Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Simplecity, Illinois
Table Top Exercise 2007
Simplecity, Illinois
Table Top Exercise 2007
February 28, 2007
AFTER ACTION
REPORT/IMPROVEMENT PLAN
TBD
[On the cover page, insert additional graphics such as logos, pictures, and background colors as
desired. The word “Draft” should be included before the phrase “After Action
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final AAR/IP.]
Illinois Emergency Management Agency
Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
Simplecity, Illinois
Table Top Exercise 2007
Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS
1. The title of this document is the After Action Report (AAR) for Simplecity Illinois Table
Top Exercise 2007.
2. The information gathered in this AAR/IP is classified as For Official Use Only (FOUO) and
should be handled as sensitive information not to be disclosed. This document should be
safeguarded, handled, transmitted, and stored in accordance with appropriate security
directives. Reproduction of this document, in whole or in part, without prior approval from
Illinois Emergency Management Agency is prohibited.
3. At a minimum, the attached materials will be disseminated only on a need-to-know basis and
when unattended, will be stored in a locked container or area offering sufficient protection
against theft, compromise, inadvertent access, and unauthorized disclosure.
4. Points of Contact:
Exercise Training Officer
Martin L. Dwyer
Illinois Emergency Management Agency
2200 S. Dirksen Parkway
Springfield, Illinois 62704
217-557-4827
e-mail: martin.dwyer@illinois.gov
Exercise Facilitator
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
CONTENTS
Administrative Handling Instructions……… .............................................1
Contents ..........................................................................................................3
Executive Summary .......................................................................................5
Section 1: Exercise Overview ........................................................................7
Exercise Details..........................................................................................7
Exercise Planning Team Leadership ..........................................................8
Participating Organizations ........................................................................8
Section 2: Exercise Design Summary ...........................................................9
Exercise Purpose and Design .....................................................................9
Capabilities and Activities Identified for Demonstration ..........................9
Scenario Summary .................................................................................. 11
Section 3: Analysis of Capabilites ............................................................. 12
Appendix: Improvement Plan ………………………………….………. 17
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
This page is intentionally blank
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Simplecity Illinois Table Top Exercise 2007 was conducted to provide the
government officials of the town of Simplecity and Bubba County, a facilitated
discussion into the affect of a complete levee failure. With the current condition of
Simplecity’s levee, it was decided that an exercise would be conducted, using historical
data from March of 1997, to highlight the amount of damage that would occur.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Illinois Department of Natural
Resources designed a table top exercise for a complete failure of the levee system in
Simplecity, Illinois.
Based on the exercise planning team’s deliberations, the following objectives were
developed for the Simplecity Table Top exercise 2007:
Objective 1: Demonstrate the knowledge to manage the emergency using the public
safety and security response.
Objective 2: Demonstrate the ability to coordinate decision-making and response
procedures with the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Objective 3: Demonstrate the ability to develop and coordinate appropriate
emergency public information and warning.
Objective 4: Demonstrate decision-making necessary to implement mass care.
Objective 5: Discuss Citizen Evacuation procedures.
The purpose of this report is to analyze the exercise results, identify strengths to be
maintained and built upon, identify potential areas for further improvement and support
development of corrective actions.
Major Strengths
The major strengths identified during this exercise are as follows:
 City and County government worked extremely well in communications and
support.
 City personnel utilized their capabilities to address the situation, i.e. posted
personnel on levee watch, continued monitoring of the pumps and begin
setting up a sand bag crew.
 Working on a plan for evacuation and opened communication with Illinois
State Emergency Operations Center and the requesting of state assets, i.e.
Department of Corrections for sand bag crews, notification to Department of
Transportation for pumps and personnel.
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
Primary Areas for Improvement
Throughout the exercise, several opportunities for improvement in Simplecity and Bubba
County ability to respond to the incident were identified. The primary areas for
improvement, including recommendations, are as follows:



Need to address alternate locations for the City’s Emergency Operations
Center to keep from being locked in with water.
Key personnel should be identified, by position, prior to an actual major
event. (i.e. incident commander, public information officer, etc…)
A primary and alternate staging area needs to be added into the emergency
operations plan.
This exercise was successful in addressing a complete levee failure in the City of
Simplecity in Bubba County. Because of this exercise, city and county officials are
aware of the conditions of the levee system and the ramifications of a complete levee
failure
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
SECTION 1: EXERCISE OVERVIEW
Exercise Details
Exercise Name
Simplecity Table Top Exercise 2007
Type of Exercise
Table Top
Exercise Start Date
Feb 28, 2007 0900hrs
Exercise End Date
Feb 28, 2007 1200hrs
Duration
3.0 Hours
Location
Simplecity City Hall
Sponsor
Illinois Emergency Management Agency
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
Program
Emergency Management Program Grant 2005
Mission
A response to a complete levee failure.
Capabilities
Objective 1: Demonstrate the knowledge to manage the emergency using the
public safety and security response.
Objective 2: Demonstrate the ability to coordinate decision-making and response
procedures with the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Objective 3: Demonstrate the ability to develop and coordinate appropriate
emergency public information and warning.
Objective 4: Demonstrate decision-making necessary to implement mass care.
Objective 5: Discuss Citizen Evacuation procedures.
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
Scenario Type
Complete Levee Failure
Exercise Planning Team
Martin L. Dwyer, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Exercise Training Officer,
Exercise Director and Lead Planner.
John Doe, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Staff Development Specialist
Region 11, Facilitator and Exercise Planner.
Steve Guy, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Subject Matter Expert, Exercise
Planner
Art Funk, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Subject Matter Expert, Exercise
Planner
Kathy Right, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Subject Matter Expert, Exercise
Planner.
