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.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced that the application period for the FY 2011 Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) Grants opened on Monday, January 30, 2012, and will close at 5:00 p.m. (EST) on Friday, February 24, 2012.
The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) confirmed that FEMA created SAFER to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter organizations to help them increase the number of trained, "front line" firefighters available in their communities. The goal of these grants is to enhance the abilities of local fire departments to comply with staffing, response, and operational standards; therefore, assuring communities have adequate protection from fire and fire-related hazards.
Interested departments should use the E-Grant Application to apply for a SAFER grant. More helpful information can be seen at FireGrantsHelp.com.
According to an article on page 24 of the Domestic Preparedness Journal (PDF, 4.4 Mb), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) subsidizes the Responder Knowledge Base (RKB) to offer emergency personnel and organizations a single source of integrated information that includes products, standards, certifications, and training, but also grants, publications, and equipment.
The Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) noted the RKB provides emergency responders and their organizations with huge quantities of non-sensitive information that can be used to prepare for, mitigate, and recover from any type of man-made or natural disaster.
The RKB has been steadily evolving in the past several years to become an increasingly robust source of information. For example, it recently implemented a new "Focus Areas" tool that can be quickly and easily found on the RKB homepage. Organized by numerous Emergency Services Sector disciplines, the "Focus Areas" allow users to search for specific information in a timely manner.
The National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) announced the introduction of its Electric Drive Vehicle First Responder Safety Training, developed as a part of the Advanced Electric Drive Vehicle Education Program of the U.S. Department of Energy. The training features a suite of modern technology products including a mobile application that allows emergency personnel to have vehicle information at their fingertips.
In the NAFTC announcement, the Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) learned that the First Responder Safety Training consists of four modules titled: Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Battery Electric Vehicles, and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles. These modules include educational videos and animations, as well as instructor manuals, participant booklets, and a quick reference guide. The target audiences for this training are firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and hazardous response officials.
The NAFTC executive director recently said, "first responders must understand the differences between electric drive vehicles and conventional, gasoline-powered vehicles. The First Responder Safety Training provides emergency personnel with important information to enhance their understanding of those differences."
It is commonly accepted that disasters and emergencies happen anywhere, at any time, and no public or private entity is immune to the degradation or destruction caused by these events. This awareness prompted the Emergency Management and Response—Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) to examine the two-day emergency preparedness workshop called "Connecting Communities: Public Transportation Emergency Preparedness."
This free, invitation-only, interactive workshop offered by the National Transit Institute (NTI) presents a structured forum in which interoperability before, during, and after an emergency will be a driving force. Each session brings together selected representatives from public transit systems, private transportation companies, emergency services, various levels of transportation departments, health-care facilities, state, local, and federal government. The workshops will provide a forum to discuss all aspects of the challenges of large-scale, multi-agency response and incident management.
The goals of the workshop are to prepare transit systems, emergency services agencies, and other emergency management partners, to collaborate, share resources, and implement plans to best mitigate injury, loss of life, and damage to property and assets when incidents occur.
Contact the NTI at fconti@ejb.rutgers.edu or 732-932-1700 for more information.
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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Last Reviewed: February 2, 2012
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February 2, 2012 InfoGram