THE BLUE CELL INTEL SUMARY VOL. 2 ISSUE 6

COMMAND SCHOOL TTX: INNOVATION, DEVELOPMENT AND EXPANSION FOR THE BLUE CELL, LLC

            In March 2012, talks began between east coast emergency management exercise company, Command School TTX, and The Blue Cell, LLC in hopes of merging the two brands to create a decisive name in Emergency Planning Concepts. Though each company operates in different FEMA regions, a combination of Rocky Mountain/Midwest and New England/East Coast training, exercise and real world disaster knowledge could spell dynamic success for both companies. This merger comes as a result of a combination of factors, including The Blue Cell, LLC’s aspirations of becoming a national household name for its practical, yet simple, execution of FEMA training and exercise programs.

            Currently, each company has its own individual area of expertise in Emergency Planning. The Blue Cell, LLC’s continued growth in five of the Rocky Mountain states is fueled by the quintessential piece of Emergency Planning success; training. With one of the most exhaustive lists of training courses offered in the industry, including the creation, development, and application of the Advance Planning Course, or APC, The Blue Cell, LLC is poised to be a leader in FEMA training nationally.

            Command School TTX, however, acquired its notoriety through the creation of Abbottville™, a miniature diorama of an existing city used to enhance the exercise portion of Emergency Planning Concepts. The brain child of retired Division Chief with the Warren Township Fire Department in Indianapolis, Indiana, Don Abbott, the Abbottville™  diorama exercise has said to have been “like no other class” and “the best by far” in the industry according to professionals who have been taken through the Abbottville™ exercise. 

            While it may appear that these two companies function under very different ideals as to what is the most important aspect of Emergency Planning, both current owners of each company are quoted as being “very excited” about the progression of the merger. The combination of advanced training with experienced instructors and the innovative diorama looks to be the next step in expanding the field of Emergency Planning, and The Blue Cell, LLC is at the center of what may be a bright future. Talks between Brian Long, owner of Command School TTX, and Todd Manns continue as the logistics of a final agreement are being arranged. It is expected that by June 1, 2012 Command School TTX will be a fully operational subsidiary of The Blue Cell, LLC.

Chelsea Manns

Contracts and Aquisitions Group Lead

The Blue Cell, LLC

THE BLUE CELL INTEL SUMMARY VOL. 2 ISSUE 5

When is the last time that you participated in an exercise with over 800,000 people?  That’s exactly what happened in the Salt Lake valley of Utah the week of April 16^th 2012 during the Great Utah Shakeout.  The Salt Lake valley sits on the Wasatch fault and is primed for a potential massive earthquake. The statewide disaster exercise simulated a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, the destruction that would follow, and the steps emergency managers would need to take in the initial response stage. 

The Blue Cell sent several members to Utah as a part of a Colorado contingency tasked with evaluating and mentoring various IMT3’s and EOC’s. Randy Freed, Training and Exercise Services Group Lead, worked with and evaluated the Planning Section of the Salt Lake City EOC in downtown Salt Lake City.  Travis Bailey, Deployment Services Group Lead, evaluated the Unified Fire IMT3 Logistics Section of the ICP located in Herriman City on the southwest side of the Salt Lake valley. 

FEMA Region VIII used Utah as a pilot for the IMT3 program and this large-scale exercise was a capstone for the last two years of education that has been grant funded. Since I worked exclusively in the Unified Fire ICP, I will share some thoughts on that portion of the exercise.

Building a fully capable IMT3 is a somewhat daunting task when you are starting from scratch. However, that is exactly what Unified Fire Authority (UFA) and the State of Utah set out to do.  They have been aggressively sending team members to trainings throughout the Rocky Mountain Region and conducting their own exercises for the past 24 months.  The Blue Cell has participated in and taught some of the classes that were instrumental in this education.  From position specific classes in the Planning section to Command and General Staff exercises, we have been able to see this group become a team. This is a testament to the members of the UFA and their partners, showing what is possible when all members of a team share a common goal.

The exercise employed one of the basic tenants of ICS: home unit rank or position does not matter in ICS.  We were able to see a large fire department with a rigid hierarchy put rank aside and work as a team.  This is not an easy task for many, and a common failure in the new collaborative world of All-Hazard IMT3’s.

As we left the exercise at the After Action Review (AAR), I was impressed to hear them all acknowledge the good work they had put in, and begin the process of identifying deficiencies and needs.  These types of full-scale exercises are undertaken to recognize shortcomings that need to be corrected before the actual incident; however, it is just as important to point out the positives. If the goal at the beginning of this project was to create fully functioning All-Hazard IMT3, then they clearly have accomplished their goal.

Travis Bailey

Deployment Services Group Lead

THE BLUE CELL INTEL SUMMARY VOL. 2 ISSUE 4

HANDHELD TOOLS

As spring begins, the country's weather changes the enviromental threats Emergency Personell must handle. Dry conditions in the west have signaled the official start of wildfire season and the tornadoes over the first part of year have caused emergency resources to launch into action in the midwest. The Blue Cell Technical Services Group continues to develop and refine tools for first responders in various application (app) formats in hopes of keeping up with the changing conditions.

