Minneapolis Bridge Collapse a Cache of Lessons Learned

The Interstate 35W Mississippi River bridge collapse is now a case study for emergency managers to help them prepare for infrastructure emergencies. Have we learned the lessons of the bridge collapse?

In an article on Government Technology’s Emergency Management website, Jim McKay says attendees at the 10th Annual Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference last week were presented with some of the lessons learned by local officials who responded that day.

“Although 13 of the 190 people who were on the bridge perished when it collapsed, no emergency responders were injured in a recovery mission that took place under extreme conditions — a success attributed to foresight by city officials who had planned for an event of that magnitude,” McKay says.

McKay says more than 140 agencies were involved in the rescue and recovery efforts. Mutual aid pacts, new 800 MHz radios and relationships built during five years of exercises allowed for organized communication instead of chaos.

Some of the key lessons learned include:

• The first 30 minutes after a disaster are critical; be careful what you say and do.
• There will be a multitude of agencies calling to offer help, and those calls need to be handled in an organized fashion.
• Mutual aid agreements need to be continually updated.