InfoGram

November 17, 2005

NOTE: This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.

Continued Vigilance Against ESS Thefts

The EMR-ISAC is aware that at least three Emergency Services Sector (ESS) organizations have been victims of thefts of apparatus and equipment in the past two weeks.

One incident resulted in the theft of uniform shirts, jackets, and badges. In another jurisdiction, where local officials have said that thieves "might be deliberately setting fires in order to get the firefighters out of the stations," four stations lost electronic items, cell phones, cash, uniforms, and badges. This created a situation one department spokesperson described as possibly compromising the safety of first responder personnel and citizens.

The other recent incident occurred when an individual climbed through an open window at a fire station, prepared food and a beverage for personal consumption, and removed the keys to a fire truck from a box on a wall. The individual then drove to another fire station, pried open a side door, found the keys to a brush truck, left the stolen fire truck, and proceeded to drive away in the brush truck. Both firehouses also were damaged. The apparatus were later recovered.

The EMR-ISAC reminds ESS leaders, owners, and operators that an effective vulnerability analysis examines each threatened infrastructure (e.g., physical assets) from the "threat point of view," i.e., the analysis seeks to understand the ways by which each threat (e.g., criminal theft) might disrupt or destroy each particular infrastructure, a precursor to the eventual elimination or mitigation of existing weaknesses. Removing vulnerabilities will significantly increase the survivability, continuity of operations, and mission success of ESS organizations.

9-1-1 Call Centers

All forms of communication were tested severely in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, but 9-1-1 call centers in New Orleans faced unexpected challenges. Floodwaters forced 9-1-1 operators to vacate the police headquarters. Calls rerouted to fire departments also rang in flooded, abandoned stations, eventually reaching Baton Rouge.

According to a recent Washington Post article, "the disintegration of New Orleans's 9-1-1 system carries national implications for future disasters," because while some communities have sophisticated, high-tech centers and elaborate contingency plans, most cities have older systems that lack adequate backup measures. New York City lost its main emergency call center on September 11, 2001, but was among the few cities that had a backup system to automatically reroute calls.

In Baton Rouge, a temporary call center was set up by the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) to answer and log calls and, within one to two days, a secure Internet site was established that could be accessed by dispatchers in New Orleans. They took the most urgent calls and relayed them to rescuers in the city. The makeshift call center ultimately took 22,000 calls.

The EMR-ISAC recognizes that the 9-1-1 network is challenged by budgetary restraints and technological variabilities. For instance, a recent routine software upgrade to a jurisdiction's computer-aided dispatch system left dispatchers unable to disconnect completed 9-1-1 calls. All incoming lines quickly filled up, leaving new callers unable to get through. The glitch was righted within two hours, but workers had to use phone records to call back everyone who had phoned 9-1-1.

Accepting the dependency of the ESS on the availability of the communications infrastructure, the EMR-ISAC encourages dedicated planning efforts that consider such possibilities as alternate call center locations, networked cell phone-email-personal accounts, and emergency operations brainstorming with telephone service providers.

Airport Protection Guidelines

Sandia National Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers released a report to help air transportation facility administrators as well as first responders manage the risk of chemical and biological attacks.

Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, "Guidelines to Improve Airport Preparedness Against Chemical and Biological Terrorism" is a 100-page document that includes concrete recommendations on such topics as assessing risks, analyzing vulnerabilities, and applying countermeasures, which are steps in the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Process advocated by the EMR-ISAC.

The document includes reviews of selected past chemical and biological incidents, an overview of chemical and biological agents and the scope of their threat, and a discussion of response preparedness.

The report is being distributed to airport executives and emergency planners. While the full report is considered "For Official Use Only," a publicly available version can be viewed at http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2005/images/unlsand-2005-3237.pdf (PDF, 370 Kb, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Help). Emergency Services Sector (ESS) leaders can access the official report by working in conjunction with their local airport authorities. For additional information about the report, a product of Sandia's five-year Protective and Responsive Options for Airport Counter-Terrorism (PROACT), visit http://www.sandia.gov/news-center/news-releases/2005/def-nonprolif-sec/proact-guidelines.html.

Highway Incidents Update

As in most years, the second leading cause of Emergency Services Sector (ESS) personnel fatalities in 2004 was vehicle crashes, according to analysts at the U.S. Fire Administration's (USFA) National Fire Data Center.

An adjunct to the vehicle crash fatality problem is "struck-by" incidents discussed in the 25 August 2005 InfoGram. In that issue, the EMR-ISAC summarized recommendations by the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen's Association's Emergency Responders Safety Institute, whose website http://www.respondersafety.com is supported by DHS, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Department of Justice. As an update, the EMR-ISAC has been advised that downloadable training materials for highway incident safety, developed under contract to DHS, will be available at the website in early 2006.

Under a USFA/International Fire Service Training Association initiative, an updated version of the "Model Procedures Guide for Highway Incidents" is being developed. Until it is released, the EMR-ISAC encourages sector personnel to view the free, downloadable version of the 2004 First Edition at http://www.ifsta.org/ifsta/pdf/IMSHighway/IMS%20Highway.pdf. (PDF, 23.9 Mb, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Help)

Information about the USFA's study of emergency vehicle lighting and other ongoing roadway operations safety projects is available by visiting http://www.usfa.fema.gov/research/safety/vehicle-roadway.shtm.