increasingly important aspect of efforts to counter terrorism. Good planning is the difference between life and death, particularly in chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) incidents where the effects go beyond explosions. To help prepare national emergency forces for these events, NATO and partners take part in annual civil emergency training exercises like CODRII 2011, which took place in Moldova in August. Teams from 22 Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council members and NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue participated in the event, including experts in search and rescue, fire fighting, CBRN and water purification. Nine additional countries participated by sending staff officers.

“The exercise is extremely valuable, and designed to test the procedural elements of the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Unit in support of stricken nations,” explains Wolf. “On a practical basis, our input provides teams with much greater confidence to work with colleagues from different nations when faced with the challenges of a multinational response to a terrorist-related or natural disaster event.”

Working with civil experts

NATO works with over 380 national civil experts on a range of issues including: civil protection, public health, agriculture and water, transport, and industrial resources and communications. “Civil experts provide a multitude of interfaces between NATO and civilian agencies across sectors as broad as industrial planning to medical matters,” says Thomas Nett, Head of NATO’s Civil Military Planning and Support Section. “This cooperation increases NATO’s duality as a civil-military alliance. New challenges are best addressed if joint civil-military planning becomes the norm.”

Each expert brings his or her experience to the Alliance and helps develop responses to CBRN attacks. It is in this way that Wolf, 48, who became a NATO Civil Expert in 2008, has been advising the Alliance’s civil emergency planning team. “Following a multi-agency CBRN exercise in the UK, which involved responding to a terrorist event, I was asked to advise NATO on managing large scale CBRN events,” he says. “This request was mainly in recognition of the fact that the London Fire Brigade has a great deal of experience and a high level of capability to respond to major incidents, including acts of terrorism, which was seen to be of benefit to NATO.”

Building capabilities

Wolf has focused on building the capabilities across NATO and its Euro-Atlantic and Mediterranean Dialogue partners to respond to CBRN events. He has supported the NATO CBRN training exercises, helped develop CBRN training courses, helped the development of regional CBRN centres and provided input to NATO’s Comprehensive CBRN policy. “All of this has in turn increased the London Fire Brigade’s own understanding of the issues associated with managing large-scale international incidents,” he explains.

Many of NATO’s civil emergency planning activities are conducted in cooperation with partners and their civil experts. Many partner countries have specific expertise from which the Alliance can learn a great deal. “Civil experts contribute to building structures that contribute to the protection of populations and limiting the impact of crises when they occur,” adds Nett.