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Response
Once an emergency or disaster occurs, the ability to respond efficiently
and effectively is extremely important. The Response part of an Emergency
Response plan relates to activities that address the immediate and short-term
effects of the disaster or emergency. This portion of the plan should
answer the question of what must the agency do to ensure that they respond
quickly and efficiently to a disaster or emergency that threatens the
well being of the agency's operations.
Who is a First Responder? The Department of Homeland Security uses
the following definition, taken from Homeland Security Presidential
Directive 8, Preparedness: "Those individuals who in the early
stages of an incident are responsible for the protection and preservation
of life, property, evidence, and the environment, including emergency
response providers as defined in section 2 of the Homeland Security
Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 11), as well as emergency management, public health,
clinical care, public works, and other skilled support personnel (such
as equipment operators) that provide immediate support services during
prevention, response, and recovery operations."
- Role of Transportation in Response
- Evacuation - This section covers FHWA and external
work on transportation aspects of both hurricane evacuations and evacuations
resulting from unexpected events.
- First
Responder Treatment and Resource Guide: A Reference Guide for
Public Safety Agencies on Treatment and Management of Exposure to
Biological, Chemical, and Radiological Threats - The Police Executive
Research Forum prepared this guide to assist responder agencies whose
personnel may be exposed to chemical or biological agents in incident
situations.
- Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) - ITS
can be a very powerful tool in responding to disasters or incidents
of any type. This section discusses how it can be applied.
- Voice and Data Communication Interoperability
- It is critical that transportation agency communications systems
be interoperable with those of the other responders with whom they
will be working at incident scenes. This location provides information
about transportation agency communications systems and national efforts
toward responder interoperability.
- Information Distribution - Information provided
to the public is one of the most powerful tools that government has
in managing during disasters. Transportation agencies have unique
resources, such as VMS, HAR, and 511 that enable them to contribute
to effective information sharing.
- 2004 Hazards Research and Application
Workshop Proceedings - The Hazards Research Center at the University
of Colorado , Boulder hosts an annual conference on disasters. This
file describes some of the major discussions and presentations at
the 2004 conferences, including the session on emergency transportation.
Full proceedings are available at http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/workshop/.
- ITE Presentation: Transportation for Emergency Response and Recovery
(PPT
5.62MB) - ITE prepared this excellent presentation on the importance
of transportation in disaster response/recovery.
- Responder
Knowledge Base - The National Memorial Institute for the Prevention
of Terrorism provides this database of information for responders.
- The
Homeland Security Operations Center - Operating 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, 365 days a year, the HSOC provides real-time situational
awareness and monitoring of the homeland, coordinates incidents and
response activities, and, in conjunction with the DHS Office of Information
Analysis, issues advisories and bulletins concerning threats to homeland
security, as well as specific protective measures.
Role of Transportation in Response
- An
Introduction to Incident Management In the Era of Terrorism -
This document from the Office of Domestic Preparedness in DHS discusses
how the incident command system may be applied in terrorist situations.
- CAD-TMC
Integration at CTECC Will Support Dynamic Routing for Austin's Emergency
Service Agencies - Two-way sharing of real-time data among TxDOT
Austin District and several partnering Austin, TX emergency service
and public safety agencies in the new Combined Transportation and
Emergency Communications Center (CTECC) will enable the dynamic routing
of many different emergency services.
-
Emergency Transportation Operations: Freeway Traffic Management Center
Capabilities and Needs - In 2003, FHWA conducted a study of how
transportation agencies operate during all types of disasters. This
part of the study looked at what information and tools they needed
and what capabilities they had to contribute to disaster response
and recovery.
- FTA's
Critical Incident Management Handbook and Appendices - These guidelines
have been designed to provide practical assistance to transit personnel
with responsibility for planning, managing, and recovering from emergencies
and disasters.
- Lessons Learned from Surface Transportation Response/Recovery Workshop/Exercises
(Winter 2005) - From 2002-2004, FHWA sponsored regional multimodal
workshop/exercises to bring transportation agencies together with
other responders to work through realistic scenarios involving attacks
on the transportation infrastructure using weapons of mass destruction.
