After Action Process & Reports
In 2014, following response to the Oso, Washington Mudslide, the National Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Response System (the System) established an After Action Ad Hoc Group. One of the Ad Hoc Group’s task was to develop a formal After-Action Report (AAR) process for the System to more effectively capture lessons learned during responses. As a result, the Ad Hoc Group developed and recommended adoption and implementation of the FEMA US&R After Action and Improvement Planning Guidance. The process established by the Ad Hoc Group has been utilized for System AARs for incidents that have occurred since 2014, however the process has never been formalized.
Following discussion and consensus of the Advisory Group during the December 2018 meetings, the FEMA US&R After Action and Improvement Planning Guidance process established by the 2014 After Action Ad Hoc Group will become the official process for System AARs. All documents developed by the Ad Hoc Group will be posted to the responsesystem.org website, to ensure that System task forces have access to these materials. The process developed by the Ad Hoc Group will be utilized for all future System AARs and System task forces may use the resources for their task force AARs if desired. As the materials are already four years old, when it is established the 2018 AAR Ad Hoc Group will have the additional task to review and revise them as required.
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The purpose of an After Action Report (AAR) is to analyze the management or response to an incident, exercise or event by identifying strengths to be maintained and built upon, as well as identifying potential areas of improvement.
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The information contained in these documents is confidential, privileged and only for the information of the intended recipient and may not be used, published or redistributed without the prior written consent of the FEMA US&R Branch or the Task Force.