HAZCollect speeding emergency messages to the public National

HAZCollect speeding emergency messages to the public National Weather Service (NWS) 1

Today’s HAZCollect Agenda Ø What is HAZCollect Ø What HAZCollect can do Ø How HAZCollect does it Ø Preparing to use HAZCollect Ø Using HAZCollect for an incident Ø HAZCollect Conclusion - Q&A 2

HAZCollect was developed by the National Weather Service, in partnership with the U. S. Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. 3

HAZ Collect What is HAZCollect ? HAZCollect is a system whereby emergency personnel through a FEMA website can access the resources of the National Weather Service NOAA Weather Radio system to disseminate emergency messages directly to the public and to local radio and TV stations for broadcast automatically through the Emergency Alert System (EAS). NWS calls these messages Non-Weather Emergency Messages (NWEM). 4

HAZ Collect HAZCollect Terminology The term “NWEM” (Non-Weather Emergency Messages) will be used throughout this presentation. NWEM simply refers to the messages created by emergency personnel using the HAZCollect software outlined in this presentation. 5

HAZ Collect Incident occurs Broadcast over all NWS comms systems Message Prepared Message thru NWS (general concept) Message Posted via DMIS Message in HAZCollect 6

HAZCollect Before we get into HAZCollect………. . …let’s talk about the what happens when there is a non-weather related emergency such as a chemical spill on I-94, or a large industrial explosion that could result in a significant loss of life and/or property. 7

Local Emergency • Incident Commander coordinates efforts to minimize the loss of life and/or property, and control the scene. • There may be an evacuation, or a shelter in place, or blocked roads. Incident Commander determines what method is used to alert the affected population. • The communication of the emergency to the affected population could take time. 8

Historical Distribution of NWEM (Non-wx emergency message) n n n Message may have been sent to a local radio or TV station, or on occasions to a NWS office via fax, or verbal on phone. Due to possible delays & mistakes in getting message broadcast, the target audience did not always get the message. Incident Commanders, 911, and EM’s were not always aware of distribution capabilities. 9

Historical Distribution of NWEM n n n In Wisconsin, emergency responder had little interaction with NWS in terms of distributing non-weather related emergency messages on to the NWS’s 24/7 comms systems. In Milwaukee/Sullivan county warning area in southern Wisconsin…in the past 30 years or so, only one 911 Telephone Outage emergency message has been relayed to the NWS office and broadcast on the weather radio system with tone-alerts. There could have been more NWEM’s relayed to the National Weather Service in the past, however the broadcast capabilities were not well-known to emergency responders. 10

NWEM Distribution Past/Today: Ø Manual process Ø Non-standard Ø Slow & limited Ø Prone to errors 11

HAZ Collect What HAZCollect is… …in general and for Wisconsin 12

HAZ Collect All Hazards Emergency Message Software Collection System Purpose: to give emergency responders a vehicle to more efficiently distribute information and instructions to an affected population in the event of an emergency. In the end, HAZCollect gives one the ability for faster and wider public distribution of emergency information. Eg. -Hazardous Material Warning, Evacuation Warning, Fire Warning 13

NWEM with HAZCollect: Ø Streamlined Ø Standard process Ø Speedy Ø Errors eliminated Ø Greater distribution of critical information to many local and national emergency message distributors such as CNN, The Weather Channel, various wire services, pagers, etc. 14

What the NWS Can Provide n n n The NWS is a Federal agency operating on a 24 -7 basis (Dept. of Commerce, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) The NWS has the only national, warning, alert system that can reach about 97% of the U. S. population - NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards The NWS has a national computer satellite delivery system that can send emergency messages to all media outlets – NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) 15

HAZCollect What HAZCollect can do, and how it does it 16

HAZCollect Imagine if you could sit down at a PC, send an emergency message to a website, and have it relayed as an EAS (Emergency Alert System) alert to your local TV and radio stations in 2 minutes? …as well as directly to the public via NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards alert receivers. That is what HAZCollect can do… and more! 17

