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 

The Blue Cell Intel Summary, Vol. 1 Issue 6

Hazard Vulnerability Assessment: A Community Effort

“Hazard mitigation is any sustained action taken to reduce or eliminate the long‐term risk to human life and property from hazards. Mitigation activities may be implemented prior to, during, or after an incident. However, it has been demonstrated that hazard mitigation is most effective when based on an inclusive, comprehensive, long‐term plan that is developed before a disaster occurs. “ (Federal Emergency Management Agency, Local Multi‐Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance, July 1, 2008.) The process of assessing and mitigating all possible hazards and risks within an agency, city, or region is a critical task that must be undertaken by all communities. It must be performed by all the agencies and businesses within those communities; if local risks and hazards are not assessed critically and cross-jurisdictionally, community members and response agencies will not be able to work together to plan, prepare for, or mitigating against the probable hazards they face. There is a direct increase in losses incurred after a disaster if planning and preparedness efforts have not occurred. Calculating the type of impact each hazard will have on the community and speculating outcomes in terms of personal safety, loss of infrastructure, loss of life, business continuity, and other areas allows leaders within the community to outline plans to mitigate against these risks, determine priorities within the community, and increase the effectiveness of response actions in times of need.

Over the past ten years our nation has seen over 597 federally declared disasters, ranging from severe storms and flooding, to wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, snowstorms, and many other disasters. Major hurricanes such as Rita and Katrina wreaked havoc on communities within the United States, killing hundreds and leaving thousands displaced, while also costing billions in damage in Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi and Alabama. The cost and devastation of disasters increases exponentially when little mitigation or planning has occurred pre-disaster. If individual communities, counties, regions, and states could begin working together to create comprehensive disaster mitigation and response plans, actual prioritization of mitigation tasks could be viewed as a joint effort amongst all agencies. A community wide assessment of local hazards, risks and vulnerabilities, including local or state Emergency Management, Fire and Rescue agencies, Law Enforcement, EMS, Public Health, Hospitals, other Healthcare partners such as home health and hospice, non-profit and volunteer agencies, private industry and business, community members, and any other stakeholders within the area, is the only way to address all the probable risks each of these groups or agencies may face. When individual agencies share their hazard analysis with each other and cooperate in their planning efforts to ensure each individual plan integrates into all other local response plans, lives, structures, infrastructure, sensitive eco systems, and economic losses could be minimized.

By working together to address potential hazards for each of these individual agencies, everyone is able to understand why each individual has different priorities and an overall situational awareness becomes apparent pre-event. This pre-disaster cooperation will clear up confusion during an incident response and allow communities to understand what plans are in place, what type of response will occur, and what expectations there are for each agency and as a community. The necessity to integrate the planning and decision making process not only with response agencies, but to also include community members, cannot be over exaggerated. These populations must have a greater understanding of how their community functions, how to reach the largest populations quickly, and where vulnerable populations live and work. They will offer valuable insight into how impacts of disaster will affect their community, and individuals within that network. They are also hungry for knowledge of planning efforts, and the more informed and prepared the public, the better chance of survival and a quicker transition from response to recovery.

 Planning can’t occur in a vacuum, it must evolve into a process that is inclusive of all stakeholders. Hazards and risks must be prioritized based on impact to all sectors, and work that occurs to mitigate impacts should be done using a cross-sector approach. Emergency managers are well aware of the need to assess risks and hazards within their city or county, but do not necessarily share this information with other groups or agencies within their community. The same can be said about many organizations; risk assessments may occur within an agency, but the collected data is not disseminated to the community. For example, hospitals are required to perform their own annual internal assessment of risk as a requirement of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JHACO). However, it is a little known fact that JHACO also requires them to share their highest prioritized hazards with response agencies in their community and work with them to collectively develop an integrated response strategy.

