First CMAS Demonstration

If you haven't heard about it yet, you're going to hear about CMAS. It's the Commercial Mobile Alert System through which cell carriers will "broadcast" emergency alerts to mobile devices within a geographic area. CMAS is slated to be available for use by public safety officials in 2012...at no charge.

The first CMAS pilot is being conducted in San Diego County. It was demonstrated this past week by the San Diego Office of Emergency Services. The County is working with Sprint and the California Emergency Management Agency on the pilot. They've distributed about 100 mobile devices throughout the county that have been adapted to receive CMAS messages.

Per federal law, CMAS can be used for only three things: (1) Presidential alerts, (2) imminent threats, and (3) Amber Alerts. The carriers are to start shipping CMAS-ready mobile devices in 2012.

CMAS is one of the initiatives that fall under FEMA's IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System) program. Another that's received a good bit of attention lately is digitization of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). We've written a good bit on both programs. See an earlier post on CMAS here and ones on EAS here and here. And, we expect to write still more as these are important initiatives that will eventually touch public safety officials throughout the country. Stay tuned!

All the best,

Rick

Notifications Gone Bad

A couple of recent mistakes with telephone notification systems has the general public agitated, in one case the public scattered across the country.

In one instance, a notification for Creighton University in Omaha about a possible shooting woke up people scattered around the country, some of whom probably had never heard of Creighton. A university spokeswoman said the glitch was related to the vendor Creighton uses, but didn't name the vendor.

In another recent situation Decatur, Illinois used their telephone notification system on two occasions within hours of one another to issue alerts about, first, an Alzheimer's patient, then a missing 16-year-old with medical problems. The notifications covered a five-mile radius, including area outside the city. Some residents complained that they should have not received the message. A city spokesman acknowledged that the notifications perhaps could have been confined to a more restricted area. However, he urged residents not to use the incident as a reason to ask to be removed from the notification lists.

Hard to tell what should have been done differently in the first situation. I'm sure Creighton and the vendor are working to make sure it doesn't happen again. In the second one, perhaps the city did notify an area too wide. We shouldn't second-guess. But, we do like the fact that the city spokesman was quick to say, hey, we may have over-reached...but, don't ask to be taken off the call list.

This is not a perfect science. Mishaps will occur. Better they occur by notifying too many people than not enough people. Let's learn from the mistakes, and move on.

All the best,

Rick

Emergency Notification and the Deaf Community

An ongoing concern among emergency managers across the country is how to adequately alert and notify citizens with disabilities. The topic is complicated (too complex for a simple blog post). However, I do want to pass along some insight gained recently in discussions with IPAWS staff and senior leaders of the Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Communications Policy (experts on communications technologies for people with disabilities). This particular insight relates to individuals who are deaf from birth and how their communication requirements may differ.

I have to admit a certain degree of confusion and lack of understanding on this issue. Over the years, we have witnessed members of this community express a desire to have alerts pushed to recipients in video format that would feature an interpreter creating a sign-language version of the message.

In my ignorance, I wondered why text-based methods simply did not suffice (SMS, email, TDD/TTY)--particularly since pushing video to large groups of people has network implications (especially during a crisis) and a practical challenge exists in having the equipment and resources to capture "broadcast quality" video at the local emergency management level.

I've since learned that citizens who are deaf from birth process information differently from others who do not have hearing deficiencies (different even from those who have developed deficiencies over time or as a result of an injury). Sign language itself is more "conceptual" in nature--not a literal translations of all words. And, conceptual interaction typically forms the basis of communication for individuals who did not initially learn to process information through hearing. As such, communications in text form may not carry the same meaning as communications in the conceptual signing form.

Given this, it would certainly be prudent for emergency managers to investigate ways of providing alert messages in sign language forms. How can this be achieved practically? There are a couple of resources worth looking into.

First is a resource named DeafLink. This organization offers sign language interpretation to anyone interested in reaching the deaf community, including government agencies. They provide support for emergency management and first responder agencies through their Accessible Hazard Alert System (AHAS). According to its website: "In minutes after receiving authorized emergency information, Deaf Link produces an 'air ready' alert for broadcast by cable or television stations in sign language, voice and text."

A second interesting resource is Signtel. Signtel is offering a beta application that claims to be able to translate text into sign language automatically in real time. According to its website: "Users can create messages by typing text or using speech recognition. The system translates the message into Sign Language video, which can then be transmitted along with the text and voice message..."

While we do not have first-hand experience with either of these services, they certainly seem worthy of exploration. Whatever the approach, we believe emergency managers should carefully consider ways to enhance their notification programs to ensure alerts and warnings are equally accessible to everyone in the community.

Thanks to Dr. Helena Mitchell, Salimah LaForce, and Frank Lucia of Georgia Tech's Center for Advanced Communication Policy, and to Al Kenyon of FEMA IPAWS for their input.

