ESS Crisis™ Enables Teams to Streamline Response at Major Terrorism Exercise

Several months before OPERATION TOPOFF 4, an incredibly complex terrorism preparedness exercise, the Tempe, Arizona Fire Department selected the on-demand version of ESS Crisis™ to manage its daily planning and emergency event mitigation at the city’s emergency operations center. Tempe Fire Department was an important customer win for us, not only because our own headquarters is located in Tempe, but because it gave us a chance to try out our SaaS product in a very important context.

TOPOFF 4, which took place October 15-24 at several venues in Arizona and Oregon, was designed to strengthen the nation’s capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The exercise provided an opportunity for local, state and federal agencies to coordinate emergency preparedness efforts among 10,000 participants, including officials from Arizona and Oregon; overseas support from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Guam; and with the full-scale tests of collective preparedness and interoperability.

During last month’s exercise, imaginary radiological incidents occurred in Tempe/Phoenix, Portland and Guam. Local officials were tasked with coordinating and executing proper responses to the incidents using effective communication and coordination among various levels of government agencies and private responders. Federal, state and municipal agencies had to work together in this test. Once the exercise was complete, the Department of Homeland Security evaluated the Tempe responder team’s performance and gave them a report card in an effort to improve the City’s preparedness and incident management.

A growing number of local first responders like those in Tempe and Gilbert, another Phoenix-area suburb, have automated their pre-event preparedness and onsite coordination. Exercises like TOPOFF 4 are a powerful reminder that interagency coordination and system interoperability will be key factors to ensure that future terrorism response efforts are to be successful. Departments both large and small will need automated tools like Crisis to ensure they will be ready when a major incident occurs. In a real crisis, it could turn out to be a lifesaver.

Add comment November 15th, 2007