FY2011 Arlington Fire Department Annual Report FY 2011 | Page 15

Page 15

On Friday, the Fire Department was faced with another unique
challenge. At about 1:15 p.m., ice and snow fell from the
domed roof of the stadium onto six workers – a distance of
about 12 stories. The workers suffered various traumatic
injuries, the most severe of which was a head injury. To
prevent further injury, a perimeter around the stadium was
immediately established. Initially, the stadium staff attempted
to melt the snow that remained on the roof by increasing the
temperature inside the building. They also tried to use vibration from the sound system to shake
the snow loose. These efforts were moderately successful at removing snow from the dome, but
not the snow and ice in the flat areas near the roof edge. To
remove this, employees of the stadium roofing contractor
went up on the roof and attempted to remove the ice with
hand tools. This method proved too labor intensive and did
not make a measurable difference. That evening, the Fire
Department
Technical Rescue
Team used hose
lines to try to melt
the snow and ice, which was then followed by firefighters
using shovels to remove snow. These operations
continued until almost 8:00 p.m. on Saturday before the
Super Bowl. Despite these efforts, there was simply too
much snow to remove it all. Multiple stadium entrances
below where ice was most likely to fall were closed on
game day and monitored by Fire Department personnel
to ensure guest safety. Firefighters were also assigned
inside the stadium to manage evacuation routes out of
the stadium in the event of an emergency.

SB XLV - Emergency Operations Center (EOC)
The Arlington Fire Department Office of Emergency
Management‘s Emergency Operations Center was the
central planning, City operational response, and
situational awareness location for Super Bowl XLV. As a
result of severe winter weather, the EOC operation had
dual activation roles for SB XLV. Not only was the EOC
monitoring and responding to conditions at Cowboys
Stadium and the Arlington Public Safety Compound for the Super Bowl, but the EOC was also
planning and responding to City demands for situational awareness and additional resources in
response to the icy conditions throughout the city. The extreme cold caused such a demand for
electricity that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas ordered rolling brownouts. Although the
City of Arlington experienced many brownouts, the emergency power generator at the Ott Cribbs
Public Safety Center ensured the EOC maintained power throughout the dual activations.

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Working Together to Make Arlington Better.