Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Awareness

A 1-day course for law enforcement, fire services, emergency medical services, emergency management agencies and HazMat teams.It is designed to increase IED awareness in the first responder community. It is a comprehensive overview of history, motives, anatomy, responses to tactics and targeting of first responders

  • Introduction to IEDs – Canadian incidents and statistics, motives for bombing, terrorism in perspective
  • IED internal components – main charge explosives (commercial and homemade (HME)), initiators, power supplies, switches, fragmentation
  • IED external appearance – containers and vehicles; mail bomb
  • IID improvised incendiary device – components and effects
  • Suspicious activity – recognizing and reporting, hotels to storage facilities, preoperations surveillance, people and vehicles
  • Emerging tactics – dirty bomb, ember bomb/fire bomb, diversion as a terrorist tactic, potential terrorist attack methods
  • Decisions – shelter in place, evacuation (no evacuation, partial or full), suggested separation/evacuation distances
  • Related issues – use of 2-way radios, exploding targets, pressure cooker bomb, dry ice bomb, suicide bomber awareness, cloned vehicles, toxic industrial chemicals, hydrogen sulphide suicide, dual use chemicals/drug lab or explosives manufacture, propane tank effects, trash bag (balloon) bombs
  • Medical – blast injuries (primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary)
  • Targeting of first response personnel – secondary device, active shooter, potential use of hand grenades against law enforcement, protecting emergency responders, selfprotection

Course presented by: Explosives Management Group