Cloud-based Software Helped Mo. Fire Department Manage Ferguson Grand Jury Decision

While many eyes were focused on Ferguson, MO, for the grand jury decision in the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown, officials in Clayton, which is 10 miles away, were preparing for whatever could happen at the courthouse where the decision was made.

The City of Clayton Fire Department usually has 11 firefighters on duty, protecting the first-ring suburb and the many county government buildings, but Fire Chief Mark Thorp knew they would need to bolster their ranks for the day of the decision. Thorp is also the city’s emergency management director, so he had a lot on his plate.

“We knew we had to go into full IMS mode and that we had a lot of planning to do,” said Thorp.

Thorp said they began to assess the hazards and threats in early September and they reached out to the regional incident management team to get their input. They realized there was a lot to compile and then distribute to other agencies.

During the summer the fire department began using the Rhodium Suite for records management from Denver-based IRT. There was still work to complete by the fire department’s staff, but they were also aware of the cloud-based Rhodium Incident Management Suite software.

“This isn’t really the time to roll out a new product,” said Thorp. “So we asked Rhodium to help us upload data and manage the program.”

IRT Senior Account Executive Stephen Delp originally set up Clayton’s program and began assisting them with their management plans. Delp served with the U.S. Army and aided the National Guard in using software to manage large-scale event planning. That included domestic large-scale searches, weapons of mass destruction planning and related tasks.

When Clayton decided to use software, Delp spent two weeks expediting data, including maps and protest information, to create files that would be used later. Had the fire department already been using the Rhodium Incident Management Suite, that data would have been in the software.  

Thorp said they created 13 incident action plans (IAPs) for a variety of scenarios using input from over a dozen agencies. Each document, which averaged 80 pages, was uploaded to the cloud and then automatically distributed. Each plan contained data that was key to situational awareness intelligence, personnel resource data, maps with overlays for different scenarios and more.

Ten days before the decision was made, Clayton activated their emergency operations center (EOC). A few days later, the center was fully staffed and all plans were reviewed.

“I actually worked on the plane using the onboard Wi-Fi with my iPad, on the way from Colorado to Missouri,” said Delp.

Daily operations briefings included 200 personnel, including local and federal law enforcement agencies, fire departments and emergency management and public works groups. Some parties were off site. Delp sat dead center in the EOC to help out as needed. He set his equipment to project IAPs on the wall in the EOC and remote EOCs.

“They made changes to their program on the fly, it was very helpful,” said Thorp.

Crews used a mix of desktop and laptop computers, tablets and mobile phones to access the information. Some units in the field were connected via satellite phone.

“We were updating the IAP to many agencies with the click of a button,” said Delp.

After the decision was made, most of the incidents occurred back in Ferguson.

“I was surprised. Overall, our call volume went down,” said Thorp, adding that many businesses told workers to stay home and residents took precautions.

Reflecting on their preparations, Thorp said, “It is critical for small agencies. We don’t have someone dedicated to planning and resources, so it saved us. You need something like this to manage this type of situation, especially with the smaller agencies like us. We didn’t have the eight to 10 people to do what this program did for us.”

Delp added, “It was gratifying to see something with the technology that I helped build do what you expected it to do.”