This document provides a collection of lessons learned in public safety,
transportation, and emergency management that emerged during the workshop/exercises.
- National
Incident Management System - NIMS describes how responding agencies
and organizations will work together during response and recovery.
- National
Response Plan - The NRP describes how Federal agencies will work
in disaster response.
- Partnership Between Transportation Management and Emergency Management
Agencies (PDF,
91KB) - This paper on how transportation management centers and emergency
operations centers work together was presented at the 2002 ITS World
Congress.
- Response Action Guide (Spring 2006) - Through the NCHRP program,
AASHTO is developing a tool to assist transportation agencies in identifying
actions they may need to take in the event of a WMD incident.
- Successful Practices from Surface Transportation Response/Recovery
Workshop/Exercises (Winter 2005) - From 2002-2004, FHWA sponsored
regional multimodal workshop/exercises to bring transportation agencies
together with other responders to work through realistic scenarios
involving attacks on the transportation infrastructure using weapons
of mass destruction. This link provides a collection of successful
practices in public safety, transportation, and emergency management
that emerged during the workshop/exercises.
- Transportation Management Center Concepts of Operation Implementation
Guide (PDF,
3.35MB) - This report scans several major transportation management
centers in the US to demonstrate the functions that TMCs can perform
in addressing incidents.
- Quarantine
and Police Powers: The Role of Law Enforcement in a Biomedical Crisis
- The Police Executive Research Forum prepared this document to help
law enforcement responders (and therefore other responders) understand
their role and authority in quarantine situations.
Evacuation
- Transportation Evacuation
Planning and Operations Workshop (Publication Number: FHWA-HOP-06-076)
Summary Report - Held in conjunction with the National Hurricane Conference,
March 21-22, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- ITS
ETO Initiative - This link
provides basic information on the activities in the Initiative.
- Managing Pedestrians During Evacuation (Winter 2005) - Recent large-scale
disasters have pointed out that pedestrians filling the streets can
make evacuee and responder vehicular travel difficult. This study
examines the complex issue of managing pedestrian traffic during disasters.
- National Review of Hurricane Evacuation Plans and Policies: A comparison
and Contrast of State Policies (PDF
2.6MB)
- Road Weather
Management Evacuation Materials - For several years, FHWA's road
weather management program worked toward improving evacuations caused
by hurricanes. One particular focus was improving contraflow implementation/operation.
- Signal Timing for Evacuation (Fall 2005) - Achieving signal timing
that optimizes egress of evacuees and ingress of responders and transit
vehicles can be complicated. This study examines available information
and modeled multiple strategies on several actual evacuation routes
in the District of Columbia.
- A Study of the Impact of Nine Transportation Management Projects
on Hurricane Evacuation Preparedness (PDF
366KB)
- Summary
of the Regional Hurricane Traffic Operations Workshops
- Evacuation
Resources from TRB - The TRB Subcommittee on evacuation provides
this excellent resource page with dozens of technical materials on
evacuation.
Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)
- ITS
ETO Initiative - This link
provides basic information on the activities in the Initiative.
- Integrating ITS Within State Emergency Operations Centers - These
presentations describe multiple approaches to integration of emergency
management functions into transportation management centers.
- Emerging Partnerships Between Emergency Management Agencies
and Transportation Management Centers (PDF
91KB)
- Integration of ITS with Security Systems in a Multimodal Environment
(PDF
88KB)
- Using Intelligent Transportation Systems to Improve and Support
Homeland Security - ITS, originally focused on reducing congestion,
can also provide benefits in improving the security of the transportation
network. These documents provide a vision, developed by ITS America,
a look at how homeland security was incorporated into the National
ITS Architecture, and how homeland security applications are being
demonstrated in the iFlorida operational test.
Voice and Data Communication Interoperability
- Article
on Integrated Incident Management System project - The IIMS project
enhances communication between responders in the greater New York
City area using ITS technology.
- Article
on Transportation, Emergency Communications, and Homeland Security
- Capital
Area Wireless Integrated Network Project - CapWIN enhances communication
between responders in the National Capital Region.
