Reporting Developments of Interest to Stakeholders in
Disaster Management Interoperability Services

CONTENTS:

  1. Update on DMIS
  2. Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMIS) Outreach
  3. COG Manager's Corner
  3. Of Special Interest - Notes on the SIG
  4. DisasterHelp.gov Enhancements
  5. Upcoming Events
  6. Upcoming EIIP Virtual Forum
  7. About the Disaster Management E-gov Initiative
  8. About the Interoperations Newsletter

HazCollect / DMIS Update

The second phase of the HazCollect Development Test and Evaluation has recently resumed. Earlier testing of HazCollect produced correctly formatted test messages and a “live” message was transmitted end-to-end through NWS operational and test systems. HazCollect needs further testing after message creation and geocoding is fine-tuned by NWS and Battelle, the HazCollect primary contractor. During an Operational Acceptance Test (OAT), delayed from November until January and February 2006, select NWS offices nationwide will work with local emergency managers to send test (and actual, if any) emergency messages using installed test versions of the Disaster Management Interoperability Service (DMIS) Desktop Toolkit.

HazCollect will be available nationally through FEMA’s DMIS in March when FEMA distributes a scheduled update. Emergency Managers and government agencies who wish to use HazCollect to broadcast messages over NWR All Hazards or other NWS dissemination systems must first register as a DMIS user and establish a DMIS Collaborative Operations Group (COG). NWS plans to start HazCollect registration after the OAT starts in January. HazCollect will be a one-stop shop for collection, relay and distribution of non-weather emergency messages (commonly known as Civil Emergency Messages) to the NWS dissemination infrastructure, other national systems such as DMIS, and to the Emergency Alert System. HazCollect will use features of DMIS such as automated user authentication and authorization.

For additional information, see the HazCollect site at http://weather.gov/os/hazcollect . To register for DMIS, go to http://www.dmi-services.org and click on ‘Register’ in the left menu. (Provided by: Herb White, NOAA’s NWS Dissemination Services Manager, Herbert.White@noaa.gov )

To read September 28 transcript on HazCollect/DMIS collaboration, please see http://www.emforum.org/vforum/lc050928.htm .

Disaster Management E-Gov Initiative (DM) Demo at DHS/DOJ Conference

With approximately 1,000 attendees and 100 exhibits, the DHS/DOJ 7th Annual Technologies for Critical Incident Preparedness Conference and Exposition in San Diego, October 31-November 2, was a unique opportunity for first responders, business and industry, academia and elected Federal, State and local stakeholders to network, exchange ideas and address common critical incident technology and preparedness needs and solutions.

The Disaster Management program session was entitled “Information and Intelligence Sharing: Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) Demonstration” and stressed the DM Vision - A nation better prepared for all emergencies. Demonstration highlights included the following:

1. Show real-world implementations of standards in real world events: example, USGS auto-generates CAP Alerts on any seismic activity greater than 5.0.
2. Attendees were invited to register their cell phones and receive both text and voice messages of the CAP Alert.
3. Multiple software and devices (cell phones, pages and sirens) received the CAP alert and the devices were activated by CAP.
4. Sensor networks can generate CAP alerts.

(Provided by: Chip Hines, PMP, Program Manager, Disaster Management eGov Initiative, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Emergency Preparedness and Response/FEMA, Department of Homeland Security)

DMIS Introduces New Chief of Training

As a firefighter of 21 years with the Buffalo (NY) Fire Department, including the last 12 years as an officer, Tom Ferrentino brings a great deal of local level responder experience and understanding to his new position as the Chief of Training for DMIS. While working in Buffalo, Tom was also in charge of the HazMat Team and Heavy Rescue Squad for the last five years. He served three years as a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Trainer at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, AL and was responsible for setting up their Learning Management System. In his spare time, Tom put in 24 years as a computer programmer. A busy, active man, Tom is a valuable addition to the DMIS Responder Liaison Team! Contact Tom at (540)288-5615; email FerrentinoT@battelle.org .

Missouri Conference on Homeland Security

Approximately eighty individuals from state, county, and municipal jurisdictions attended DMIS Workshop sessions at the Missouri Conference on Homeland Security, October 29-30, 2005, in Osage Beach, Missouri. The two-hour workshop sessions provided an overview of the DMIS Interoperability Backbone and Tools, current and emerging standards, a demonstration of DMIS Tools, DMIS Collaborative Operating Group (COG) Administrator responsibilities, and information on registering for a DMIS COG.

The Missouri state Office of Emergency Management uses one major commercial software product to support incident management and the Kansas City metropolitan region uses another. As in other states, many smaller and rural jurisdictions do not have sufficient resources to acquire commercial incident management software. The dual message of DMIS – data sharing among different software products and no-cost basic tools – received a high amount of interest. Current DMIS Tools users from within Missouri attended the workshops and spoke favorably about their experiences to others. Follow-on discussions regarding an on-site DMIS Trainer training event, and exercises involving sharing Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) messages among differing software products are anticipated.

