About ESD

About Black Rock City Emergency Services Department

The Emergency Services Department (ESD) coordinates all professional emergency resources on the playa 24 hours a day, including requests to outside agencies via the state-of-the-art emergency dispatch center. ESD responsibilities cover all responses in the field to reports of fire, medical, or psychiatric emergencies. ESD's highly trained professionals volunteer long hours to ensure the safety and well being of Black Rock City. ESD and LEAL (Law Enforcement Agency Liaison) together provide the primary interface between all outside health and safety agencies and the Burning Man organization, both on the playa and year-round.

ESD provides four branches of service -- Fire, Medical, Communications, and Mental Health - and employ the integrated fire-service model for command, control, and structure. Nationally recognized standard operating procedures, such as the Incident Command System (ICS), provide a basis for smooth integration with outside and allied agencies to maximize safety and security for participants, volunteers, and Emergency Services personnel. ICS also gives new ESD volunteers a familiar framework, and increases our overall operational efficiency. To request more information on anything related to Emergency Services, click on the Contact Us item in the menu to the left.

Origins & History

The Emergency Services Department was formed in 1998 initially as a function of the Rangers back when the event was smaller and the need for organizational complexity was minimal. As the event and the Rangers grew it became apparent that the mission of the Rangers and ESD were distinctly different and the ESD became instead a sub-department of the Rangers to allow better focus on priorities. By 2002 the ESD was wearing separate uniforms to distinguish Emergency Services professionals from the volunteer Rangers in the field, something that was becoming necessary on large or critical incidents and by 2003 the ESD was granted department status when it was acknowledged that there was a significant difference in the missions of the groups. Though both the Rangers and the ESD are unified in providing public safety services to the event, the manner by which these departments serve the event are obviously quite different. Today both departments are approximately equal in size and continue to enjoy a positive working relationship in the field.

• Pre-event and Post-event ESD Operations
  
  In 2002 the operational timeline for ESD was significantly expanded when the DPW realized that having on-site occupational health and emergency resources to handle injuries was needed. The ESD service timeline was expanded from the week before and after the event to six weeks either side of the event. Over the course of this time available ESD resources grow with the number and complexity of DPW and other Burning Man staff working on-site. Throughout this pre and post event period ESD is on-call 24 hours a day and normal event operations begin the week before the event starts. Once the event is over the process is the same but in reverse until ESD only has one medical staff remaining to support the playa restoration team.

ESD Service Branches

ESD is comprised of four main branches: Communications, Fire, Medical, and Mental Health Services.

• Communications
  
  The ESD Communications Branch provides the Emergency Services dispatch center and establishes the on-playa communications infrastructure for the entire Burning Man organization. This is accomplished by the three function groups of the Communications Branch: Technical, Dispatch, and IT. The Dispatch Group is responsible for dispatch operations while Technical and IT Groups respectively handle technical aspects of building and maintaining the radio or computer equipment that is required to make the communications system and dispatch system function.
  
  The dispatch center functions as a fully staffed, 24-hour, public safety answering point. It operates as a Unified Command Post coordinating all emergency responses within Black Rock City for the ESD and allied agencies, such as REMSA, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and law enforcement. The continual flow of information between BLM, law enforcement, and the ESD dispatch center allow all of the event's public safety agencies to provide improved service and safety to participants. Similarly, all other Burning Man departments depend on reliable two-way communications in order to make the event happen.
  
  The ESD communications infrastructure provides the means for this function. Utilizing a network of two-way radio repeaters both on-site and at remote locations, the Communications Branch Technical Group ensures that the system has fail-safe and redundant technologies in order to cope with the harsh conditions of the Black Rock Desert. This critical precaution supports all functions of the Burning Man Project, because any department that loses its ability to communicate loses its ability to do its job. A hardy team of engineers and technicians work year-round to ensure the integrity of the system. These engineers perform hundreds of hours of work before the event and hundreds more on-site every year to make sure the communications system functions as designed. For year-round communications for the Department of Public Works (DPW) and other staff use, the Communications Branch maintains a series of radio towers. Since cell phones don't work in the area the towers are essential both to enable work to happen in an effective manner and for safety of the staff in the event of incidents such as vehicle breakdowns or injuries.
  
