Skip to content

Day 3: Local Risk Response — Task Force Setup

Lesson Overview
Time 50 minutes
Objectives Form an Emergency Response Task Force using the H&L workbook's Silver Ridge city brief; assign public-service roles; select an emergency scenario based on Silver Ridge case files
TEKS d(1)(C), d(4)(F)
Deliverable Team role assignments (4-5 roles per team) + selected emergency scenario + initial individual notes on how the role would respond
Materials Chromebooks, H&L Workbook Ch 13 (pp. 223-225), printed Silver Ridge city brief and case files, role cards (Emergency Management Director, Firefighter, EMT, Police Officer, Public Information Officer), projector

Warm-Up (5 min)

WARM-UP: A wildfire is approaching your town from the west. The mayor calls an emergency meeting. Who needs to be at that meeting? Name 4 people and what they bring to the conversation.

Take 3-4 responses. Bridge: real emergency response is a TEAM sport. No single person handles a disaster alone. Today students form their own task force using the H&L workbook's Silver Ridge city brief.

Activity 1: Read the Silver Ridge City Brief (15 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 13, pp. 223-224, "Local Risk Response" (Career Lab) and Silver Ridge City Infrastructure Guide

Distribute the Silver Ridge city brief (printed from the workbook) and project the city map on the screen. Read the workbook introduction aloud: "Imagine that your town is facing a potential emergency, and you are part of the response team to prepare for it. You and your group will act as the town's Emergency Response Task Force."

Chunk the read in three short passes so students do not drown in the brief. Keep each pass under 4 minutes.

Pass 1 (Population and Zones, 3 min): 72,000 people across 5 zones. North = senior living. South = RV park near Clear River. West = forested hillside + high school. East = hospital + railyard. Center = downtown. Students shade each zone on their map with a single color.

Pass 2 (Key Buildings, 3 min): Silver Ridge Regional Hospital (150 beds, helipad, backup generator), Green Valley High School (generator, kitchens), Maple Elementary (no generator), Convention Center, East Side Rec Center, Fairgrounds. Students circle the hospital and put a star on every building with a generator.

Pass 3 (Constraints scavenger hunt, 4 min): Students find and label the three constraints that will break most plans: (1) only ONE highway in and out, (2) only ONE bridge over Clear River and it floods, (3) the hospital generator already overloaded once during Hurricane Calder. They write these three constraints on the bottom margin of the map.

Facilitation Tip

The constraints are the point of this brief, not the trivia. If a team's plan later ignores all three constraints, hand them back their map and ask which one they forgot.

Activity 2: Form Teams + Choose an Emergency (10 min)

Form teams of 4-5 students. Each team selects ONE emergency scenario to plan for. Choices from the workbook's Case Files:

  • Hurricane (flooding + power outages): based on Hurricane Calder case file from 3 years ago
  • Wildfire: approaching from the West (forested hillside)
  • Major Accident: train derailment on the East-West rail line, possible hazmat
  • Earthquake: uncommon for Texas, but tests the team's flexibility
  • Public Health Emergency: outbreak in a senior living community in the North zone

Teams should pick the scenario they find most interesting AND the one they can defend with the city brief data.

Activity 3: Assign Roles + Brief Each Other (15 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 13, p. 223, Step 1: Assign Public Service Roles

Each team assigns a role to each member from the workbook's role list:

  • Emergency Management Director: coordinates the entire response, talks to the mayor, makes evacuation calls
  • Firefighter / Fire Chief: handles fire suppression, search and rescue, hazmat
  • EMT / Paramedic Team Lead: handles injured people, hospital coordination
  • Police Officer / Sheriff: handles traffic control, evacuation routes, looter prevention
  • Public Information Officer (PIO): communicates with the public, runs the alert system

Hand each student a role card listing their job's typical duties. Students then take 5 minutes to brief their team: "As the _, my top priority in this emergency will be ___."

Facilitation Tip

Watch for teams where one student dominates. Use the role cards to enforce that EACH role has authority over their domain, the Emergency Management Director coordinates, but the EMT lead decides medical priorities.

DOK 3: If the Emergency Management Director on your team were suddenly unable to communicate, which of the remaining four roles would be most critical for your mission to still succeed, and what specifically makes that role indispensable in the first 15 minutes of your emergency?

Activity 4: Begin Individual Response Plans (3 min)

Source: H&L Workbook Ch 13, p. 223, Individual Work: Create a detailed, job-specific response plan

Students start their individual response plan in the workbook space (or on a notes page). They write 2-3 sentences answering: "In the first hour of this emergency, what does my role do? What resources do I need? Who do I coordinate with?"

This is a starting draft. They will continue and finish on Day 4.

Exit Ticket (3 min)

EXIT TICKET (Decision Tree / Branching Prompt) · Printable PDF:

My role today: _____ (a first responder career in Law and Public Service)

My team's emergency: _____

Step 1: What does your role do FIRST in the first 15 minutes of the emergency? _________

Step 2: Pick ONE quality your role needs MOST right now (choose one or add your own):

  • stay calm
  • work fast
  • make hard choices
  • speak clearly
  • notice small things
  • help others

I picked: _____

Why does this quality matter more than the others RIGHT NOW? (One sentence) _________ (d(1)(C), d(4)(F))

Differentiation

  • Support: Pre-assign roles for teams that struggle with negotiation. Provide a "first 15 minutes" sentence stem for the response plan.
  • Extension: Students who finish early add a SECOND emergency scenario and write how their role would handle both, would the priorities change?
  • ELL: Bilingual role cards (Firefighter = Bombero, Police Officer = Oficial de Policía, EMT = Técnico de Emergencias, Director = Director). The Silver Ridge city map is highly visual and accessible across language levels.