HAZCollect System All-Hazards Emergency Messages To Re-distributors & Public Consumers EMWIN Other User Systems Future Other User Interfaces (E-SPONDER, etc. ) (Disaster. Help. gov, State EMAs, etc. ) other NWS Telecom Gateway (TG) 911 Shift Supervisor Interne t NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) EAS Future DMIS HAZCollect FEMA DMIS EM Toolkit NWEM (CEM) Format CAP Format NWS WFO AWIPS NWS WFOs Backup Process (Voice Phone/Fax) NOAA WEATHER RADIO All Hazards 18

HAZ Collect …HAZCollect Terminology • DMIS, Disaster Management Interoperability Services, is a FEMA incident management website, similar to Wisconsin’s new E-SPONDER program. • DMIS is the website which provides access to HAZCollect. In the future, access to HAZCollect will be possible directly from programs such as E-SPONDER. • Currently however, HAZCollect can be accessed only through DMIS. 19

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards Over 900 NWS transmitters nationwide …only existing nationwide, 24/7, warning, alarm system All Hazards device! Message broadcast on appropriate NWR 20

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) n n The NWR system gives the NWS an “entry” into the automated EAS (Emergency Alert System) “web” that exists among the broadcast media. This “entry” point allows for quick relaying of both weather and non-weather emergency messages (NWEM) to all media outlets. 21

Emergency Messages (NWEM) n n Once the emergency personnel’s NWEM is broadcast on the NWR, it is relayed to all TV and radio stations, on the EAS “web, ” which are monitoring specific NWR’s for emergency messages. TV & radio stations have an electronic box that stores the messages with certain EAS codes – for crawler generation, relay, etc. 22

Non-wx Emergency Message n n NWR’s are programmed to recognize the name of the message (NWEM) and its SAME/EAS code… for each county(s). When a NWEM is sent to the NWR computer system, it will trigger a 10 second tone-alert which is followed by the emergency message. 23

HAZ Collect Preparing to use HAZCollect 24

Wisconsin Situation n NWS has asked for direction from each state regarding who is best positioned to activate HAZCollect in their state. A Working Group representing Wisconsin Emergency Management, the State EAS Committee, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, and NWS offices serving Wisconsin has concluded that for Wisconsin… HAZCollect activation should initially be limited to county-level agencies and major cities with an EOC separate from the county. 25

Wisconsin Situation Advantages in having this limited number of access points into HAZCollect: n n Greatly simplifies administrative work Reduces the number of people to be trained Increases security Satisfies broadcaster concerns of overuse 26

Wisconsin Situation n n In addition, the Wisconsin HAZCollect Working Group has suggested that the County 911 Center Shift Supervisor on duty would most likely be in the best position to initiate emergency messages sent to HAZCollect. The Working Group recommends these Supervisors as the individuals to be trained in HAZCollect activation. 27

Access to HAZCollect n n n The Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM) at each of the 122 NWS offices nationwide will be part of the HAZCollect registration process in each state. In Wisconsin, WCM’s will currently approve access to HAZCollect to only county-level and major-city agencies. Each of these county-level / major-city agencies needs to interact with the WCM before hand. Contact information is on the following slides. 28

Counties Serviced by NWS offices Dept. of Commerce National Oceanic & Atmospheric Admin. Contact the NWS office that services the county(s) affected by the incident. 29

NWS HAZCollect Contact Person n n Milwaukee/Sullivan – Rusty Kapela rusty. kapela@noaa. gov Green Bay – Jeff Last jeff. last@noaa. gov La Crosse – Todd Shea todd. shea@noaa. gov Minneapolis/Chanhassen – Todd Krause todd. krause@noaa. gov Duluth – Carol Christenson carol. christenson@noaa. gov 30

