Congressional Hearing Hears Warning Concerns

A senior National Weather Service official last week told a Congressional sub-committee that "dramatic improvement" is needed in the way flood information is communicated. Gary Carter, Director of Hydrologic Development of the National Weather Service said, "This really needs to be moved to a whole new level...where when we update a precipitation forecast, every one of our partners and the public see it instantly."

Carter was called before Congress to testify about the recent Nashville-area floods and concerns that flood warnings were issued too late, and not communicated well. Among others testifying to the Appropriations Sub-Committee of Energy and Water Development was the head of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce who said hundreds of millions of dollars of damage could have been avoided, had warnings been issued and communicated sooner.

Nashville area Congressman Jim Cooper was sharply critical of The Army Corps of Engineers. He told the hearing that the Corps after-action report was “putting a cheerful face on some really ugly facts. The Corps admits to no less than 27 categories of problems with their performance during the 2010 flood, so it’s hard to see how the Corps can give itself any kind of passing grade.”

Whit Adamson, President of the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, asked for Congressional support for funding for modernization of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) in Tennessee. He said the upgrades required by the FCC and FEMA are "very expensive". Broadcasters, he said, need help with equipment purchases and funding for EAS training. In his written testimony, he pitched a statewide notification program that would span beyond EAS into telephone, text, and other alerting means. (Full disclosure: Galain is one of the co-authors of the plan.)

As we posted earlier, we saw the floods up close since we live in the Nashville area. We know first-hand how earlier and more effective warnings would have helped. It's pretty clear in this situation that there was a break-down in communications between the feds as the flood waters approached. The after-action report makes that clear. Local officials and FEMA have received high marks for their response. The community rallied. However, there are holes in the state's alert and warning system that need to be plugged.

All the best,

Rick

Emergency Notification AFTER the Emergency

A short, but insightful online comment by a New England resident serves as a good reminder for emergency managers to use ENS both during and after a crisis.

Two weeks ago, a county's water department issued a boil water notice due to elevated levels of e-coli discovered in one of the ground water sources. A boil water notice was issued and a public alert was launched through the county's emergency notification system.

After several days, water samples revealed no presence of e-coli and the boil water notice was rescinded. However, it appears the county did not launch an automated callout to notify citizens the event was over (at least according to one citizen's comments). While the county certainly did nothing wrong in general, the story highlights a best practice in alerting: post-event notifications.

As a critical event emerges and people face imminent danger, launching a notification is an obvious decision. However, as the danger passes and other emergency management duties take over, the urgency of sending alerts after the event may mistakenly diminish.

While there are plenty of other valid channels for issuing post-event information (press releases, media, web page, etc.), we believe the means used for informing the public initially creates expectations for how emergency managers will communicate throughout a given situation. Thus, residents who receive an automated telephone call warning them of potential danger also expect to receive through the system periodic updates and an "all clear" signal when it's over.

ENS is really about communicating and not just warning. Keep this in mind, and your citizens will thank you from beginning to end.

Best regards,

Lorin


Galain Solutions, Inc. provides consulting services for public safety agencies selecting and implementing emergency notification systems. For more information, email: info@galainsolutions.com.

The Death of Telephone Notifications?

Recently, Rick and I had a conversation with an emergency manager who, though not responsible for public alerting, had some strong opinions about it. Primarily, he believed the days of telephone call notifications were gone--that SMS or email was the only real viable means of alerting people in a crisis at this point. His main concerned stemmed from capacity--the ability to make a large number of calls quickly. Further, he had been burned by vendors who overstated their actual call handling capabilities (and the capacity of local phone switches) causing him to conclude this method was fundamentally flawed.

While we understand his overall frustrations and greatly respect his perspective, we do not believe telephone notifications have gone the way of the dinosaur. Here are a few reasons why we believe new methods and technologies are not yet ready to place the telephone call:

Large segments of the population still do not use SMS or email.
The market penetration of SMS and email is high and continues to grow. However, large groups of people still do not rely on these technologies with regularity. Managing a notification program with no method for reaching land line telephones will bypass a significant portion of local citizens.

Geographic targeting is often desired.
Most critical situations have a geographic element to them, and generally, emergency managers need to deliver specific alerts to targeted areas. As email and SMS data are not tied to geography, targeting alerts is impossible (unless a citizen has signed up for the alert and/or downloaded a mobile application). The exception is cellular broadcast technology which will help mitigate this problem but is not currently available on a widespread basis in the U.S. (more on this in the future).

SMS and email have capacity issues as well.
Though vendor and local telephone switch capacities should be a concern, we should not lull ourselves into thinking network limitations do not exist for digital messages (or cellular messages for that matter). Research conducted by Dr. Patrick Traynor at the Georgia Institute of Technology a couple of years ago illustrates this well, as do our own conversations with cellular carriers who have expressed deep concerns about SMS/email capacity limitations.

The human voice element can be important.
In research conducted by behavioral scientists, voice alerts have been shown to produce greater compliance than textual alerts alone (actually the greatest compliance comes from presenting both textual and voice alerts). This potentially illustrates the benefit of receiving information in an audible form from a human voice (or at least one that sounds human in the case of text-to-speech).

