At any moment there could be an emergency or disaster impacting large numbers of people. Effective alerts to warn or provide life-saving information and instructions on what to do during the event could save countless lives.
About IPAWS
In June 2006, the president signed Executive Order 13407—Public Alert and Warning System. It states, “It is the policy of the United States to have an effective, reliable, integrated, flexible and comprehensive system to alert and warn the American people … establish or adopt, as appropriate, common alerting and warning protocols, standards, terminology and operating procedures for the public alert and warning system to enable interoperability and secure delivery of coordinated messages to the public through as many communications pathways as practicable….” In response to this order, FEMA established the Integrated Public Alert and Warning Systems (IPAWS) Program Management Office in 2007.
Any qualifying public safety organization—recognized by appropriate local, state, territorial, tribal or federal authorities—may apply for authorization to use IPAWS to send alerts to the public. That includes the fire service. The public information officer (PIO) or emergency manager is usually the person who coordinates IPAWS for a fire service department or agency. It is important for PIOs to understand IPAWS and how it operates.
Getting started
Access to IPAWS is free; however, to send an alert using IPAWS, an organization must procure its own IPAWS-compatible alert organization software. The software that can be used must be approved by FEMA. A complete list of providers is available at fema.gov/alert-origination-service-providers.
In addition to the software needed, agencies must apply for a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with FEMA to use IPAWS. There are several other requirements by FEMA to operate IPAWS, including the completion of Web-based training IS-247.A, which is available from the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) at training.fema.gov/is/courseoverview.aspx?code=IS-247.a.
Once the application process and training requirements have been met and approved by FEMA, the agency can then use IPAWS for alerting. Your local, state or regional FEMA emergency manager is your best resource to help you set up IPAWS for your department or agency.
Who does it notify? It will send direct alert messages to smartphones and various other smart devices with free apps available. It will send it to the media, fax machines, websites, sirens, highway message signs, pagers and alert radios, to name a few. Because it is a software program, there are countless possibilities. When selecting IPAWS software from a vendor, tell them who and how you want to alert the public, and they will help to set it up to meet the needs of your community.
Are you familiar with the way you receive alerts from the National Weather Service (NWS)? They use IPAWS. If they can do it, so can you. The NWS is an excellent backup notification agency. Each NWS field office has a warning coordinator who oversees the IPAWS program for that office. Meet with them and get to know them very well. Set up an agreement that if your department or community needs to get emergency information out to the public, the NWS can do it for you if you are unable to do it yourself.
Your local emergency manager is the person who oversees the IPAWS program for your community. Meet with them and tell them of your interest in IPAWS. It was our emergency manager who asked me to get involved. She asked, “What if the emergency manager is not available?” There should be a backup person to be able make the system work and that person needs a backup, too. Redundancy is critical in emergency services. You must practice to keep your skills up. Run a test of the system each week; we take turns so everyone can keep up their skills.
What if …?
Is it worth the time and effort? What if you have a large-scale disaster, such as a flash flood or widespread flooding, a train or truck wreck that’s releasing hazardous materials, a tornado or severe thunderstorm headed to the area, or a large fire releasing toxic smoke and gases into the atmosphere and people need to shelter in place? How is your community notified now if the event occurs at 3 a.m. when most people are asleep? It doesn’t matter if it is in a densely populated urban area or sparsely populated rural area, people need to be warned and instructed on what to do quickly and efficiently. This is what IPAWS accomplishes.
Dissemination of information is a primary responsibility of a public information officer, and IPAWS is another tool that accomplishes that task.
Learn more at fema.gov/ipaws.com.