Preparing to use HAZCollect - Register with FEMA website “DMIS” (Disaster Management Interoperability Services) - Install DMIS software (In the future, direct input from E-SPONDER will be possible. For now, DMIS must be used. ) - Register with HAZCollect website 31

DMIS County COG Administrator Requirements 32

DMIS What a COG is… A COG is a Collaborative Operational Group of common DMIS users, either at the county-level or major -city level. The COG is essential for: - performing authentication and authorization for access to DMIS. - establishing a framework within which to work. 33

DMIS Each County or Major-City must Designate a COG Administrator… • The 911 Shift Supervisor who registers for the county becomes the county COG Administrator • The COG ID is permanently assigned by the DMIS staff after the COG is approved in the registration process. The COG “street” name is also chosen at that time. 34

DMIS County COG Administrator Requirements: - A personal computer (PC) - Internet access - DMIS software 35

DMIS County COG Administrator Requirements: - Establish a Collaborative Operational Group (COG) - a county-wide or major-city (for Wisconsin) group of DMIS users (Emergency Managers, fire/rescue, law enforcement, DOT) sharing emergency information. 36

DMIS County COG Administrator Requirements: Once the COG is established: - Register with DMIS. - Install DMIS software & set up an interface to DMIS servers. - Register & set up an interface to HAZCollect. Will need DMIS COG name and ID. 37

DMIS County COG Administrator Requirements: Establish privileges within the COG structure. Possible privileges levels: - “post” or “transmit” privileges for 911 Shift Supervisors - “update” privileges (create and/or edit) for others - “view” privileges – “fyi” status for others 38

HAZCollect County COG Administrative Requirements: • If time permits, place a courtesy call to the local NWS office that services the affected county to discuss any details and possible need for meteorological support. • Although not required, the courtesy call quickly notifies the NWS staff of the need to have a NWEM publicly broadcast on NWS and other commercial dissemination systems. 39

HAZCollect Using HAZCollect for an incident 40

Criteria to Activate HAZCollect n n n Public safety is involved – there is an immediate threat to life & property. Time is critical – public needs to know to avoid adverse impact. Other means of dissemination are not adequate for rapid delivery of information. Goal…minimize false-alarms! Be absolutely sure your emergency message needs HAZCollect! 41

Responsibility n n The person or agency (Incident Commander or Emergency Manager) that decides that a non-weather related emergency message needs to be publicly broadcast on the NWS communication systems, is responsible for the outcome and impact of the public broadcast. The requester of the emergency message must be absolutely sure that transmission on NWS communication systems and other public broadcast systems is needed since impact is potentially significant and widespread. 42

The Emergency Message n n The name (type) of the emergency message needs to determined by the 911 Shift Supervisor, with input from the Incident Commander and Emergency Management. Within the message that is ultimately generated by the HAZCollect software is a 6 digit number referred to as the SAME/EAS geo -code for the affected county(s). More on this number later… 43

NWEM Guidelines n n n NWEMS are NWR-SAME & EAS alert messages • Corrections issued using original message event code • Follow-ups and cancellations issued as ADR event code • No abbreviations or acronyms KISS – Keep it Short and Simple • Short sentences; Usually no more than 15 lines of text • Aim for 60 seconds or less, but no more than 90 seconds News Style Writing – Inverted Pyramid • LEAD sentence to summarize main thought of message • The MAIN FACTS support the lead • OTHER IMPORTANT FACTS – may not be needed • EXPLANATION AND DETAILS – In warnings, this is the “How to protect? ” Appropriate protective actions or CTA 44

NWEM Types n n n n Admin Message (ADR) Civil Danger Warning (CDW) Civil Emergency Message (CEM) Earthquake Warning (EQW) Evacuation Immediate (EVI) Fire Warning (FRW) Hazardous Materials Warning (HMW) 45

NWEM Types (cont) n n n Law Enforcement Warning (LEW) Local Area Emergency (LAE) 911 Telephone Outage (TOE) Nuclear Power Plant Warning ( NUW) Radiological Hazard Warning (RHW) Shelter-in-Place Warning (SPW) 46