DMIS Supports Allegany County School Disaster Exercise

On October 7, the Responder Liaison Team received a call requesting support for an Allegany County (Maryland) school disaster exercise on Oct. 11. The DMIS team responded by sending Responder Liaison David Gilliam to Cumberland, Maryland to participate in the exercise. The school system had limited experience using DMIS and they needed our support to act as an additional experienced user at a separate location. They also asked that the DMIS team set-up a demonstration at the visitor/press tent. DMIS was one of many other pieces of technology used in this exercise. The main showcase was the high speed wireless wide area network (WAN) that the county has expanded over the years.

DMIS was deployed at two locations – the Emergency Operations Center at the School Board, and the Mobile Incident Command Post (ICP). During the exercise the ICP experienced power interruptions however the laptop that DMIS was installed on re-established a wireless connection on an alternate access point. The ICP DMIS station was able to record the events on the scene while the EOC DMIS workstation recorded the response from the School offices and reports from the hospital.

The exercise was based on the premise that a stolen crop duster was crashed into an elementary school after spraying the children on the athletic field. During the exercise all the uncontaminated children were evacuated to a local High School. The fire department simulated fire suppression at the school while decontaminating a number of the children with a fire hose. The children eagerly participated and allowed themselves to be hosed down in the brisk October mountain air.

This exercise involved City/County Fire, EMS, and Law Enforcement as well as the State Police. Representatives from surrounding communities came to observe the entire exercise. School and County officials see the use of DMIS as a cost-saving alternative to manage their incidents. For information on the Allegany County infrastructure go to http://www.allconet.org/

Other Outreach Activities

• DM continued DMIS-rollout support to federal agencies.
• Staff coordinated with DOJ E-Gov Point of Contact for introductory session for DEA, ATF and FBI on DMIS/CAP.
• DM established DMIS BioWatch COG for purpose of using CAP message exchange across platforms supporting disease surveillance information exchange.
• DM staff made a presentation at the Virginia Interoperability conference in Virginia Beach.
• Staff attended the National Academy of Sciences Workshop on Geospatial Information for Disaster Management.
• DM attended National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) meetings and participated in development of the NIEM governance structure and project charter.
• DM staff met with U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to explore afloat military resources sharing data with civil authorities ashore.
• Staff met with Liz DiGregorio, DHS/ODP/Citizen Corps, to move forward with a pilot project investigating use of Citizen Corps/CERT teams as DMIS specialty teams to augment local emergency management resources.

3. COG Manager's Corner

The DMIS Responder Liaison Team remains busy providing technical/training assistance to numerous Federal Agencies as they work to meet the requirements of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directive regarding use of DMIS and the Common Alerting Protocol standard in their Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs). Concurrently, new DMIS COG registration requests from First Responders and Emergency Managers continue to come in at a rate of three per day. The total number of registered DMIS COGs throughout the 50 states, Canada, Puerto Rico and American Samoa is fast approaching 1,600. Now we must focus on increasing utilization of DMIS by all of these registered users so that groups are proficient when they need to use it for the real thing.

If you have any questions related to DMIS COG development, DMIS Tools use, the status of a DMIS registration request, or information on other registered DMIS COGs in your area, please call or email Rick Hauschildt, DMIS COG Manager, at (540) 288-5671.

NOTE: Newly updated DMIS v2.2 training materials are now available in the Training Section of the DMI-Services Website http://www.dmi-services.org/training_v2.html .

The inaugural virtual meeting of the DMIS Special Interest Group (SIG) was conducted Wednesday, November 9 via MS LiveMeeting and teleconference. Approximately 70 DMIS users participated in a forum about the vision for the new DMIS SIG, an overview of available online tool options to support SIG activities, and a live demonstration of the new functional features in DMIS 2.2 by Tom Ferrentino, DMIS Chief of Training. The PowerPoint file used by Tom during the presentation is available for download from ftp://www.emforum.org/pub/eiip/NewDMISFeatures.ppt .

This DMIS Special Event was the first of planned monthly programs for DMIS users and anyone interested in the functionality of DMIS and related topics. The monthly events will serve as a vehicle to hone DMIS user skills, share ideas about creative uses of DMIS, and relate experiences in daily use, emergencies, disasters, and exercises. The next monthly event will be held on Wednesday, December 7, 12:00 Noon EST. The topic will be “Helpful Hints from the DMIS Help Desk” with Bryan Keenan, DMIS Help Desk Supervisor. Mark your calendar and watch for further information and participant instructions.

