San Juan County Communications Center - Emergency Management Functionality

Subsystem Description

The Emergency Management (EM) Subsystem represents public safety, emergency management, and other allied agency systems that support incident management, disaster response and evacuation, security monitoring, and other security and public safety-oriented ITS applications. The subsystem includes the functions associated with fixed and mobile public safety communications centers including public safety call taker and dispatch centers operated by police (including transit police), fire, and emergency medical services. It includes the functions associated with Emergency Operations Centers that are activated at local, regional, state, and federal levels for emergencies and the portable and transportable systems that support Incident Command System operations at an incident. This subsystem also represents other allied systems including centers associated with towing and recovery, freeway service patrols, HAZMAT response teams, and mayday service providers.  

The subsystem manages sensor and surveillance equipment used to enhance transportation security of the roadway infrastructure (including bridges, tunnels, interchanges, and other key roadway segments) and the public transportation system (including transit vehicles, public areas such as transit stops and stations, facilities such as transit yards, and transit infrastructure such as rail, bridges, tunnels, or bus guideways). The subsystem provides security/surveillance services to improve traveler security in public areas not a part of the public transportation system.  

This subsystem monitors alerts, advisories, and other threat information and prepares for and responds to identified emergencies. It interfaces with other Emergency Management Subsystems to support coordinated emergency response involving multiple agencies. The subsystem stores, coordinates, and utilizes emergency response and evacuation plans to facilitate this coordinated response. As the response progresses, situation information including damage assessments, response status, evacuation information, and resource information are shared to keep all allied agencies appraised of the response. Interface with the Transit Management Subsystem allows coordinated use of transit vehicles to facilitate response to major emergencies and to support evacuation efforts. The Emergency Management Subsystem also provides a focal point for coordination of the emergency and evacuation information that is provided to the traveling public, including wide-area alerts when immediate public notification is warranted.  

The subsystem tracks and manages emergency vehicle fleets using real-time road network status and routing information from the other center subsystems to aide in selecting the emergency vehicle(s) and routes that will provide the most timely response. Interface with the Traffic Management Subsystem allows strategic coordination in tailoring traffic control to support emergency vehicle ingress and egress, implementation of special traffic restrictions and closures, evacuation traffic control plans, and other special strategies that adapt the transportation system to better meet the unique demands of an emergency.

Functional Area: Emergency Call-Taking

Provides interface to the emergency call-taking systems such as the Emergency Telecommunications System (e.g., 911) that correlate call information with emergencies reported by transit agencies, commercial vehicle operators, or other public safety agencies. Allows the operator to verify the incident and forward the information to the responding agencies.

IDRequirementStatus
1The center shall support the interface to the Emergency Telecommunications System (e.g. 911 or 7-digit call routing) to receive emergency notification information and provide it to the emergency system operator.Planned
2The center shall receive emergency call information from 911 services and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.Planned
5The center shall receive emergency notification information from other public safety agencies and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.Planned
6The center shall receive emergency notification information from public transit systems and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.Planned
8The center shall send a request for remote control of CCTV systems from a traffic management center in order to verify the reported incident.Planned

Functional Area: Emergency Commercial Vehicle Response

Responds to commercial vehicle and freight equipment related emergencies. Includes incidents involving hazardous materials as well as the detection of non-permitted transport of security sensitive hazmat.

IDRequirementStatus
1The center shall receive emergency notification information from commercial vehicles, commercial vehicle check stations, or commercial fleet operators and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator. This may include detection of non-permitted transport of security sensitive hazmat, hazardous cargo spills, etc.Planned

Functional Area: Emergency Dispatch

Dispatch emergency vehicles to incidents, tracking their location and status. Pertinent incident information is gathered and relayed to the responding units.

IDRequirementStatus
1The center shall dispatch emergency vehicles to respond to verified emergencies under center personnel control.Planned
2The center shall store the current status of all emergency vehicles available for dispatch and those that have been dispatched.Planned
3The center shall relay location and incident details to the responding vehicles.Planned

Functional Area: Emergency Early Warning System

Monitors alerting and advisory systems, information collected by ITS surveillance and sensors, and reports from other agencies in order to identify potential, imminent, or in-progress major incidents or disasters. Notification is provided to other ITS centers to notify the traveling public.

IDRequirementStatus
1The center shall monitor information from Alerting and Advisory Systems such as the Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS), etc. The information may include assessments (general incident and vulnerability awareness information), advisories (identification of threats or recommendations to increase preparedness levels), or alerts (information on imminent or in-progress emergencies).Planned
3The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to traffic management centers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.Planned
4The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to transit management centers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.Planned
6The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to traveler information service providers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.Planned

Functional Area: Emergency Evacuation Support

Evacuation planning and coordination to manage evacuation and reentry of a population in the vicinity of a disaster or other emergency that poses a risk to public safety.

IDRequirementStatus
1The center shall manage inter-agency coordination of evacuation operations, from initial planning through the evacuation process and reentry.Planned
2The center shall develop and exchange evacuation plans with allied agencies prior to the occurrence of a disaster.Planned
7The center shall request traffic management agencies to implement special traffic control strategies and to control evacuation traffic, including traffic on local streets and arterials as well as the major evacuation routes.Planned
8The center shall provide traveler information systems with evacuation guidance including basic information to assist potential evacuees in determining whether evacuation is necessary and when it is safe to return.Planned

Functional Area: Emergency Response Management

Strategic emergency planning and response capabilities and broad inter-agency interfaces to support large-scale incidents and disasters, commonly associated with Emergency Operations Centers.

IDRequirementStatus
1The center shall provide strategic emergency response capabilities provided by an Emergency Operations Center for large-scale incidents and disasters.Planned

Functional Area: Emergency Routing

Routing of emergency vehicles to facilitate the quickest/safest arrival. Routes may be determined based on real-time traffic information and road conditions or routes may be provided by Traffic Management on request.

IDRequirementStatus
1The center shall collect current traffic and road condition information for emergency vehicle route calculation.Planned
2The center shall receive information on the location and status of traffic control equipment and work zones along potential emergency routes.Planned
7The center shall calculate emergency vehicle routes, under center personnel control, based on the collected traffic and road conditions information.Planned