The selected incident is the 2008 Louisiana Chemical Spill, which occurred due to two rail cars collision. The cars were carrying hazardous chemical compounds, which were ethylene oxide and hydrochloric acid, and since the combination of these two can be highly dangerous and possibly cause an explosion, an immediate evacuation was needed. The local residents were evacuated, and no serious damage was inflicted by the collision. The situation was stabilized without federal assistance, and the case was closed on May 20, 2008 (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2013).
The area of the chemical spill took place on the railroads of Louisiana, and the impacted population was comprised of 3500 residents of Lafayette (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2013).
The response was immediate and proactive, where state police initiated evacuation through a door-to-door method. The state offered no assisted evacuation, but the local American Red Cross organized a shelter at the local high school. Many businesses, railroads, and roads were closed for further inspection for potential damages, and air traffic above the spill was temporarily disallowed as well. It is important to note that the overall process of evacuation and chemical containment was made on a state level with the use of state instruments. In other words, there were no requests for federal help.
The key lesson learned is manifested in the fact that a state-level response can be quick and immediate, which can result in no to fewer causalities, whereas a request for federal help might have taken longer. Although such accidents are not fully preventable, the response mechanism can be effective enough to minimize damage and casualties.
On the basis of evidence, the recommendation is to enrich incoming raw information and centralize the information flow in order to allow federal aid to come quicker (Van et al., 2016). Since many older adults did not receive evacuation help, federal involvement can be useful for these measures.
References
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2013). Final research report: A transportation guide for all-hazards emergency evacuation. The National Academies Press.
Van de Walle, B., Brugghemans, B., & Comes, T. (2016). Improving situation awareness in crisis response teams: An experimental analysis of enriched information and centralized coordination. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 95, 66–79. Web.