In all, we believe there is no one right answer for alerting the public. A successful notification program must encompass a variety of methods and devices to ensure alerts get through. Further, the impact of any method on the local communications infrastructure should be considered before a widespread notification is issued.

What do you think? Can we forget about telephone notifications and move to other technologies altogether? We'd love to hear from you. Oh, and you can use the telephone to call us if you'd like. We'll still answer it.

Best regards,

Lorin

Community Fuming Over Late-Night Missing Child Notification

A 14-year autistic boy was missing in Middletown, Connecticut a few days ago. At about 11:30 p.m. that night, police used its automated calling system to call the town's residents to seek info about the boy's whereabouts. The next day, Acting Deputy Police Chief Gregory Sneed said he got about 40 calls with people complaining about being awoken late at night. Of course, Chief Sneed is standing behind his decision to make the calls.

It's certainly not the first time people have complained about receiving such calls. But, here's what's interesting to me. When the article about the complaining was published in The Middletown Press newspaper, the paper's on-line comment forum lit up like a light. When I last checked it, there were well more than 40 people blasting the complainers!

Now, I wouldn't say this is a scientific study...but, I have a high level of confidence in stating that if the people of Middletown were polled, the vote would be overwhelmingly in favor of the calls being made.

By the way, the boy was found safely shortly after the calls went out.

Way to go Chief Sneed!

All the best,

Rick

Flood Warning Hearing This Week

As an aftermath of the nasty floods in Nashville, authorities are asking questions about how well warning systems work. Some residents and businesses are saying, had they known earlier how severe the situation was going to be, they could have done more to contain the damage.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is among those asking questions. He has announced hearings for July 22 in DC before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Among the things Senator Alexander says he wants to find out is whether new technology is required or could existing technology be used better.

In addition to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the National Weather Service, and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters (TAB)will be represented. The TAB will likely talk about the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and how it could be improved. EAS is slated for digitization in Tennessee and around the country, which means broadcasters and alert activators will need new equipment. The State of New Jersey recently announced it would help broadcasters there buy the equipment. Generally speaking, broadcasters have been asking for help...at least more time. (See our blog on the topic.)

Senator Alexander is comparing flood warnings to tornado warnings. He says the alliance between broadcasters and the National Weather Service is designed to provide warnings of tornadoes within fifteen minutes of arriving. He says, "I suspect we can do a lot better in transmitting reliable, speeding information about floods." He says flooding is more of a problem than tornadoes, saying "three out of four federally-declared disasters during the last five years have involved flooding."

Senator Alexander intends to stream the 9: 30 am July 22nd hearing on his web site.

All the best,

Rick

Nixle's "Elevator Pitch"

We wrote not long ago a post about Nixle, the notification tool that public safety agencies use at no charge to push out text notifications. In our post, we pondered how they make money.

Well, flipping through Inc. magazine this month, we find an article that sheds some light. Nixle is not making money. In fact, the article says Nixle generated no revenue last year, and is trying to raise 7.5-million-dollars from investors. In the "elevator pitch" in Inc., Nixle says that, along with offering the free service to law enforcement and other public safety, it intends to use its "secure text messaging platform" to charge businesses a fee to send messages to their customers.

Several investment experts weighed in. Mostly they said Nixle needs to show how they're going to get lots of small businesses to pay for the service in large enough mass to make money.

Meantime, the Nixle public safety customer base grows. According to Inc., there are now nearly 4,000 agencies using Nixle including Los Angeles and Chicago police departments.

Whether Nixle can make money and survive remains to be seen, but having 4,000 agencies using Nixle is no small feat. It's difficult to get agencies to adopt a program, even when it's free.

All the best,

Rick

Is IPAWS an International Program

Is IPAWS an international program? Well, Grandpa Ham thinks so. Grandpa Ham is Gary Ham, although he seems to like to call himself Grandpa. (I guess I'll feel the same when my kids start re-producing. Hint. Hint.). Gary has been a vocal voice for Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), the open standard for notifications to be used for, among other things, the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). IPAWS is a federal program in the United States. Gary, though, thinks the program can be used internationally, as he told a multi-national conference in Canada recently.

In his presentation to the World Conference on Disaster Management in Toronto, Gary said that testing and planning has been done with IPAWS concepts involving both Canadian and U.S. organizations. Makes sense. Because of the nature of the program, there's no need for IPAWS to be a U.S. only program.

Grandpa Ham says the key is there's an "open playing field" for developers of commercial software who have alerting authority customers to build applications to fit into the IPAWS framework. He said IPAWS provides authentication and other facets, but doesn't try to control the user interface. He said as long as standards are met, any type of software might be connected to IPAWS.

You can download Gary's presentation to the conference at his web site at http://grandpaham.com/



All the best,

Rick

New Jersey State Police Will Procure New Statewide EAS

According to the New Jersey Broadcasters Association (NJBA), the New Jersey State Police has agreed to proceed with the procurement of technology for replacing the aging emergency alert system across the state. Old analog hardware will be replaced with new, redundant digital equipment.