- Communications Interoperability White Paper (Fall 2005) - FHWA and
AASHTO commissioned this white paper to describe the state of interoperability
of state DOT communication systems and to examine some successful
approaches to achieving interoperability.
- Public
Safety Wireless Network program - PSWN was a precursor to the
current SAFECOM national initiative on public safety communications
interoperability. This link provides access to a broad range of information
on interoperability.
- TMC Integration Project (Summer 2005) - FHWA initiated this project
in 2004 to examine approaches to integrating the functions and systems
that a TMC would use in managing during disasters.
- ITS Standards
Program - Technical data exchange standards make it possible for
responder computer systems to communicate. This link provides access
to over a decade of work developing such standards for transportation
agencies, and provides access to a similar site developed by the Public
Safety community.
- Statewide
Communications Interoperability Planning Methodology - SAFECOM
recently released the Statewide Communications Interoperability Planning
(SCIP) Methodology, a tool that outlines a step-by-step planning process
for developing a locally-driven, statewide strategic plan to enhance
communications interoperability. The SCIP methodology is the result
of collaboration between SAFECOM and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
With SAFECOM’s support, Virginia recently completed a strategic
plan for improving statewide interoperable communications, which now
serves as one approach for states to consider as they initiate statewide
communications planning efforts.
Information Distribution
- 511 Program and Implications
for Emergency Communications - This study looked at how disaster
information could be shared using 511 systems.
- AASHTO
Security Clearinghouse - Soon after 9/11/2001, AASHTO created
a clearinghouse for sharing security related information relevant
to state DOTs.
- Changeable
Message Sign Operation and Messaging - This project will document
the available empirical and analytical evidence that can be used by
agencies to support policies, procedures, practices, and messages
associated with the operation of changeable message signs (CMS). In
particular, the project will document the empirical evidence that
relates CMS messaging to driver behavior, traffic, travel flow, and
safety.
- Crisis
Communication in Terror Attacks: A Guide for Chief Executive Law Enforcement
Officers - This guide from the Police Executive Research Forum
can help transportation managers understand law enforcement’s
perspective on communicating with the public during disasters.
- FHWA Issues Guidance on Use of Changeable
Message Signs for Missing Children "Amber Alert" - Amber
Alert was an important learning experience for DOTs on how to share
complex information on variable message signs. These guidelines describe
successful approaches.
- Highway
Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) - The American
Trucking Association has created this information sharing and analysis
center for distribution of security related information.
- Information
Sharing and Analysis Centers: Overview and Supporting Software Features
(NCHRP Report 525) - This report examines how to organize and
share security threat information across transportation organizations.
- Impacts
of Dynamically Displaying Messages on Changeable Message Signs
- The purpose of this project is to provide assistance that will assess
the impacts of dynamically displaying messages on changeable message
signs (CMSs), and make recommendations for updates to the Manual on
Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) regarding design, programming,
and operation of such applications. The objectives of the research
effort are to: (1) Conduct human factors studies to determine the
effects of dynamically displaying messages on CMSs; (2) Develop preliminary
guidance to practitioners for dynamically displaying messages on CMS;
and (3) Identify and recommend changes or new provisions to the MUTCD.
- Surface
Transportation Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ST-ISAC)
- The Association of American Railroads created this information sharing
and analysis center for distribution of security related information.
- Sharing Information Using ITS During Disasters (Summer 2006) - USDOT's
ETO ITS initiative is examining practices for communicating disaster
related information over transportation agency resources such as VMS,
HAR, and 511
- Security
Sensitive Information (SSI) - FHWA and AASHTO developed this briefing
and guidance on handling of SSI.
- Talking
About Disasters - This guide has been developed to assist anyone
providing disaster safety information to the public. The information
is based on historical data for the United States and is appropriate
for use in the United States. Some information may not be applicable
in other countries. Users of this guide may include emergency managers,
meteorologists, teachers, disaster and fire educators, public affairs/public
relations personnel, mitigation specialists, media personnel, and/or
any other person in the severe-weather, earthquake, disaster, or communications
communities. The safety information is intended for dissemination
to the general public.
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