June 09--Emergency management officials have described Monroe County's population as the equivalent of Pennsylvania's third largest city with the influx of visitors for race weekend at Pocono Raceway in Tunkhannock Township.
The county's Office of Emergency Services is prepared for a large crowd today and any incident requiring police, fire or ambulance personnel.
That's thanks to "Knowledge Center."
The computer software program gives the OES eyes and ears on the locations of emergency responders and a fix of who's the closest available to any situation that might arise.
"Our office uses the system every day and it has proven to provide one of the best ways to keep everyone informed with the most accurate factual information," said Monroe County OES Director Guy Miller.
Large incidents
Named after the Allegheny County-based private company that designed it, the $1.1 million Knowledge Center program was bought in 2006 by the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Counter-Terrorism Task Force, said task force program coordinator Bob Werts. One of nine such regional bodies helping communities across the state stay prepared for man-made and natural disasters, the task force encompasses Monroe and seven other counties between the Lehigh Valley and New York border.
"After many exercises conducted by the task force, we found the need for a good incident management software program that we could use every day, as well as for the larger incidents such as Hurricane Irene and tropical storms Lee and Sandy and planned events like the Red Cross Marathon, NASCAR races and others," Miller said. "Not being (in an urban area) may limit our financial resources, but it doesn't limit our emergency management needs when we host major annual events like the races that require tremendous coordination. We looked at all the tools in the marketplace and have no doubt that we made the right decision with Knowledge Center for our emergency planning, response and recovery efforts."
At-a-glance information
Knowledge Center has been used by emergency management personnel in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Ohio and other areas, as well as by the U.S. Coast Guard, according to its website.
It was used locally last year, during and after Hurricane Sandy. With Knowledge Center, the OES alerted the public through various media on which roads were impassable and where to go for emergency shelter and bottled water.
The program enables emergency dispatchers and responders to effectively communicate and coordinate with each other during a major event in a particular area, Werts said.
Emergency call information and the locations of police, fire, ambulances and security personnel at any given time are all entered via computer onto a large screen visible to anyone in the OES' Command Center. This way, they can see everything going on at once and know which responders are available and closest to any emergencies that occur, Werts said.
"Each year, as race weekend approaches, our office spends many hours planning with all of our emergency personnel who may have a need to respond to the raceway," Miller said. "Our office sets up a pre-planned event within the software and then all of our agencies that have plans specific to the race upload the documents to Knowledge Center."
When the program is set up on the day of the event, emergency responders log into the system via the Internet.
"Agencies have varying permission levels assigned by our office," Miller said. "They can monitor the activity and they also can add updates like availability, who is currently involved with the event or incident and what additional needs they may have. It provides us with situational awareness and the most accurate picture of what is happening."
Ongoing training is needed.
"The more people use the system, the better prepared we'll be to respond to emergencies, prepare for planned events and provide a faster recovery from major storms," Miller said. "We still have lots to do, but we've made great progress."
Copyright 2013 - Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, Pa.