As discussed in our previous post, this move comes ahead of an upcoming nationwide push by the FCC and FEMA to replace antiquated EAS hardware currently managed by radio and television broadcast stations with fully digital equipment.

EAS is first and foremost a method for issuing Presidential alerts in the event of a national emergency. However, these systems can also be accessed by Governors or authorized local public safety agencies in the event of eminent threats or AMBER alerts.

Though the mandate for making the switch has yet to be issued, broadcasters across the country have expressed concern with the cost implications and proposed timetables (the broadcasters will be required to bear the cost as a requirement for maintaining an FCC license unless other funding sources arise). It appears as if New Jersey has taken the lead in figuring out how to get funding to support the stations' efforts.

NJBA President Paul Rotella said, “We are particularly gratified by the very earnest work of our dedicated law enforcement community, including our State Police, Office of Emergency Management and the Governor’s office and legislature in recognizing this urgent public safety need in our state”.

All the best,

Lorin

Another State Moves Closer to Statewide Notifications

The Governor of New Hampshire has signed a law that will create a statewide notification program. The Governor's press release predicts the system will be functioning by the end of the year.

We applaud the effort, but as previously posted, we're wondering if the program is broad enough. It only covers telephone notification. We think reaching people by telephone is a good way to notify, but only one of the good ways to notify. Multiple modes work best. With only $600,000 authorized for the statewide program, perhaps telephone is all they can afford.

A couple of other things strike us:

What's the community outreach program going to look like? It becomes more clear every day that a strong outreach program is esstential for a successful alerting and warning program, particularly since success nowadays depends upon citizens indicating which communication mode they want to use.

And, we wonder if New Hampshire has plans to develop the system so that it ties into the national notification framework FEMA is developing (IPAWS: Integrated Public Alert and Warning System).

Don't get us wrong. We like what New Hampshire is doing. In fact, we'd like to see more names among the small number of states who've either implemented or actively working toward statewide notification initiatives. We just hope they'll work hard to address the issues that have evolved since the state first start working on this initiative several years ago.

All the best,


Rick

Radio and Notifications

As people argue over the best means for receiving notifications, radio is picking up a head of steam in a number of formats. We're not talking about radio formats in the sense of Country, Pop, News/Talk, or Acid Rock/Gospel. We're talking about different means of using radio signals for issuing alerts.

Broadcast radio, the kind with the cool different formats, will soon undergo a change in the emergency notifications field when the Emergency Alert System (EAS) is modernized. Radio stations will install new digital receivers that are compliant with the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). This should make broadcast radio more interactive with other types of notification modes.

Meantime, there's weather radio - devices that broadcast weather info from the National Weather Service. Weather radio got a nice plug recently in an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. Local emergency management director Bill Turner of Campbell County was quoted as saying, "A tone-alert weather radio is one of the fastest and reliable means of obtaining weather information." He was responding to a bit of a controversy in the area about use of sirens - some people complaining they can't hear them when they're in their homes. Turner says sirens are intended to alert people who are outside; the fact that sometimes people in their homes can hear them is a bonus.

There's a third type of radio picking up speed. These are systems that use radio frequencies to delivery emergency notifications to special receivers. As of July 4th, residents within the Montecito Fire District in Santa Barbara County (CA) can purchase $90 radio devices to receive a variety of types of emergency notifications, mostly fires. The District is reacting to the Montecito Tea Fire wildfires which destroyed 210 homes in 2008. The District looked at several means of notifications like sirens and telephone, and decided the special radio receivers were the best way to go.

All the best,


Rick

Texas Builds Database for Emergency Notifications for Deaf and Blind

The State of Texas is encouraging deaf, hard-of-hearing, and sight impaired to sign up to receive emergency alerts. The notifications can use a number of languages, including American Sign Language and Braille. Devices that can be tapped include email, text-enabled cell phones, and devices that have been Braille-enabled.

The program is called The Accessible Hazard Alert System, offered by the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS). With hurricane season beginning, DARS is trying to get the word out about the service. People with disabilities can sign up through a service called DeafLink. They can also sign up in advance to receive transportation assistance should a hurricane threaten.

All the best,

Rick

Emergency Notification Program For Pets

Yes, you read that right. There's a new emergency notification service for pets. Well, it's not for notifying pets, but for notifications regarding pets when an emergency occurs.

The company Pets Guardian launched the service. Here's how it works. If, say, emergency medical technicians respond to a call and residents are taken away, the EMTs will have a number to call to activate the notification system. It will then call friends or family pre-designated by the pet owners, instructing them to come get the pets. Signs would be posted around the house, providing the number and instruction to responders.

Or, if a subscriber wants, it can receive a daily check-in from Pets Guardian to confirm that the pet is OK.

The founders say they created the system when one of their buddies didn't respond as requested to a call to take care of a pet. Their backup plan back-fired, they say.

Well, what will they think of next?

All the best,

Rick