Mar. 28, 2007

NCR launches nation's first regional interoperable network
The National Capital Region will be the first in the nation to establish a regional public safety wireless network at 700 MHz, called the Regional Wireless Broadband Network. It will provide a seamless broadband network that will connect the communications systems of the NCR's 19 jurisdictions. The network will transmit video, data and voice communications at high speeds, and devices will be able to roam onto commercial networks when a user leaves the NCR area.

The NCR has competitively selected Alcatel-Lucent as its equipment infrastructure vendor to deploy the new network. The first phase of the project will involve the installation of a broadband network in multiple NCR jurisdictions.

For more information contact Aggie Nteta in the Washington D.C. Mayor's Office at (202) 727-8761 or aggie.nteta@dc.gov.

Grants fill weather radio gaps
Two new grants will expand weather radio alerting coverage areas in parts of Virginia. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded the Commonwealth $188,400 to purchase and install additional transmitters, antennae and generators in Halifax and Wythe counties. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Radio network broadcasts weather watches and warnings from local National Weather Service offices 24 hours a day. Although the network covers all major metropolitan areas and many smaller cities and towns, the grants help to provide coverage in rural areas that do not have coverage or are poorly covered. In addition to weather alerts, the network also sends environmental and public safety alerts, including messages for the Emergency Alert System.

Standard identification cards issued in pilot program
Arlington County is piloting the nation's first test of new, high-tech identification cards, called First Responder Authentication Credentials. Arlington has issued more than 1,400 of the federally approved cards, which are encoded with critical data that enables commanders at the scene of an emergency to authenticate the responder's credentials using a wireless handheld device. The information on FRAC cards will:

• Securely establish emergency responders' identities at the scene of an incident.
• Confirm first responders' qualifications and expertise, allowing incident commanders to dispatch them quickly and appropriately.
• Enhance cooperation and efficiency among state and local first responders and their federal counterparts.

FRAC cards are part of the First Responder Partnership Initiative, a collaboration among emergency personnel from the National Capitol Region, Maryland and Virginia. For more information about the cards, visit the program's Web site at http://www.virginiafrac.com.

EOC geospatial data collection begins
VDEM and the Virginia Geographic Information Network (a division of the Virginia Information Technologies Agency) are working with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency to verify contact and geospatial information for emergency operations centers in Virginia. This is the first effort to collect the information in a standard format that can be consistently maintained over time.

The collected data will be incorporated into a Web-based mapping application that works with WebEOC and shows the locations of resources and activities needed during emergency response efforts. The data will be accessible to localities later this year. The data will also be incorporated in the Homeland Security Infrastructure Protection program, a standardized, nationwide database of facilities such as EOCs, fire/police/EMS facilities, prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, etc.

VDEM will provide TechniGraphicS Inc. with the most current information for each EOC, which they will confirm with each locality by phone. For more information about the project, contact Sam Hall, geospatial project manager at VGIN, at (804) 225-2482 or samuel.hall@vita.virginia.gov.

Regional hazmat team holds open house
The Henrico County Division of Fire extends an invitation to an open house at their newest station, the new home of the county's Hazardous Incident Team, one of the Commonwealth's 13 regional teams. Attendees will have an opportunity to see two new hazardous materials units, made possible with Urban Area Security Initiative funds.

All are invited to attend. The open house is Thursday, April 5 at 3 p.m. at the new station, near Virginia Center Commons at 1201 Virginia Center Parkway. The county will provide shuttle service from the parking lot of Dick's Sporting Goods nearby.

Grants...
New Public Safety Interoperable Communications grant program
The Department of Homeland Security Office of Grants and Training and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow NTIA to provide approximately $960 million in funding for a new grant program through DHS. The Public Safety Interoperable Communications grant program will provide funding to qualified states and localities in FY07 to improve public safety agencies' interoperable communications capabilities. DHS will provide grant guidance in the coming months and will grant awards to states by Sept. 30, 2007.

Radio cache grant available
Localities are invited to compete for the Locality Interoperable Communications grant, which offers $5 million to create strategic radio caches statewide. Localities are encouraged to coordinate at the regional level to compete for the grants. They should submit applications, due May 4, through their jurisdictional chief administrator's office. Only one application per local government will be accepted.

Applications and guidance are available on VDEM's Web site: http://www.vaemergency.com/grants/06hs_radiocache.cfm

Training...
Disaster Damage Assessment Training
Local government personnel and volunteers with specific responsibility for field damage assessments and recording damages in the field should attend Disaster Damage Assessment Training. The workshops will train personnel on the Federal Emergency Management Agency standard for conducting damage assessments. Morning sessions are devoted to damage assessment of residences and businesses; afternoon sessions are devoted to damage assessment of infrastructure.

Although VDEM has completed training or closed registration in five locations around the Commonwealth, two additional workshops have been scheduled in Emporia on April 11 and James City County on April 12. More workshops will be scheduled for Fredericksburg, Northern Virginia, the northern Shenandoah Valley and Tidewater.

For more information and to register, visit VDEM's Training Calendar at http://www.vaemergency.com/train/calendar_course.cfm?id=89. Please note that students must register separately for the morning and afternoon sessions. Although every effort will be made to register all who apply, it might become necessary to limit registration.

Conferences...
New "Neuter Scooter" on display at VEM Conference
The Neuter Scooter is a 37-foot bus retrofitted with state-of-the-art veterinary equipment. A recent bequest has allowed the Virginia Beach Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to transform the bus into a mobile animal clinic and to develop a program that offers low-cost veterinary care and sterilization surgery throughout South Hampton Roads and the Eastern Shore. In a disaster, the Neuter Scooter can travel with the VBSPCA's disaster trailer to set up temporary shelters and to supplement existing animal response efforts anywhere along the East Coast. Since operations began in February, VBSPCA personnel have vaccinated and neutered more than 200 animals on the bus.

The Neuter Scooter will accompany VBSPCA staff, who will conduct "Animals in Disaster," a workshop offered April 18 and again April 19 that will address aspects of developing local pet emergency plans.

More information about the conference, April 17-20 in Williamsburg, is available on VDEM's Web site: http://www.vaemergency.com/newsroom/events/vema2007.cfm.

Electronic registration is available on the Virginia Emergency Management Association's Web site: http://www.vemaweb.org/.

The deadline to secure rooms at a discounted rate at the Williamsburg Marriott is April 1.

Produced by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management
10501 Trade Court, Richmond, Virginia 23236