The Blue Cell has strived to keep up with the rapidly changing technology seen in the private sector. The addition of its mobile applications has made national resources readily available for use during incidents and exercises and to allow access to documents even when out of cell range. Recent updates to The Blue Cell app include the addition of field operations guides from FEMA, USAID, the United States Coast Guard and the National Urban Search & Rescue. This particular app also has the Federal Acronyms and Terms book, the FEMA position checklist, ICS forms and FEMA resource typing.

For wildfire responders a separate app called Wildland Fire Tools features Fire orders, Watchout Situations, Size up, Briefing Checklists, the Incident Response Pocket Guide, the 310-1, the Fireline Handbook and weather links to NOAA.     

For more information visit www.thebluecell.com for links to these applications. Applying and sharing our beliefs is our passion. We aspire to continue to provide the aids needed to successfully and safely confront the changing weather conditions nationwide. Both The Blue Cell and Wildland Fire Tools apps are available for no charge to download.

Shane Doyon, Technical Service Group Lead, The Blue Cell, LLC

The Blue Cell Intel Summary Vol. 2 Issue 3

HSEEP COMPLIANT GAME MAKES DEBUT

Yesterday in Gunnison, Colorado, the much anticipated Incident Leadership and Decisions (ILD) Game was conducted. The ILD is a Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program compliant, eight hour session that took twenty participants through a very involved scenario based on one of the fifteen DHS national planning scenarios. Set in The Blue Cell, LLC’s Chelsea County USA web environment, teams competed for a score against each other while resource managing, problem solving and practicing leadership principles.

Prior to the gaming session, two lecture segments, one specifically on leadership and the other on the Incident Management Decision Making Process, were conducted. Within the Chelsea County USA web environment, resources lists, maps, live emails and a live phone number to dispatch were made available. To enhance the hundreds of typed resources within the Chelsea County website, exact matches of all of the vehicles being deployed were used on a twenty foot long gaming board to maintain a common operating picture for all of the players. Teams were also supplied with the Chelsea County USA emergency operations plan, county mutual aid agreement and county budget.

 This unique approach to exercise is what was envisioned years ago by the developers of HSEEP and now it is available to emergency managers, incident response personnel and community leaders.

This exercise can also count as an annual exercise for those required to do so as part of a granting program. As part of the service, The Blue Cell, LLC supplies the complete situation manual, master scenario events list, and completed exercise evaluation guide making this product truly innovative.

For more information on this exciting new approach to exercising and training, go to www.thebluecell.com . On our website under the training and exercise tab located on the left side of the screen, testimonials from participants from the debut delivery are available; under the situation unit tab, click on our Youtube channel  to watch video from the session;  within our web store, pricing information is available to help bring the ILD to you.

Todd Manns, Owner, The Blue Cell, LLC

The Blue Intel Summary Vol. 2 Issue 2

Instructing: the act of imparting information.  How many classes have you attended that the instructor either has no idea what he is supposed to teach or is obviously there for his own self aggrandizement?

The older I get, the more resentful I become of those who waste my time.  I also am hyper aware of people who are obviously not prepared and try to bluff their way through a class.  The little things show up first; they seem lost, they try to schmooze and be the party guy.  My favorite is the instructor who will put on the mask of the big wig, so superior; he obviously has nothing to say but that doesn’t keep him from talking insistently.  I too, however, love the sound of my own voice.  But for me, there is always the overriding desire to send the pupil away with information that will serve them in an incident.

I have had the dubious honor of being on a wide variety of incidents: tornados, floods, blizzards, wild land fires, the Columbine School shooting, disease outbreaks, civil disorder, and hurricanes. Being on the dark side of age 50, I am over myself.  These incidents have real consequences for real living people. 

FEMA has issued curriculum for ICS classes.  It is considered, tested and proven in the field.  The books have been printed, the power point issued.   The remaining wild card is the instructor. I happen to work for a company that values pure instruction.  Yes, I know that I am blessed.  We, as a company, deliver the ICS curriculum as it is written.  We infuse the material with our own personal experiences to illustrate a point, but the material itself is unaltered. The written material then becomes all the more relevant when coupled with our field experience.

Imagine having a class taught by someone with no experience.  It would seem all academic with a lack of field experience or testing. It is apparent, however, that the prevailing thought is that anyone can teach ICS classes.  I vehemently disagree.  The curriculum is too important to be left to amateurs.   I assert that these classes must be instructed by those who have actually been on the ground in a command or general staff role.

In my previous career, there was an axiom: “If you dont have time to do it right, when are you going to have time to do it over?”  There is too much at stake to have inexperienced, unwilling and unmotivated people delivering training.

Be prudent in hiring.

