InfoGram

January 25, 2001

NOTE: This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the emergency services sector with news and information concerning the protection of their critical information systems. For further information please contact the U.S. Fire Administration's Critical Infrastructure Protection Information Center at (301) 447-1325 or email at usfacipc@fema.gov.

Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP): "911 Outage Procedures"

The ability of fire, rescue, EMS, and police personnel to respond in a timely and efficient manner is key to the Nation's Critical Infrastructure. These essential services depend on local 911 systems to provide them with the information they need to respond to calls for emergency incidents. When 911 systems are disabled or intentionally shut down, a plan must be in place ahead of time to deal with these possible disruptions.

Jenel Izaguirre of the Los Angeles County Fire Department has submitted a copy of their procedures to deal with 911 outages and is detailed below:

The County of Los Angeles Fire Department's Command and Control facility receives 911 emergency calls routed from local jurisdictional law enforcement agency public safety answering points (PSAP). In the event of interruption of the 911 service to a local PSAP, the local agencies have designed backup systems that will relay 911 service calls from one PSAP to other agencies PSAP. If a catastrophic disruption of the 911 system to all local PSAP's occurs, notification will be made from the local PSAP to the Fire Command and Control Facility. Department procedures to operate during this event are as follows:

DISASTER COMMUNICATION PLAN

• Command and Control will activate a MDT "ALLCALL" notification throughout the Department or to the appropriate jurisdictional company, battalion and division.
• Based upon the geographical impact, a specific dispatch mode 1-4 will be instituted:
  1. Mode 1: Normal dispatching procedures
  2. Mode 2: Central Command - reduce response levels.
  3. Mode 3: District Command - district response prioritization and frequency modification.
  4. Mode 4: Field Command - each battalion must function on its own.
     1. Battalion commanders will staff local PSAP with fire department personnel.
     2. Battalion commander shall perform all the functions normally associated with Command and Control.
     3. Battalion commanders shall dispatch resources within their battalions.
  5. Staffing of public safety answering points - PSAP
     1. Battalion commander establishes communication link between the PSAP location and the battalion command post when Command and Control experiences a telephone or radio system failure.
     2. Establish a liaison between Sheriff and Fire Department battalion commander and/or Command and Control.
• Jurisdictional surveys conducted by jurisdictional companies.

DEPARTMENT EMERGENCY PLAN

If a catastrophic event prohibits the use of normal radio procedures, the following resources will be utilized: public telephones, county phone, cellular mobile phones, data communications network (electronic mail), operational area satellite information systems (OASIS), or the Sheriff's Department disaster communications service (DCS) is available for communications with amateur radio operators.

PUBLIC NOTIFICATIONS

The Community Relations Unit (CRU) will be briefed by the Fire Command and Control Facility on the impacted areas.

CRU is responsible for notification to the local media agencies, who in turn will make public service announcements. The news release should include:

1. Geographical areas impacted.
2. Possible number of residents affected.
3. Directions to the public to contact their local sheriff and/or fire departments for assistance, via seven-digit numbers found in the telephone directory.

If your jurisdiction has a plan in place for a 911 outage or if you have experienced a 911 outage, please forward this information to the U. S. Fire Administration' CIP Office listed below.