FY2011 Arlington Fire Department Annual Report FY 2011 | Page 14

Newsletter Title

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Super Bowl XLV, February 2011
February 6, 2011 was the culmination of three years of public
safety planning. It was a combined effort of all members of the
Fire Department, most City departments, and a host of regional
and national partners. Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano was briefed on public safety
preparations by Chief Crowson during the week of prior to Super
Bowl XLV.

SB XLV - Logistics
Meeting the logistical needs of this event was one of
the most complicated challenges the team faced. One
of the largest tasks was the construction and
maintenance of the public safety compound. This
secure area on stadium property was used as the
public safety operations base and supported close to
1,000 public safety professionals on game day. It was
comprised mainly of trailers and Mobile Medical Unit (MMU) inflatable tents from the City of
Arlington and Navarro and Collin Counties. The tents were each powered by individual
generators and were utilized for personnel support, equipment staging, and as mobile command
posts. A 24-hour crew responsible for EMS and fire rescue response was stationed at the public
safety compound beginning January 26 through Super Bowl Sunday. This was the first Super
Bowl to offer a fully functioning, 24-hour fire station on the stadium footprint.

SB XLV - Operations
In anticipation of the large crowds that were expected to
flock to Arlington during Super Bowl week, the system
was up-staffed by approximately 12 percent and Fire
Department leave was cancelled for ten days. This
allowed the staffing of additional ambulances, demand
engines, dedicated staffing to cover Chemical/ Biological/
Radiological/Nuclear/Explosive responses, and
additional coverage assigned to the Arlington Municipal
Airport. This would have been sufficient, had North
Texas not entered an extremely dynamic weather week.
When the temperatures dropped from 57 degrees on
Monday to 14 degrees on Tuesday, accompanied by a
foot of sleet and ice, many unique challenges arose.
EMS call volume in the City increased by 30 percent on
average and at one point, multiple calls were holding in
911. On the worst day, February 4, which was foggy
with a low temperature of zero degrees, total emergency
calls in the City increased by 208 percent.

Working Together to Make Arlington Better.

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