Preparedness and Communications

Newly hired director of emergency management, Mark Gower, brings to OEM a background in cybersecurity and a network of partners.

The program works with states, technology providers, public safety officials and 911 professionals to ensure a smooth transition to an updated 911 system that takes advantage of new communications technologies.

County officials unveiled a plan this week to enhance the EVAC system with seven more ambulances and 28 emergency medical technicians and paramedics, plus new technology.

FEMA periodically updates its flood maps to take into account new developments, changes in topography, etc.

The city of Dallas has 162 sirens to warn residents about an imminent weather emergency. Fort Worth has 153. But Austin, Houston and San Antonio have gone a different route.

Whenever there’s a serious emergency affecting a large group of people, it can be important to deliver information swiftly and through reliable channels.

Georgians encouraged to take advantage of Severe Weather Preparedness Week to review your family's emergency procedures and prepare for weather-related hazards.

The scale will work like the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Not yet given a more formal name, the AR scale will rank the storms as Categories 1-5 — Category 1 being “weak” and Category 5 being “exceptional,” with 2 through 4 denoted “moderate,” “strong” and “extreme,” respectively.

Hundreds of people called 911 last week when they had no heat in their homes because the power was out.

Chatham Emergency Management Agency will conduct a full-scale exercise March 26 at the Coastal Georgia Center and the Savannah Civic Center. This exercise will test the Evacuation Assembly Area plan for the county.

The need for preparedness was driven home last month, when a charter bus carrying the Stanford University track team burst into flames on northbound Interstate 5 near Columbian Way. What if a vehicle catches fire in the tunnel?

The protocol for when a certain EMS base is unable to respond to a call for dispatch to reach out to the second-closest ambulance. On a non-emergent call, dispatch’s policy is to wait four minutes before calling the second-closest ambulance.

Part of the reason for the disconnect, at least in Rhode Island and neighboring states, is that the region hasn't been hit hard or in a widespread manner by a hurricane or other extreme weather event in recent years.

Atlanta will reap the benefits of the Big Game and all that comes with added bandwidth to assure law enforcement will have sustained interoperability, even during a crisis.

'No one is interested in putting our residents at risk, but we need to look at ways to better support businesses and non-profits in seismically upgrading their buildings.'