The 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG), held at the Kentucky Horse Park (KHP) in Lexington, was the first time the quadrennial WEG was hosted outside of Europe. To help manage the 17-day event, organizers strongly advocated the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and a modified version of the Incident Command System (ICS). Using regional and national event resources as well as a large volunteer contingent to build, organize and operate the event, organizers implemented the NIMS-ICS combination to manage 49 individual events held in seven stand-alone venues. The year’s largest U.S. sporting event proved successful, and with it came an emergency-response coordination experience worth sharing.
Planning the Event
The massive planning process for the games began in earnest in 2007. The 1,224-acre KHP–home to the National Horse Center (headquarters for many U.S. equine organizations)–lies within the jurisdiction of Lexington-Fayette Urban County. Portions of the park are also located in adjacent Scott County. Because KHP is a working equine facility, new and temporary construction was required to provide all the spectator and logistical support components necessary to conduct the games.
Crowd expectations were projected at more than 500,000 people, which would be the largest number of visitors in the park’s 32-year history. Existing roadway infrastructure limited site access primarily to the south. Security perimeter fencing that measured nearly 8 miles further hampered access and response capabilities.
Temporary structures (400 tents and 90 office modules) presented special concerns from a response and safety standpoint, because organizers were greatly altering the normal layout, configuration and operation of the Horse Park. Temporary stables were needed for the 750 competition horses and 500 exhibition horses. Comprehensive emergency actions plans were developed for individual venues as well as the whole site.
Architects for the event were challenged to incorporate all the working needs of broadcast, media, International Federations, sport (athletes and competition), transportation, ceremonies, catering, hospitality, IT/communications, logistics, protocol, accreditation, ticketing, medical, security and safety into a comprehensive operational plan. The end product of the planning process was a 90-page booklet of drawings and schedules detailing the installation and operation of all the aforementioned components. The document, referred to as the “overlay CADs,” became the basis for the incident action plan.
The University of Kentucky Medical Center was the on-site healthcare provider during operational hours. The Lexington Fire Department provided on-site fire protection as well as overnight EMS resources with an engine company, and was also the EMS transport provider. Outside agencies included the FBI, Kentucky National Guard, Lexington Police, private security and security volunteers.
Training the Volunteers
One of the largest challenges organizers faced was incorporating nearly 6,000 volunteers into the operational plan. “Major events cannot function without dedicated volunteers, but they have to be educated about the operational objectives and how they will help us achieve them,” says Will Johnson, a partner with the event-planning firm, WJ Events. “Volunteer training and orientation are critical.”
To handle the communications component during the event, organizers implemented nearly 1,800 rental radios (UHF spectrum). Radio communications for an event this size is crucial, and once the number of users was known, organizing and training those users became a very high priority. Many individuals had never used a radio before, so planners started with the basics and built from there, emphasizing simplicity and ensuring the users knew what to do–and say–in the case of an emergency.
Turning Needs Into Results
Public safety agencies managed emergency preparedness operations from the “Silver Bullet,” a mobile command vehicle provided by the FBI. This Special Operations Center was the ICS location for emergency resources held on-site, and served as the coordination point for fire, medical and law enforcement. Due to security concerns, access was restricted to public safety officials.
The need to have a command post for daily event operations was apparent, and resulted in the creation of a Venue Operations Center (VOC), which would serve as a command and control location for all event operations and link event organizers to emergency responders. The VOC was co-located with the Competition Communications Center, which served all aspects of the sport and athlete components.
NIMS nomenclature was used to organize the functional and operational aspects of the event. Venues were organized geographically into divisions led by a supervisor. Functional areas that had site-wide responsibilities were organized into groups. Branches were created for competition, event management, media management, security and transportation. Units were established for accreditation, ceremonies and ticketing.
An integrated communications plan was developed along three fronts: 1) overall site control; 2) by functional area; and 3) by venue. The radio system for the event was configured into 57 talk groups, the management of which fell to the VOC. In addition to handling requests for resources and support, managing that many channels and phones required a core team of event-experienced individuals. It was rarely quiet.
The Event Control team in the VOC consisted of the planning section chief, the communications unit leader, deputy incident commander and the KHP liaison officer. Because the Kentucky State Police was the lead public safety agency and designated incident commander for the event, the VOC adopted the title “Event Control,” which seemed more appropriate for handling day-in and day-out operations.
Due to the fact that the KHP covered such a large area with an extensive temporary build-out, organizers laid a 500′ square grid over the property that helped coordinate routine and emergency responses. Large-scale maps were produced and distributed to various contingent groups. Each 2,500-square-foot area was assigned an alphanumeric designation.
One of the primary duties of the VOC was to manage and activate the Crisis Management Team, a group of senior management personnel charged with issuing decisions in case of an event emergency, such as an injured athlete or horse. This activation melded all components on-site into a unified command structure.
Routine daily operations included coordinating gate and venue openings, managing the ever-changing communication plans, issuing daily weather forecasts and coordinating inbound and outbound transportation concerns. All requests for service were logged within the VOC into a Web-based tracking system. Routine messages were communicated using a Web-based text messaging system, allowing directives to be sent to individual groups and divisions.
Lessons Learned
Coordinating a large-scale event is something that takes both time and the experience of those who have been there, done that. Consider the following six tips when participating in such an event.
- Restrict access to the VOC to essential personnel only. Make sure that those assigned to the VOC have a specific job to do, and ensure that the location does not become a place to “hang out.”
- Build in redundancy, both in equipment and personnel. On long-term “campaign” events, people can become ill, injured or severely exhausted. Schedule reasonable shifts and rotate junior staff into the VOC to help them gain event experience and build a deeper “bench” for the event.
- Have a back-up VOC operations plan should you lose primary power, telephone or Internet connectivity.
- Consider the temporary changes made to legacy facilities, and plan accordingly for emergency responders. Normal traffic flow and access patterns inside and outside of legacy facilities will be changed by security and functional requirements. Augment existing nomenclature systems with temporary locations for tents and trailers, and sub-divide larger structures into manageable zones for response purposes.
- Because general and command staff usually handle multiple functions at an event, their job descriptions typically require them to be on-site, not seated in the VOC. Extend efforts to routinely communicate with the media, the operations section and risk management (Safety) throughout the event. Daily briefings and debriefings are a must.
- Begin the planning process early. As you get closer to your operational period, staff gets busier and feels more pressure, and their ability to digest new information and adapt to changes decreases.
Remember, every decision, every revision has a ripple effect on an event. Last-minute, uncoordinated changes typically lead to miscommunication and errors, which compromises not only operational effectiveness, but individual and mass safety as well.
