Safe Schools FEMA1- 1-2001

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Intergovernmental
Advisory

Contact: Buffy Gilfoil, Federal Emergency Management Agency - (303) 235-4895

Background

Rick Weiland, director of Denver-based Region VIII of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, plans to announce soon a field test of a computer template that will help first responders take virtual tours of schools and other facilities.

Along with Fire Chief Bill Pessemier, Captain Jim Olsen of the Littleton (Colo.) Fire Department developed the pre-incident planning system (PIPS).

After the template is filled in, users responding to a critical incident can quickly access both visual and verbal information. From a floor plan, they can click to the view of a space, in many cases a 360-degree panoramic view. Or they may view the progression down a hallway. They may also see such vital details as contact information, school hours, numbers of students and staff and locations of hydrants and electrical, water and gas switches.

The purpose of the field test is to fine-tune the system by identifying and correcting bugs and providing enhancements. The test is expected to take about 90 days, ending around March 30.

Participating Communities
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Seven communities, selected by the fire department and by FEMA, are participating in the field test and will provide feedback to Captain Olsen. They are: El Paso County, Colo.; Bozeman, Mont.; Sparks, Nev.; Corvallis, Ore.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Watertown, S.D.; and Casper/Natrona County, Wyo. Each of the communities either participates in or lies within a county that participates in FEMA’s Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities. Launched nationwide in 1997, Project Impact encourages communities to take steps that will reduce or prevent damage before disasters strike.

How It Works
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Using their own equipment, each community will fill in the computer template. This involves visiting school sites to obtain the necessary information and to take the photos that are at the heart of the system.

The main equipment required by participants is a digital camera that can take 360-degree panoramas.

Captain Olsen estimates that it has generally taken him 10 to 12 hours to create a tour of an elementary school and 20 hours for a high school.

Visiting the school can serve as a community builder, as it strengthens the bond between the agency filling in the template and the school and helps the school to focus on its emergency response capability.

After a template is complete, it is available for first-responders to view it so that they can become familiar with the building.

Purpose
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Traditionally, emergency personnel have at best had access either to skimpy information or to bulky volumes with complex and, in some cases, outdated drawings of community facilities, along with other information. While such documents may contain useful information, they are often difficult to use in urgent situations.

For More Information
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PIPS is part of a Region VIII school safety initiative that also includes:

Partners Assuring Safer Schools. PASS involves federal and state agencies, private organizations and voluntary and local groups working together to create safer learning environments for the nation’s elementary and secondary students. Additional information is available at http://www.fema.gov/Reg-VIII/PASS/PASSmain.htm.

Project Impact augmentation grants. Eight communities within Region VIII received a total of $50,000 for school safety projects. These funds supplement grants made through Project Impact. Additional information is available at http://www.fema.gov/Reg-VIII/PASS/pass-PI.htm.

Training. FEMA headquarters offers courses on a nationwide basis at its Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Md.

Quotes

Rick Weiland, director of Region VIII of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Region VIII comprises Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming): "We envision that PIPS will enable firefighters and paramedics to quickly see just how things are arranged in the buildings where they respond. By knowing how to get to the library or chemistry lab, where a hallway leads and where turn-off valves are, first responders will be able to avoid hotspots and go directly where they are most needed."

Captain Jim Olsen, Littleton Fire Department: "Anyone who has ever used the Internet can master this system in minutes. Many sixth-graders now create their own web sites and ‘virtual tours’ of homes for sale are common on many real estate web sites. The ability to use the same technology to save lives and property is too valuable to dismiss."
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