Best regards,

Lorin

City of New York Begins Silver Alerts

Today, City of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed legislation establishing a Silver Alert notification system. According to a press release by the mayor's office, more than 250,000 people within the city suffer from from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia that contribute to people wandering away from caregivers. As such, this vulnerable population is at risk of injury or death.

With the signing of this legislation, the Police Department will be charged to develop and implement a means for sharing information about missing seniors who may be in imminent danger. Shared information will include a person's name, age, brief description, and the area where they were last seen or the description of the car they may have been driving. Public notifications will be sent through various outlets to include NotifyNYC (the city's automated notification system), television and radio, as well as hospitals, senior centers and other institutions.

We see this as a growing trend across the country and applaud New York's efforts to use emergency notification technology as a valuable life-saving tool.

Best regards,

Lorin

Interesting New Twist on Alerting Program

The State of New Jersey has announced that it is "re-introducing" its public alert and warning system. "New Jersey Alert" does the typical things of services of this type: allows residents to sign up to get text message and telephone call alerts.

But, here's something rather cool we've not seen before. As residents sign up for New Jersey Alert, they can also sign up to provide professional assistance to responders. New Jersey calls it The Human Emergency Grid™.

The Grid's creator is a volunteer organization called United Alert, which used the following words to explain: "....a collaborative effort in which the general public can volunteer their professional expertise to assist responders, if needed, in the event of an emergency. The service can also be used as a social networking tool. For example many groups have already been created to promote a collaborative environment between the government, private sectors and general public."

Now, that's the type of creativity we like. It consolidates the alert and warning program with another program. What would be some other possible links to alert and warning we've not seen?

All the best,

Rick

FEMA Approves CAP 1.2

FEMA has announced that it has approved the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) version 1.2. This means that industry now officially knows how to properly format CAP messages to conform to a standard that's taking hold. And, it means that emergency managers now know what standard to ask their vendors to meet so that emegency alerting messages are spoken in the same language to facilitate more diverse modes of communication.

The industry sector most focused on the CAP 1.2 standard at the moment are the vendors who make equipment that support the Emergency Alert System (EAS). FEMA, the FCC, and broadcasters are modernizing and enhancing EAS. CAP 1.2 is an integral part. With the FEMA announcement made, the FCC now starts a 180-day clock ticking for requiring broadcasters to have CAP 1.2 equipment in place. Some broadcasters and equipment makers say the CAP standard is not enough, that they need still more information before they can put new EAS equipment to work. Lisa Fowlkes of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau today (Thursday) told radio broadcasters at the Radio Show conference that their concerns are being heard and reviewed by the FCC.

Implementation details aside, emergency managers and broadcasters should be communicating about how new EAS works and what new opportunities it presents. We know of at least at least two capital cities who are using EAS modernization as an opportunity to put new equipment in place so the local EMA will have ability to activate EAS without going through the National Weather Service or the state. Perhaps others who don't have this capability should be discussing the same. And, certainly, as we've posted before, this would be a good time for emergency management officials to sit down with their local broadcasters to talk about how they can work together toward a better informed public.

All the best,


Rick

EMA Directors and Broadcasters, Unite!

We had an opportunity last week to attend a meeting between a county emergency management agency and local broadcasters in a mid-sized community in the mid-west. Over twenty members of the local Society of Broadcast Engineers (SBE) were there to talk about how they could work better with local emergency management. OK, let's face it. Broadcast engineers are not necessarily an exciting lot. But, in this meeting, they were getting excited.

There were a couple of things getting them excited. First, they were trying to understand new requirements surrounding the Emergency Alert System (EAS). EAS is being digitized, so the broadcasters must buy new equipment that will receive messages based on the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP). Before too long, FEMA will announce that it has approved the CAP 1.2 standard. Broadcasters will then have 180 days to put new equipment in place. When asked how they feel about the requirement, they slapped me around a bit and said, in effect, "it doesn't matter how we feel, we're going to do it because it's a requirement".

The second thing getting them excited, and this is really the point of the post, was the fact that the county had taken the initiative to get their opinion about the county's plans to enhance its notification program - sirens, telephone notification, etc included. This excitement was positive. They clearly appreciated the county asking for input. And, the main theme of their input was, make sure other notification technologies used by the county also follow CAP standards. They liked the idea of the same message, in the same format, being used to activate EAS and other notification tools. (Now, this is not to suggest that EAS is activated everytime the county uses their other notification tools.)

Certainly, it's not uncommon for local public safety and broadcasters to work together. But, this would be a good opportunity for emergency management and other public safety to step up engagement with broadcasters and local cable companies. The CAP requirements have them talking. So, why not seize the opportunity to sit down with them, hear their concerns, and talk about ways to better work together? Local SBE chapters are a good place to start.

All the best,

Rick