HAZ Collect Note: • In Wisconsin, HAZCollect is not to be used for Amber Alerts • Amber Alerts will continue to be handled by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, with the Dane County 911 Comms Center acting as the sole relay point for all of Wisconsin. 47

DMIS Example of a NWEM Within DMIS 48

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Example of the text message WOUS 43 KMKX 071600 SPWMKX WIC 025 -071900 BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SHELTER IN PLACE WARNING DANE COUNTY 911 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI 1100 AM CDT MON APR 07 2003. . . SHELTER IN PLACE WARNING NEAR THE XYZ CHEMICAL PLANT NEAR DANE COUNTY REGIONAL AIRPORT… THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS BEING TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE DANE COUNTY 911 EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS CENTER DUE TO A TOXIC GAS RELEASE. MADISON EMERGNCY SERVICES HAS ISSUED A SHELTER IN PLACE WARNING. THERE HAS BEEN A RELEASE OF BUTADIENE FROM XYZ CHEMICAL PLANT. THE DIRECTION OF THE WIND IS FROM THE NORTHEAST. THE WIND SPEED IS ABOUT 10 MILES PER HOUR. AS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE. . . PEOPLE NEAR THE DANE COUNTY REGIONAL AIRPORT. . . AND WITHIN A 2 MILE RADIUS SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IN PLACE WARNING ACTIONS: 1. GO INSIDE 2. CLOSE ALL DOORS AND WINDOWS 3. TURN OFF ALL VENTILATION SYSTEMS 4. TUNE TO LOCAL NEWS MEDIA FOR FURTHER INFORMATION. $$ 50

Sharing Situational Awareness Rail Company Emergency Management Maricopa Emergency Management Center Haz. Collect NOAA Weather Radio Emergency Alert System The URL in the CAP provides access to critical information 51

DMIS - Posting an Incident Start by selecting the Post button 52

DMIS - Posting an Incident When a NWEM is being posted/transmitted: • The 911 Shift Supervisor designates the affected area/county(s) in the generation of the NWEM • NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards transmitters in the affected area are automatically tonealerted due to the SAME/EAS geo-code 53

Non-DMIS Software To work with HAZCollect, commerciallyavailable incident management software will need to meet specific requirements: * CAP-enabled: Common Alerting Protocol (more on CAP in next couple slides) * Include CAP optional fields * Interface with DMIS 54

DMIS Advantages of using CAP (Common Alerting Protocol): * CAP is an accepted industry-standard message format * CAP allows a consistent message to be disseminated over many different systems * With alerts from all hazards issued in a common format, emerging patterns can be detected such as a gathering hazard or hostile act. 55

DMIS Components of a CAP message: * Urgency (how much time is available to prepare) * Severity (the intensity of the impact) * Certainty (confidence in the prediction being made) * Category (geophysical, safety, health, etc. ) * Can include digital images, audio, or resource URL 56

HAZ Collect • Post-Event Review: A Wisconsin HAZCollect Committee will administer HAZCollect in Wisconsin and address any issues generated by the public broadcast of a non-weather related emergency on NWS communication systems, and other state or commercial electronic dissemination systems. 57

HAZCollect Conclusion 58

HAZ Collect Public Distribution of NWEM : *NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards *Weather Wire/EMWIN & many state/commercial broadcast systems *EAS Availability An emergency message takes 7 minutes (or more) to process today. With HAZCollect that time is reduced to 2 minutes for NWS communication systems once it is entered in DMIS, at which time it is then available to broadcasters and other users. 59

HAZ Collect Timetable: Operations Acceptance Test – May 8, 2006 – June 23, 2006 Registration in HAZCollect – May 2006 Operational – June 30, 2006 (July) 60

HAZ Collect References: NWS http: //www. weather. gov/os/hazcollect DMIS http: //www. dmi-services. org FEMA http: //www. fema. gov Q&A Time 61