Transcript Introduction to Emergency Communications

Introduction to Emergency
Communications
Topics for CERT Members
Mike Duff
Telecom Administrator
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
716-845-4194
[email protected]
N2LFA
The Response Triangle
• A response to an incident requires three
elements:
– Management (ICS, NIMS, NRF)
– Communications (Voice, Data, Image)
– Resources (Personnel, Materiel)
• Like the Fire Triangle (fuel, heat and oxygen),
remove any one of these and the response fails.
• Situational awareness must be communicated to
management and command and control must be
communicated to resources.
Incident Action Plans
• An Incident Action Plan has these
elements:
– What do we want to do? (MBOs)
– Who is responsible for doing it? (Resources)
– How do we communicate with each other?
(Communication Plan)
– What is the procedure if someone is injured?
(Safety Plan)
How Important is Communication?
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Healthcare
Military
Search and Rescue
Emergency Response (9/11)
Personal Experience
Military Doctrine
• An old adage states that without
communications a commander commands
nothing. -- Marine Corps Electronic
Warfare--A Combat Power Multiplier
AUTHOR Major Stephen C. Robb, USMC
• Command and Control functions are
useless without communications.
Mount Hood
• On December 7th, 2006 three climbers ascended
Mt. Hood. On December 20th the search ended
with one body recovered and two others still
missing. (Holding Fast: The Untold Story of the
Mount Hood Tragedy)
• On February 20th, 2007 three climbers fell while
ascending the same mountain. 20 hours later
they were rescued.
• The second group carried a Mountain Locator
Unit radio beacon.
September 11th
• The Association of Public Safety
Communications Officers began the P25 Radio
Project in 1989 after a disastrous fire claimed
the lives of first responders whose radios were
incompatible.
• On September 11th, 343 Firefighters and
Paramedics died in the collapse of the twin
towers not because their radios were
incompatible but because they were trying to
share 6 radio channels.
• Interoperability is useless without capacity.
Communications failed when needed most.
Personal Experience
• On Memorial Day, 2005, my son and I were
trapped in the Genesee River gorge after a
kayaking mishap. We faced a night of 50
degree temperatures in soaking wet clothing and
possible hypothermia.
• We were rescued because we able to
communicate with people on the gorge rim 600
feet up and ½ mile away via rescue whistles, an
LED keychain light and a snack wrapper.
Criticality of Communications
• The ability to receive status information needed
to understand and control events and to exert
command and control over resources depends
upon reliable and effective communications.
• Trained responders know how to create the
structure to respond.
• Resources are seldom the problem.
• Utilization of resources requires 2-way
communications.
• Life or Death may hinge on the ability to
communicate with needed resources.
Being Prepared to Communicate
• Two types of Emergency Communications
– “I’m here, rescue me!“
– “Here is the information needed for the response.”
• Sullenberger (15:29:28): We're gonna be in the
Hudson.
I’m here, rescue me!
• “...chance favors only the prepared
mind.” -- Louis Pasteur
• Chance favors only the prepared and
equipped.™* Equipped to Survive
Website
http://www.equipped.org/signal.htm
Rescue Me! Choices
• Autonomous, long term devices: ELTs (Electronic
Locating Transmitters), EPIRBs (Electronic Position
Indicating Radio Beacons), strobe lights, radar reflectors
and fixed ground signals.
• Manually operated, long term devices: signal mirrors,
flashlights, lasers, whistles, flags and signal fires.
• Short duration devices: handheld flares, aerial flares and
smoke signals. Sea marker dye and light sticks don't fit
neatly into any of these groups, but are important
signaling options, depending upon circumstances.
• Radio devices: Satellite phones, Handheld Comm
Radios, cell phones
Information Communications
• If you want to communicate more than “I’m here,
rescue me!” then you need a communication
system that can carry more information.
• Radio is a key communications system for use in
incident response and is invaluable in enabling
the transmission of situational information up the
chain of command and relaying command and
control information down the chain of command.
Types of Radio Services
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Citizens Band
Land Mobile Radio Service
Family Radio Service
General Mobile Radio Service
Multi-Use Radio Service
Medical Emergency Radio Service
Amateur Radio Service
Amateur Radio Service
• The amateur and amateur-satellite
services are for qualified persons of
any age who are interested in radio
technique solely with a personal aim
and without pecuniary interest. These
services present an opportunity for
self-training, intercommunication, and
technical investigations.
• FCC website
Amateur Radio and Katrina
The Call for Preparation
Incident communications are facilitated through:
• The development and use of a common
communications plan.
• The interoperability of communications
equipment, procedures and systems.
• Before an incident, it is critical to develop an
integrated voice and data communications
system (equipment, systems and protocols)
ICS-100 Course Material
Guiding Principles
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Effective – Rapid, Accurate Communications
Simple – Easy to Operate
Portable – Geographic Independence
Survivable – Distributed, Redundant, Hardened
Components
• Infrastructure Independence – no Commercially
Dependent Components. Amateur radio is
Infrastructure Independent and provides
Independent Infrastructure.
• Self-Sufficient – Documented, User Maintainable
What is a Communications
Emergency?
• A communications emergency exists when
damage to a critical communication
system puts the public at risk.
• Caused by failure of key components or
system overload.
Definition & Goal of
Emergency Communications
• Emergency Communications is the
transmission and delivery of messages in
support of activities to prevent or minimize
loss of life or damage to property and/or
the environment caused by human actions
or natural phenomena.
