Tag

TSA

Browsing

Emergency and disaster management briefing for February 24, 2020: Two teenagers who were arrested shortly after the Porterville City Library erupted in flames are charged with arson and murder; the Albany Jewish Community Center was evacuated after vague email threats were received at numerous JCCs across the country; six people are dead after a wrong-way collision that occurred early Sunday morning on Georgia’s I-95; Italy is reportedly the worst-hit country in Europe after coronavirus cases reach 219 with five deaths; COVID-19 deaths in mainland China surpass 77,000, but daily reported new cases drop for the fifth consecutive day; the NTSB is now investigating a deadly charter bus rollover crash in Pala Mesa near San Diego; the TSA is being questioned over its use of the Chinese app TikTok due to national security concerns; and the FBI has released a set of one-page sheets detailing pertinent information of active shooter incidents from 2000-2018 for first responders and stakeholders, including the general public.

Start an Emergency & Disaster Management degree at American Military University.

1) Two teenagers have been charged with arson and the murder of two firefighters who died while fighting a fire at a library in Porterville, California, on February 18. Police officers saw the boys, both aged 13, running from the Porterville City Library just minutes after the flames erupted and placed them under arrest. The two teens are suspected of starting the fire that killed firefighters Patrick Jones and Captain Raymond Figueroa, but both teens have denied the charges.

2) A number of Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) across the country received anonymous vague email threats on Sunday, prompting the evacuation of one center in Albany, New York. The Albany JCC had about 100 people inside when it was evacuated and searched by agents and dogs on Sunday and was deemed clear. The vaguely threatening emails mentioned a bomb and were sent to approximately 18 JCCs across the country to people with community center accounts. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is now investigating the origin of the emails.

3) Six people are dead, including three children, following a wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 in Georgia early Sunday morning. The incident occurred after a 77-year-old man, who has yet to be identified, was driving the wrong way on I-95 and slammed head-on into another vehicle carrying two adults and three children. The driver, who authorities say was not impaired, was from Florida. The family of five was from Virginia.

4) Italy now has 219 cases of the coronavirus, with a total of five deaths, making it the worst-hit country in Europe. Nearly 100 people in Italy have been hospitalized due to the virus, 23 of whom are in intensive care. Several towns are quarantined. The hardest-hit locations in the country being the northern regions of Lombardy (167 cases) and Veneto (27 cases).

5) On Monday, reported new cases of COVID-19 in mainland China dropped to 409, marking the fifth day in a row where the number of new cases has been below 1,000. The total death toll in mainland China from the novel coronavirus now stands at 2,592, and health officials in China have confirmed the deaths of two more Chinese doctors. The total number of confirmed cases in the country on Monday was at 77,150. The city of Wuhan, the center of the outbreak, remains on lockdown — a lockdown that began on January 23.

6) The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is now investigating a deadly charter bus crash that occurred Saturday morning in Pala Mesa, near San Diego, California. The crash killed at least three people and left a five-year-old boy in critical condition. Seventeen people were also injured during the crash, which occurred when an Executive Lines charter bus traveling south on I-15 rolled over several times, ejecting some passengers, before it landed on its roof on the side of the road. Three females — one who was pinned under the bus, and two who were found inside the bus — died at the scene. The five-year-old boy suffered a life-threatening head injury.

7) The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is being questioned about its use of the controversial China-owned app TikTok to post a number of videos for passenger information. Repeated warnings from national security experts regarding the collection of user data and personal information by the Chinese government, including the location of a user, led to a ban of the app by the Department of Homeland Security, under which the TSA operates, and by the U.S. military. A letter sent to the TSA administrator by the United States Senate questions the agency’s use of the app, requests the immediate answer to three questions and urges the agency to cease using the app immediately, citing national security concerns.

8) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a set of one-page sheets detailing pertinent information regarding active shooting incidents in the country from 2000-2018. The information sheets are designed to provide a better understanding of the statistics regarding the event for law enforcement officers, first responders, businesses, educators and other stakeholders, including the general public. The FBI noted that of the 277 active shooter incidents in the U.S. during the time period, only four of the shootings included multiple shooters. There were 884 people killed — 104 of which were law enforcement casualties — and a total of 1,546 were wounded.