October 19, 2006 InfoGram

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.

Communications Backup Plan

When emergency communications systems fail, the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) often is impeded from accomplishing mission-essential operations. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) stresses that communication systems are among the top three critical infrastructures of the ESS and warrant uninterrupted attention and protection from degradation or destruction. Therefore, a backup communications plan is essential to critical infrastructure protection (CIP).

A backup plan should be activated once affected users have established that a system failure has occurred. One option is to program common frequencies among the departments and agencies in surrounding jurisdictions if radios are multi-channel and on the same band (VHF or UHF). This option works best with an evaluation of coverage followed by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by all involved organizations.

A good backup plan includes redundancy, e.g., having at least two separate dispatch consoles or radios. If one of the radio consoles fails, then all channels on the alternate console keep working. A further failure point to counter is the supporting communications system (radio towers, backup generators, telephone lines, etc.). It is always possible that something outside an individual user's control may be adversely affected. An example is a transmitting tower not at the same location as the dispatch center. Disruptions can occur if a backup generator fails or runs out of fuel, or a tower is destroyed at or near the dispatch center or radio site.

Finally, excellent resources to include in any backup plan are volunteer amateur radio operators, commonly referred to as Hams. These licensed radio operators typically belong to Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), or Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) (PDF, 502 Kb). Hams are extensively trained and have their own equipment: radios, handheld, mobile, and base stations, and radio towers. These resources can be appropriately considered CIP multipliers.

Rapid Damage Assessment

Considering the necessity for the ESS to maintain its own operations after incidents occur, and because the degradation of other sectors' infrastructures has been shown to erode the response capabilities of ESS departments and agencies, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) suggests that initial Rapid Damage Assessment (RDA) has an appropriate place in critical infrastructure protection (CIP) planning for large-scale events.

The disruption of water systems, communication nodes, roads, bridges and highways, electrical outages, and interrupted supplies of gasoline and diesel sources, will assuredly diminish emergency response capabilities. Discussions about these infrastructures and their potential loss could be a starting point in pre-event planning that involves stakeholders and mutual-aid partners.

Dedicated pre-event RDA planning by all sector leaders can identify and prioritize the infrastructure components most critical to operations and services. Given the CIP goal of ensuring continuous operations, ESS leaders need to know what community and emergency infrastructures have been degraded by an incident.

The EMR-ISAC learned that a common mapping system would be very beneficial, particularly the U.S. National Grid (USNG) at http://www.fgdc.gov/usng. As emergency responders and other community stakeholders traverse and assess their areas, they can effectively use the USNG map by overlaying their day-to-day maps (e.g., box alarm maps, utility grid maps, patrol maps).

Additionally, when damage has been noted, damage reports must be transmitted and recorded for use by all sectors. A common, agreed-to "reporting-in" system is needed.

The EMR-ISAC regards laying the groundwork to use initial RDA (pre-event planning, designation of a common reporting system, and use of the USNG) as an excellent opportunity for cross-sector teamwork and information-sharing.

Recovery Guide for Critical Infrastructures and Key Resources

Since Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7, dated 17 December 2003, designated the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) a national critical infrastructure, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) returns often to the topic of continuity of operations (COOP) planning and its importance for emergency organizations.

Because of the urgency for ESS organizations to maintain continuous operations during all emergencies, the goal of every ESS entity should be to have a plan in place that specifies straight forward, step-by-step recovery procedures to follow during and after a man-made or natural disaster. Just released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is Pandemic Influenza Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Guide for Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (PDF, 2.0 Mb), a downloadable tool that emphasizes COOP planning.

The guide begins by explaining the duties and authorities of Federal agencies, State, local and tribal governments, and the private sector with a role in pandemic planning. After an overview of pandemic influenza and its implications, the document's core component (i.e., a COOP planning tool) follows next. Called COP-E (Continuity of Operations-Essential), the tool extends and refines current COOP planning to a level considered appropriate for a pandemic, Category 5 hurricane, 8.0 earthquake, and any chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear event. COP-E planning shows users of the guide how to build flexible plans capable of rapidly adjusting to a graduated response. The guide's final sections address partnerships, information sharing, and public and media relations.

The EMR-ISAC suggests that viewing and downloading the guide is an occasion for emergency organizations to perform a periodic update of their COOP plan to maintain their indispensable operations across a broad spectrum of disasters.

Low-Profile Hazmat Sites

"Make yourself at home" is a friendly expression, unless it refers to a hazardous materials (hazmat) site that is largely ignored by nearby residents. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) noted a recent example of a hazmat site that received no attention until nearly 17,000 local citizens were asked to evacuate following explosions and a massive fire there. As many as 2,700 containers of burning toxic heavy metals, carcinogenic additives, pesticides, and preservatives, kept Emergency Services Sector (ESS) personnel sidelined (but also protected) for hours. As the frontline in emergencies, responders confront immediate danger in response to incidents that involve unknown types and quantities of stored hazmat. For this reason, the EMR-ISAC supports the critical infrastructure protection (CIP) information sharing that enhances responder protection and survivability.

This example highlights some of the problems caused when hazardous materials sites disappear from the radar of a community and its emergency organizations. Land in proximity to the site undergoes residential and commercial development seemingly oblivious to the existence of the peril. Some hazardous waste companies consciously maintain a low-profile presence in a community, perhaps to pave the way for easy permit renewal or additional growth. By never approaching local responder organizations, they avoid inclusion in pre-planning and participation in drills or exercises.

Arriving on the scene of this incident, as it does at all industrial chemical accidents, was the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB). The CSB is an independent federal agency charged with investigating all aspects of chemical accidents, and making safety recommendations to plants, industry organizations, labor groups, and regulatory agencies. One of these is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the only entity that can investigate a systematic problem and take action on it.

A number of the CSB's recommendations pertain specifically to the safety and involvement of the ESS. At the agency's website (http://www.csb.gov), responders can review the full text and status of all post-investigation recommendations dating to 1998, when the CSB became operational. Also available at the site are free DVDs, an electronic news release sign-up, downloadable safety publications, and "investigation digests," one- to two-page incident summaries that include definitions, and brief sidebars on selected topics.