• The goal of Emergency Communications
is to deliver messages quickly and
accurately.
EmComm Tasks
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All Messaging in Support of a Response
Collecting/Transmitting Damage Reports
Passing Health/Welfare Information
Shadowing an Official
Liaison Communications
Fixed Location Communications
Mobile Communications
Phases Of EmComm
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Rapid Response Team
Resource/Logistics Net
Operations and Other Nets
Shut Down
After Action Review
Planning The EmComm Network
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Message Characteristics
Types of Messages
Message Volume by Type
Channel Characteristics
Number and Types of Channels
Number and Type of Devices
Buffers (Store & Forward Systems)
Message Characteristics
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Originating Media – Voice, Written Material, Electronic
Source & Destination Locations – 1:1, 1:N, N:M
Fixed vs. Mobile
Precision – Minimal vs. Character Level
Length – Short vs. Long
Content – Sensitive, Secret, HWI, PHI
Complexity – Simple vs. Complex
Time Value – Critical vs. Non-critical
Priority – Emergency, Priority, Routine, Test
Need for Secure Communications Channel
Need for Break In Capability
Types of Messages
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Maps / Diagrams / Photos
Long Lists of Names / Supplies
Short Status Reports
Detailed Instructions / Directions
Tactical / Operational Messages
Served Agency Manpower Requests
Welfare Inquiries
Medical Information
Causality List
Materiel Request
Shelter Resident Lists
Message Volume by Type
• How many messages of each type will
enter the network?
• Where will the messages originate?
• Where will the messages terminate?
Channel Characteristics
Channel
Length
Content
Complexity
Time Value
Priority
Recording
Land Line
Short / Med.
Sensitive
Low
Critical
Routine
CDR / Voice
Cellular / WiFi
Voice
Short / Med.
Sensitive
Low
Critical
Routine
CDR
PTT Cellular
Short / Med.
Sensitive
Low
Critical
Emergency
CDR
Fax
Long
Secret / Graphics
High
Critical
Routine
Print Out
Two Way Radio
Short / Med.
Non-Sensitive
Low
Critical
Emergency
Voice
Trunked Radio
Short
Non-Sensitive
Low
Critical
Emergency
Voice
Packet Radio
Long
Non-Sensitive
High
Critical
Emergency
Text
Store & Forward
Voice / BBS
Short / Med.
Secret
Low
Non Critical
Routine
Voice
Television
Long
Non-Sensitive
Low
Critical
Emergency
Video
Satellite
Short / Med.
Non-Sensitive
Low
Critical
Routine
CDR
Internet Web
Meeting / IM
Long
Non-Sensitive
High
Critical
Routine
Text
WiFi / EV-DO
Data
Long
Non-Sensitive
High
Critical
Routine
Text
Email
Long
Secret / Graphics
High
Non-Critical
Routine
Text / Graphics
Channel Characteristics
Channel
Infrastructure
Power
Set Up
Break In
Destination
Precision
Land Line
Central Switch
Central
Slow
No
1:1
Low
Cellular / WiFi
Voice
RF / w Central
Switch
Battery
Slower
No
1:1
Low
PTT Cellular
RF / w Central
Switch
Battery
None
Yes
1:M
Low
Fax
Central Switch
120 VAC
Slowest
No
1:1
High
Two Way Radio
RF
Battery
None
Yes
1:N
Low
Trunked Radio
RF w / Central
Switch
Battery
None
Yes
1:N
Low
Packet Radio
RF
Battery
None
Yes
1:N
High
Store & Forward
Voice / BBS
Central Switch
120 VAC
Slow
No
1:1
Low
Television
RF
120 VAC
One Time
Yes
1:N
Low
Satellite
RF
Battery
Slowest
No
1:N
Low
Internet Web
Meeting / IM
Central Switch
120 VAC
One Time
Yes
1:N
High
WiFi / EV-DO
Data
RF / w Central
Switch
Battery
One Time
Yes
1:N
High
Email
Central
120 VAC
One Time
No
1:N
High
Number and Type of Channels
• How many channels are needed to
support each message type?
• Where do the channels connect?
– Incident Command Post / EOC
– Staging Area
– Base
– Camp
– Helibase / Helispot
Number and Type of Devices
• What kind of devices are needed to
establish each channel’s infrastructure?
• What type of devices will communicators
need to use these channels?
• How many users/devices can each
channel support effectively?
Buffers (Store & Forward Systems)
• What happens if the sender and receiver are not
available at the same time?
• What happens if the channel is busy?
• Will message buffer devices be needed?
• Where will reference materials be stored?
• Examples of Buffers
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Voice Mailboxes
Electronic Mailboxes
Bulletin Board Systems / Sharepoint Websites
Human Message Handlers (NTS)
Building the EmComm Network
• Infrastructure Build Out
– PDIOO = Plan, Design, Implement, Operate,
Optimize (Iterative)
• Inter-Agency Memoranda of
Understanding
• Organization (Hierarchy, Job Roles)
• Staffing
• Training (Continuous)
EmComm Policies & Procedures
• Training / Certification
• Testing / Drills
• Network Procedures
– Directed Nets
– Communication Standards (Formats, Prosigns, Speak
back, etc.)
– Common Language (No Buzz Words)
– Common Alphabet (ITU Phonetics)
– Network Hierarchy / Meeting Cycles
• Policy regarding sensitive information (e.g. PHI)