Paramedics Exam Major Incident Response 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The staging area at an MCI is best described as:
- The location where patients are initially triaged upon extrication
- A holding area for resources that are available but not yet assigned (Correct answer)
- The area where treatment teams set up for immediate patients
- The command post location for all ICS sections
Correct answer: A holding area for resources that are available but not yet assigned
The staging area is a designated location where personnel and equipment wait in ready status until assigned by the operations section.
Question 2: When using the NIMS framework, 'unified command' is used when:
- A single agency has jurisdiction over all aspects of the incident
- Multiple agencies or jurisdictions share incident management responsibility (Correct answer)
- The incident spans more than 24 hours and requires overnight operations
- Federal resources are deployed and assume control from local agencies
Correct answer: Multiple agencies or jurisdictions share incident management responsibility
Unified Command allows multiple agencies with overlapping jurisdiction or functional responsibility to coordinate through a shared command structure.
Question 3: During a mass gathering event MCI, the 'patient presentation rate' calculation is used to:
- Determine triage category distribution among all patients
- Estimate medical resource needs based on crowd size and event type (Correct answer)
- Set transport priorities between delayed and immediate patients
- Calculate how many decontamination lines are needed
Correct answer: Estimate medical resource needs based on crowd size and event type
Patient presentation rate (patients per 10,000 attendees per hour) helps event medical planners pre-position the appropriate number of EMS resources.
Question 4: A secondary triage reassessment at an MCI treatment sector is important because:
- It allows reclassification of patients whose condition has changed while waiting (Correct answer)
- It replaces the need for a dedicated triage officer at the scene perimeter
- It allows green-tagged patients to be released without further evaluation
- It reduces the total number of hospital notifications required
Correct answer: It allows reclassification of patients whose condition has changed while waiting
Patient conditions can deteriorate or improve while waiting in treatment sectors, making secondary reassessment critical to ensure correct prioritization.
Question 5: Which of the following actions is MOST appropriate for a paramedic assigned to the triage sector at an MCI?
- Initiate IV access and administer medications to red-tagged patients
- Perform rapid assessments and tag patients, deferring treatment to treatment sector teams (Correct answer)
- Remain at the command post to relay triage data to the Incident Commander
- Transport the most critical patients personally to the nearest trauma center
Correct answer: Perform rapid assessments and tag patients, deferring treatment to treatment sector teams
Triage sector personnel perform rapid assessments and tag patients, handing off all treatment to the treatment sector teams to maintain triage throughput.
Question 6: At an MCI involving a propane tank BLEVE, the PRIMARY hazard driving the initial exclusion zone size is:
- Thermal radiation from the fireball and fragmentation projectiles (Correct answer)
- Carbon monoxide produced by incomplete combustion
- Cryogenic burns from liquefied gas release
- Secondary explosions from other ignition sources in the area
Correct answer: Thermal radiation from the fireball and fragmentation projectiles
A BLEVE produces a massive fireball with significant thermal radiation and propels tank fragments at lethal distances, which drives large initial exclusion zones.
Question 7: In ICS, a 'branch' is established when:
- The incident spans more than one operational period
- The number of divisions or groups exceeds the span of control (Correct answer)
- Two or more agencies are operating under unified command
- Air operations are integrated with ground operations
Correct answer: The number of divisions or groups exceeds the span of control
A branch is added between the Operations Section Chief and Divisions/Groups when the number of groups or divisions exceeds manageable span of control.
Paramedics Exam Major Incident Response 5
The staging area at an MCI is best described as: