FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Fort Riley emergency management operations are slated to become even more robust, thanks to the Department of the Army's Emergency Management Modernization Program, or EM2P.
A team of 36 subject matter experts from across the Army visited Fort Riley from Jan. 14 to 17 to validate Fort Riley's capabilities across three key areas: Common Operating Picture, or COP; Mass Warning and Notification System, or MWNS; and Enhanced 911, or E911.
"We spent last week with all of their subject matter experts in these areas going through what we have," said Chris Hallenbeck, emergency management specialist, Plans and Protection Branch, Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security. "When they saw our MWNS and where we stand already in our E911 and where we stand on our COP, they were already pretty impressed at where Fort Riley is."
As part of the program, Fort Riley will receive upgrades to its existing equipment and procedures, which will be fielded later this year, Hallenbeck said.
The COP includes information, tracked on documents and maps, that helps Fort Riley manage the response to an all-hazards crisis. Just as important as the information is the ability to share it with higher command headquarters and community partners, said Ward Philips, chief, Plans and Protection Branch, DPTMS.
In the event of an emergency, Fort Riley stands up various Command and Control, or C2, Nodes to address and deal with any given situation. C2 Nodes include the Emergency Operations Center, Incident Command Post, Hospital Emergency Operations Center and more. Currently, the C2 Nodes have the capability for real-time communication.
Additionally, Fort Riley communicates with regional, federal and other Department of Defense partners during emergency situations.
"We want everybody to be able to see the same thing at the same time … (To have) real-time communication across the board," Hallenbeck said.
The EM2P will help facilitate that real-time communication with partners.
"We have a great system in place and good processes," Philips said. "This is going to help us by improving communications with (outside) entities (and) help synchronize response (for) operations."
The MWNS capability is comprised of emergency communications for the local population.
Because of the systems Fort Riley has in place, like Giant Voice, tornado sirens and AtHoc notifications, the EM2P team was impressed with the installation's MWNS capabilities, Hallenbeck said.
A new MWNS element that Fort Riley hopes to roll out later this year is the Integrated Public Alert Warning System, or IPAWS, he said.
IPAWS works like a text messaging broadcast for mobile devices. New mobile devices automatically come equipped with the app that enables an emergency communication to be broadcast to any mobile device within range of a cell phone tower.
"The tower's going to send that signal out, and any phone (within broadcast range) is going to receive that message and display it," Philips explained.
"Whether you're from New York City or California or you live on post, if you're here, your cell phone will get updates," Philips said. "It will make it easier for us to target local users."
"That's one of the things we'd like to get, so they're going to help us with that," Hallenbeck added.
For more information on IPAWS, visit www.fema.gov/integrated-public-alert-warning-system.
Lastly, the E911 capability is comprised of identification of 911 callers for enhanced emergency response.
"The biggest thing about E911 is allowing our dispatch -- our 911 operators -- to get automatic number identification and location identification," Hallenbeck said. "If you call 911, it shows up where you're calling from and what number you're calling from. We already had that, so that was a plus for us."
The goal of EM2P is to bring installations across the Army to Department of Defense Emergency Management full operational capability by January 2014.
"We're well ahead of the ball game, as far as emergency management capabilities," Hallenbeck said.
"The team members have seen dozens of installations, and they thought Fort Riley was one of the top three installations as far as our (emergency management) program," Philips said.
Fort Riley will work with the Army EM2P team in coming months to finalize the plan to enhance these three key areas and make them even better, Philips added.
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