In addition, a SIG meeting is scheduled for 12:00 Noon EST on Monday, November 21 for the purpose of providing further information about plans for the SIG and an opportunity for input by DMIS users. Current plans include a Steering Committee to be formed to meet quarterly and guide SIG activities. Maryanne Anthony, an experienced DMIS user who formerly worked for the City of Laurel, Maryland, is serving as Chair of the SIG Steering Committee. For further information contact Maryanne at 410-294-0844 or Maryanne@integritybasedsolutions.com .

5. DisasterHelp.gov Enhancements

The DisasterHelp.Gov portal continues to grow and mature with approximately many new accounts created each month. To register and learn more about this online resource tool, go to https://disasterhelp.gov/portal/jhtml/index.jhtml .

What’s New at DisasterHelp.gov?

The Disaster Management e-Gov Initiative (DM) provided the following updates, support and / or outreach related to the growth and use of DisasterHelp.Gov:

• DMIS Special Interest Group (SIG): Published DMIS Responder Forum page for new DMIS SIG collaboration.
• FEMA Federal Insurance and Mitigation Division (FIMD): Provided collaboration center training and registered new users.
• Social Security Administration (SSA): Assisted SSA IT department with solution for a Collaboration issue.
• Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC): Assisted in bulk-registering of 74 Fire/EMS personnel.
• USFA: Performed bulk registration for new FOUO notification recipients; sent out notice concerning new infograms; assisted users in accessing notifications.
• Updated Welcome Messages and portal content on Hurricanes, Acts of Terror, Earthquakes, and Disease: Influenza.
• Addressed user feedback.
• Created numerous DisasterHelp.gov user accounts; verified new users.

November 30-December 1, 2005: Emergency Preparedness and Response - Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina. Sponsor: “Homeland Defense Journal.” Washington, DC: See http://www.homelanddefensejournal.com/conf_EmergPrepComm.htm .

December 10-14, 2005: American Public Health Association (APHA) 133rd Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit http://www.apha.org/meetings/new_orleans_update.htm .

December 15-16, 2005: 2005 National Summit on Emergency Response and Preparedness for Schools. Arlington, Virginia. Call (703) 894-0481; http://www.performanceweb.org/Centers/Education/Events/S209/S209.htm .

Any Time from Your Desktop: The University of Minnesota Public Health Emergency Training (UM PHET) announces a new series of awareness-level online modules covering various topics related to emergency preparedness, including: Disease Surveillance and Investigation; Contact Investigation; Isolation and Quarantine; Special Populations; Disaster Mental Health; Personal Protective Equipment (Coming soon); and Decontamination (Coming soon). http://www.sph.umn.edu/umncphp/phet.html.

7. Upcoming EIIP Virtual Forum

Welcome to the EIIP!

The EIIP Virtual Forum provides 'live chat' presentations and interactive Q&A with subject matter experts on timely topics on two Wednesdays each month, 12:00 Noon Eastern.

November 16, 12:00 Noon EDT: The EIIP Virtual Forum celebrates GIS Day with a discussion on the "Guidelines for Data Access in Response to Security Concerns" recently adopted by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). Although the guidance is focused on geospatial data, the principles may be applied to a wide variety of data access decision-making. Our speaker will be Michael Domaratz, member of the National Geospatial Programs Office of the U.S. Geological Survey. Mr. Domaratz is former co-chair of the Homeland Security Working Group of the FGDC; he led the work on developing the guidance. Check the EIIP Virtual Forum homepage for information about the November 30 session.

About the EIIP: The EIIP is an educational non-profit association of individuals and organizations seeking to enhance their effectiveness in coping with disasters and emergency situations by exploring the opportunity for sharing information and ideas made possible by electronic technology. The EIIP also shares its vision and educational opportunities through the EIIP Community on the DisasterHelp.gov Web site http://www.disasterhelp.gov .

8. About the Disaster Mangement E-gov Initiative (DisasterHelp.gov and DMIS)

The Disaster Management E-Gov Initiative is part of the President's Management Agenda for making government more focused on people and results. Its goal is to provide an easy-to-use, unified point of access to disaster management knowledge, services and toolsets to achieve an accelerated and improved quality of disaster mitigation and response. There are two major parts of the initiative: Disaster Management Interoperability Services (DMIS) and the DisasterHelp.Gov portal. DMIS is focused on the responder/emergency management profession, while the portal provides information and services to citizens, business, federal, state, and local government and non-profit organizations relating to disaster and emergency response.

9. About the Interoperations Newsletter

The Interoperations Newsletter reports on the developments of interest for the disaster management community. Reader comments, questions, and notifications to cancel this newsletter can be forwarded directly to the Editor, Avagene Moore at (931) 762-4768, or the Responder Liaison, Scott Eyestone, at (540) 288-5622; or provided via the DMI-Services Web site at http://www.cmi-services.org/. Your feedback is welcome and appreciated.