Randy Freed

Training and Exercise Services Group Lead

The Blue Cell, LLC

The Blue Cell Intel Summary, Vol 2. Issue 1

The Blue Cell begins 2012 with a number of initiatives and expansions.  As much as this blog reflects an attempt to organize and reflect on my thoughts, I do have to be cognizant not to give away any intellectually competitive advantage.

The company as we enter our third year will, for the first time, have an organizational structure that demonstrates our various expanding interests. We have developed five groups:

·         Training and Exercise

·         Consulting Services

·         Deployment Services

·         Technical Services

·         Contracts and Acquisitions

 Each of these groups now has an identified leader.  We are also starting the year with six new contractors, added three new products that are available in training, a new flagship exercise specific product and two new consulting service areas (legal subject matter, expert testimony and architectural security). Our simulation environment, Chelsea County USA, continues to grow and, when combined with our new simulation table, this training tool now can be used three dimensionally. Deployment Services continues its preparedness and will take possession of a new vehicle and field trailer in the spring. The company has also secured several agreements, professional contracts, and an exclusive airlift contract out of Centennial Airport in Colorado for 2012 to assist this group. Technical services launches our new look to the website today and we now have The Blue Cell app available on the Amazon App store for download.  Our own web store also has a new manager. The Blue Cell production studio, which is under develoment, debuts with its first commercial web broadcast training in two weeks. We will also be finalizing the hiring of a Contracts and Acquisitions lead in the first quarter.

In business, one theory is the first year you get out there, you start doing your thing and you make mistakes; the more mistakes you make the better. In the second year, you correct the mistakes from the first and, of course, try to not repeat any of the first year mistakes. If you make to the third year, still have the drive and have acquired a few talented folks along the way to help you, it is time to rock and roll. With all of this said, I guess I should make it official; it is time to start the music.   

Todd Manns, Owner, The Blue Cell, LLC

The Blue Cell Intel Summary, Vol 1. Issue 7

Weather, Weather and more Weather...

As 2011 comes to a close, we reflect on the significant weather related events that continue to shape and refine our emergency response procedures and practices.  Our reflection begins with spring 2011 that may well go down in the weather history books as the most extreme weather related events on record. From the massive April tornado swarm, to record Mississippi river levels, to extreme drought and wildfires in the Southwest, weather extremes were both violent and relentless, taking a terrible toll on human life and the economy.     

We saw 314 deaths from the tornado outbreak on April 27 which is the fourth most on record in a single day.  Tornados continued causing death and destruction through the spring to culminate with the Joplin, MO tornado on May 22.  This tornado took 151 lives making it the seventh deadliest single tornado on record.  Spring also brought immense precipitation to the United States creating record-setting crests along the Mississippi River to include Caruthersville, MO, Birds Point, MO, Vicksburg, MS, Natchez, MS, Red River Landing, LA as well as historic levels in many other locations including Memphis.

Extensive flooding was experienced by many Americans when 6.8 million acres flooded in Lower Mississippi River Valley.  In this area, 3.5 million acres of farmland was flooded to include one million acres of farmland flooded in Arkansas and 900,000 acres of farmland flooded in Mississippi  which was 10 percent of the farmland in this state.

Conversely, Texas experienced their driest March, April and May on record.   Records continued to be set by the most wildfire activity on record in April with almost 1.8 million acres burned.  The extreme drought caused Texas ranchers to lose $1.2 billion because pastures did not green and livestock losses are expected to exceed $1 billion due to lack of water and feed for cattle.

The tumultuous weather continued in August when Hurricane Irene struck the eastern seaboard.  It made landfall over Eastern North Carolina's Outer Banks on the morning of August 27 as a Category 1 hurricane and Irene continued to move north striking the Coney Island area of Brooklyn, NY on August 28 as she was downgraded to a tropical storm.   Considerable damage occurred in eastern upstate New York and Vermont, which suffered from the worst flooding in centuries.  Irene caused widespread destruction and at least the death of 56 individuals.  Damage estimates from Irene throughout the United States range from $10 to $15 billion.

Weather induced disasters allow emergency responders to utilize the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and hone their skills to provide the best response possible for the citizens of their communities.  “Based upon emergency management and incident response practices, NIMS represents a core set of doctrine, concepts, principles, terminology, and organizational processes that enables effective, efficient, and collaborative incident management.  The institutionalization of these elements nationwide through training helps to mitigate risk by achieving greater preparedness” according to the Department of Homeland Security.  Many of the communities affected by these weather events were ready to respond to the disasters using NIMS while others attempted but missed the mark providing a disservice to their communities.

The Blue Cell, LLC continues its mission to provide the tools, ideas, training and real world application of the Incident Command System Planning concepts to ensure emergency responders do not miss the mark in future weather related disasters.  The Blue Cell is thankful for our success in 2011 and we look forward to providing professional and progressive training, consulting and deployment services in 2012.

Susan Douglas
Consulting Services Group Lead

The Blue Cell, LLC 
Fort Worth, Texas Office