Participating Organizations
City of Simplecity:
Mayor
Street Department
Water Department
Fire Department
Bubba County:
Department of Public Works
Emergency Management
Sheriff
Street Department
State of Illinois:
Department of Natural Resources
Emergency Management Agency
State Police
American Red Cross
Number of Participants
Participants 12
Controllers 0
Evaluators 3
Facilitators 1
Observers 12
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
SECTION 2: EXERCISE DESIGN SUMMARY
Exercise Purpose and Design
The Simplecity Table Top Exercise was designed to educate the City of Simplecity and
the Bubba County officials of the consequences of a complete levee failure. The
participants learned the importance of having a working Emergency Operations Plan that
covers the response to a complete levee failure and the importance of the maintenance of
the levee system. The exercise was designed in conjunction with Illinois Emergency
Management Agency and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Exercise Objectives and Activities
Based upon the identified exercise the below listed capabilities and objectives were
selected for evaluation:
Capability 1: Public Safety and Security Response
- Activate Public Safety and Security Response
Conduct a public safety and security response.
Establish or integrate into Incident Command/Unified Command.
- Command and Control Public Safety and Security Response
Operations
Identify personnel needed to maintain security support and response.
Deploy appropriate personnel.
- Control Traffic, Crowd and Scene
Identify security zone requirements.
Implement and maintain an on-scene personnel identity management
system.
Provide and plan for access to the site for skilled support personnel.
Control traffic and crowds.
Plan and provide protection and security for unoccupied/evacuated
properties within and around the incident site.
Implement plans for emergency proclamations, martial law, curfew
declarations and other legal issues.
Capability 2: Emergency Operations Center Management
- Activate EOC.
Activate, alert and request response from EOC personnel .
- Support and Coordinate Response.
Provide direction, information and/or support as appropriate to IC/UC
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
and/or EOC.
Scenario Summary
The exercise was broken down into ten (10) modules beginning with the reading of
the scenario and concluding with recovery questions posed to the participants for
future discussions. Each module begins with a situation update. Following each
situation update, participants had an opportunity to review the module, ask questions
and discuss response issues. At the end of each module, the facilitator moderated a
discussion among participants to highlight key elements of each module
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
SECTION 3: ANALYSIS OF CAPABILITIES
This section of the report reviews the performance of the exercised capabilities,
objectives, activities and tasks. In this section, capabilities are organized by the
objectives and associated activities. The exercise capabilities and objectives of the
Simplecity Table Top Exercise 2007 are listed below, followed by corresponding
activities. After each area of improvement is a recommendation for improvement.
CAPABILITY 1: Public Safety and Security Response
Capability Summary: Public Safety and Security Response is the capability to reduce
the impact and consequences of an incident or major event by securing the affected area,
including crime/incident scene preservation issues as appropriate, safely diverting the
public from hazards, providing security support to other response operations and
properties and sustaining operations from response to recovery. Public Safety and
Security Response requires coordination among officials from law enforcement, fire and
emergency medical services.
Activity 1.1: Activate Public Safety and Security Response
Observation 1.1: Strength. Conduct a public safety and security response.
Observation 1.2: Area for Improvement. Establish or integrate into Incident
Command/Unified Command. The city and county need to improve their operation
plan and training to establish an Incident Command/Unified Command.
Activity 2.1: Command and Control Public Safety and Security Response Operations
Observation 2.1: Strength. Identify personnel needed to maintain security support
and response.
Observation 2.2: Strength. Deploy appropriate personnel.
CAPABILITY 2: Emergency Operations Center Management
Capability Summary: Emergency Operations Center Management (EOC) is the
capability to provide multi-agency coordination for incident management by activating
and operating for a pre-planned or a no-notice event. EOC management includes: EOC
activation, notification staffing and deactivation; management, direction, control and
coordination of response and recovery activities; coordination of neighboring
governments at each level and among local, regional, state and federal EOC’s;
coordination of public information and warning; and maintenance of the information and
communication necessary for coordinating response and recovery activities.
Activity 1.1: Activate Emergency Operations Center.
Observation 1.1: Strength. Activate, alert and request response from EOC personnel
Activity 2.1: Support and Coordinate Response.
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Table Top Exercise 2007
Observation 2.1: Strength. Provide direction, information and/or support as
appropriate to IC/UC and/or EOC.
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Illinois Emergency Management Agency
After Action Report/Improvement Plan
(AAR/IP)
Simplecity, Illinois
Table Top Exercise 2007
APPENDIX: IMPROVEMENT PLAN
This IP has been developed specifically for City of Simplecity, County of Bubba as a result of Simplecity Table Top Exercise 2007
conducted on April 25, 2007. These recommendations draw on both the After Action Report and the After Action Conference.
Capability
Activity
Observation Title
Public Safety and Security
Response
Activate
Public
Safety and
Security
Response
Establish or
integrate into
Incident
Command/Unified
Command.
Public Safety and Security
Response
Control
Traffic,
Crowd and
Scene
Implement and
maintain an onscene personnel
identity
management
system.
Public Safety and Security
Response
Control
Traffic,
Crowd and
Scene
Provide and plan for
access to the site for
skilled support
personnel.
Recommendation
Agency
POC by
Position
Start Date
Completion
Date
The city and/or county
need to improve their
operation plan and
conduct training in
establishing an Incident
Command/Unified
Command.
The city and/or county
officials need to put
into effect a means of
identifying personnel
by position and job
description for
accountability of all
personnel.
The city/county needs
to establish controlled
entry points, access for
specialized teams, (i.e.
law enforcement, urban
search and rescue
teams, etc…) identify
routes of ingress/egress
and checking of
credentials.
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IEMA