By Kenneth Kesner
Huntsville Times
Emergency Operations Centers in Huntsville and Fayetteville, Tenn., collaborated last week, responding to virtual tornadoes that - on computers only - ripped through Madison County and flattened Lincoln County High School.
The simulated disaster showed off technology being developed at Redstone Arsenal that provides realistic training for Emergency Management Agency and other personnel, allowing them to practice coordinating their responses across counties and even states without having to mount an expensive, fake aircraft accident, terrorist attack or hurricane out in the field.
“Large-scale events cost a lot of money,” said Brian Harris, project manager for VITAL - the Verification, Integration and Technology Assessment Lab of the Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center.
VITAL is home base for work on the emergency management training simulation software and systems by Lockheed Martin, which has also paid for much of the research, and other partners, including the Army and Jackson State University in Mississippi, a Homeland Security Center of Excellence.
“We are looking at capabilities in the Army inventory and leveraging them for local, state and other needs,” Harris said.
In this case, the idea is to have computer systems and “role players” generate weather and incident reports and maps, communications from the field, “move” assets such as firefighters and police officers and even produce news broadcasts and announcements, said Dave Macannuco, software engineer for Lockheed Martin Simulation Training and Support.
The Lockheed Martin Incident Management System can be set up to drill multiple emergency operations centers in almost any scenario - from hurricanes, tornadoes or other natural disasters to industrial accidents and terrorist attacks with biological or nuclear weapons. It’s tied in with Virtual Alabama, the “Blue Force” National Guard tracking systems, the Civil Air Patrol and other assets.
“In the end, they generate a series of events that you want to be fed to the EOCs,” Macannuco said. That way, the simulation is “driving” the actual tools and procedures the different centers use during real emergencies, training the managers and officers in various locations who must work together.
The simulations operator can introduce layers of complexity - traffic jams, for instance, or sudden hail or a downed bridge - as the virtual events run their courses.
The goal is to make training more realistic, more affordable and more regular, he said. Also, if EMAs or other agencies develop new communications or response procedures, they can discover problems before a crisis.
“You can try it out on a system like this before you try it out in the real world,” Macannuco said.
The recent demonstration involved Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi, and was before an audience on Redstone Arsenal of dozens of representatives from every level of government and emergency response agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.
Harris emphasized the system is still a work in progress. Macannuco said it wasn’t yet clear if Lockheed Martin would eventually manage it as a training service, or a standalone package a state or local government may purchase.
“One of the things we would like to see come out of this is increased training and simulation,” said Chris Reed, seen by video from his post in the Huntsville-Madison County EOC.
Huntsville is fortunate to get more training than many jurisdictions, he said, but it would be great to be able to get more and with colleagues in every size community.
“We feel like this will be a cost-effective solution,” Reed said.
Mike Hall, at the Lincoln County, Tenn., EOC, said it’s the managers and personnel at the headquarters who must implement procedures and coordinate response efforts who will benefit most from the system.
“You don’t have to worry about folks that do the on-the-scene work - they know their jobs,” he said.
With different budget concerns, circumstances and needs, counties and government agencies aren’t all able to have the same level of high-tech gear and training, so they aren’t always able to work and train with others, said Peggy Bevels, mayor of Lincoln County.
“I was really pleased to see this in action,” Bevels said after the demonstration. “This is something that all of America needs.”
Copyright 2009 The Huntsville Times Co., Inc.