  
• Fire Services
  
  The ESD Fire Branch works to keep Black Rock City safe from fires that could endanger life and property. Equally importantly, the Fire Branch is one of the key elements in making art burns safe and enjoyable experiences for participants. The Fire Branch interfaces and cooperates with the Art Department, the Performance Safety team (PST), the pyrotechnics team, the event's supporting fire vendors, and the Rangers. The Fire Branch also plays the key role of providing safety planning and Rapid Intervention teams (RITs) during planned performance burns. The Fire Branch and the integrated fire-suppression vendors collectively provide fire engines and fire fighters to three 24-hour fire stations in Black Rock City. Despite the central role that fire plays in the event, fire-related emergencies requiring ESD responses remain infrequent. Due to the special nature of the event ESD is recognized as the leading authority on fire-suppression and tactics within Black Rock City.
  
  Over the years significant operational upgrades have been made to ESD in order to improve the safety and capabilities for both the fire fighters and the community that they serve. Service upgrades of note began in 2003 when ESD established a hazardous materials cleanup unit to allow ESD to handle fuel spills and similar minor HAZMAT incidents as well as adding two Type-7 Mini-Engines to provide initial attack in the confined spaces between camps as well as supplement available EMS resources by functioning as a EMS first response unit as well. In 2004, in response to the plane crashes of the previous year, heavy rescue tools were added since there were no local rescue resources available. Also added in the same year was the implementation of dedicated self-contained breathing apparatus on ESD initial attack fire engines. This equipment allowed ESD to meet the technical requirements of NFPA 1710 and 1720 requirements for "2 in, 2 out" safety compliance.
  
  
• Medical Services
  
  The Emergency Medical Services (EMS) branch of ESD works closely with the Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority (REMSA) and the ESD Fire Branch to provide a municipal style EMS system much like those in most other cities in the United States. Personnel from the Medical and Fire Branch staff two 24-hour stations at the 3 and 9 o'clock plazas to provide rapid first-response medical care anywhere within Black Rock City. Each station houses a quick-response vehicle (QRV) dedicated to EMS work for operations within the unified ESD concept. An ESD fire engine and mini-engine also reside at each station. The Mini's are cross-staffed by one fire fighter and one medic, so these engines can also function in a first-responder EMS role and provide additional support on hazardous material, technical, and rescue incidents.
  
  REMSA provides advanced life-support ambulance service within Black Rock City, helps staff the Center Camp clinic, and handles all ground and air transportation to Reno hospitals. REMSA and the ESD Medical Branch are fully integrated operationally during the event.
  
  
• Mental Health Services
  
  The current Mental Health Branch (MHB) consists of dozens of highly trained and dedicated psychiatric and mental health professionals. The MHB responds to needs for psychiatric services on the playa, performs crisis intervention for sexual assault and domestic violence victims, and provides victim advocacy to local agencies, such as law enforcement and local hospitals. The Branch responded to a high number of critical incidents in 2003 by forming a separate team to perform several mental health support functions. This Mental Health Support team, initially modeled on the now mostly-defunct Critical Incident Stress Management/Debrief model, is designated to respond to any significant event in direct support of the on-duty MHB teams, much like many county mental health resources would respond to a school shooting or other tragic large-scale event. Additionally the MHB has clinical oversight over the Ranger Sanctuary team, a dedicated team of Ranger volunteers who provide peer crisis intervention as well as a safe space for those who need some space to recompose themselves after intense emotional or physical ordeals.
  
  All MHB team members carry pagers and are on call even when off-duty in case of a critical incident or unexpectedly high call volume. During duty shifts they work in pairs on a 24-hour on-call basis. During the peak of the event multiple teams are available to ensure service to participants who are in need. Calls for service typically takes several hours, and more complex calls can easily exceed four or six hours in length.
  
  The mental health team has humble beginnings back in 1998 when ESD was a sub-department in the Rangers. Then referred to "Green Dots" the team had a much simpler crisis intervention role. Once the ESD became a separate department this team became known as the Crisis Intervention team but in 2003 it was decided to rename the group the Mental Health Branch to better reflect the mission and professional nature of the team.