This cross-sector sharing of hazard and vulnerabilities from one agency to another is not occurring in most counties or regions within Colorado, and is not on a large enough scale if it is occurring to some degree. Because Colorado is such a diverse state, geographically and in population, hazards and risks vary greatly throughout; response capabilities and available resources change rapidly as you move across our great terrain. Impacts of certain hazards and the priorities for hazard mitigation planning are viewed very differently region to region. Utilizing a collaborative approach for hazard assessment and planning helps create a valuable prioritization of resources within each region. Local response capabilities will be enhanced tremendously, community assets will be evenly distributed through plans in place pre-disaster, and dialogue about community risks will allow for a foundation of a resilient community. This will greatly reduce the impact of hazards and risks and help decrease individual disruptions in services and within critical infrastructure, continuity of business will be facilitated, and communities will become resilient while also self sustaining in times of disaster. It is crucial that state and local government begin to work together with community partners in preparedness from both the private, non-profit, industry, and community to truly create integrated plans for improving abilities to respond to disaster. When planning occurs collaboratively, every stakeholder is allowed input and all plans are created with one mission in mind; the safety and security of our communities in times of disaster, and the improved ability of responders and leaders to quickly assess and handle a disaster response when disaster occurs.

Nicole Cantrell

Exercise Specialist, The Blue Cell, LLC

The Blue Cell Intel Summary Volume 1 Issue 5

GOOD NIGHT IRENE....

This months Blue Cell Intel Summary comes from Randy Freed from our Denver Office and was edited by Susan Douglas from our Ft. Worth Office.

I have said many times that every deployment is like getting shot out of a cannon.  It’s always the same fear; am I up to the challenge?  Will I screw up and get someone hurt?  All things considered, I just love the opportunities and the adversities every emergency brings.  My latest deployment for Hurricane Irene provided me with many tests and trials.

A colleague and I boarded a plane at Denver International Airport at 6 A.M. enroute to Richmond, Virginia via Washington D.C. as Richmond was already closed to air travel.   We had driven most of the night and we were already in overdrive.  Even though Richmond is about 100 miles from the coast, Hurricane Irene was in full bloom as we arrived at Virginia’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

My teammate and I were deployed as an EMAC A-Team and were billeted at the ESF-7 Resources section.  I have to tell you Virginia has it going on.  The State EOC has a terrific lay out; underground, big and new.


We never did figure it out, even though we are seasoned operators, why we had the night shift.  Eight at night to eight in the morning all the while the relative rookies had the day shift.  In all fairness, the rookies arrived first but still rank ought to have privileges.
Ready to pump out Req A’s like they were water, we sat, we watched and we waited to be utilized. 


Ultimately, no Req A’s were broadcasted.  Evidently, Virginia’s Governor mandated no out of state resources would be used.  So while we tried to look busy we had the privilege to watch the Virginia resource unit do their thing.   We observed and on occasion were asked our opinion about what to do.  The five people in the unit did a fine job of getting commodities out to the affected counties. 


The EOC manager gave a situation overview every shift change that even the most critical of Plans Chiefs would enjoy.  The Governor gave a positive uplifting speech and then, without any staffers, went to each ESF and visited.  He spent the entire day doing his diligence.
We were not being utilized and when everyone else is working that is a bad feeling.  Fortunately, my colleague and I were asked if we wanted to go to New York to assist and we shouted, “Hell yea.”   We flew from Richmond to Boston then to Albany.  We were met at the airport by the ground support unit and I felt like a big dog.


New York’s EOC is a 1950’s fallout shelter so it is also underground and enormous.  It is very reminiscent of Dr. Strangelove.  You walk 30 feet down a long tube or culvert to the center and make a 90 degree turn through the blast door much like NORAD.  The set-up is by department not ESF’s or function.  My teammate was sent to the EMAC A-Team section and I was sent to the Plans section because that is my forte’ and they were in desperate need of qualified individuals in Plans.
Truthfully I do not intend to be critical, but these are my observations that I found interesting.  We were a Planning section in name only.  In fact were we a pure Situation unit, all 12 of us on the day shift.  The night shift suffered through the ordeal with only 5 or 6 people.  Don’t misunderstand, we were busy but in my opinion gravely underused.  I do not know who at the New York State EOC was actually performing Planning functions, if anyone, but it was not us in the designated Planning section.  My job was tracking electric utility outages from seven power companies and attending meetings on behalf of the Planning section.  I went to the teleconference for the county EOC’s, the command and general staff meeting, the planning meeting with FEMA and the last meeting of the day was the teleconference for all the state agencies involved.  


After a couple of days we had a personnel turn over and I was promoted to Deputy Plans Chief which would look good on a resume but I could not get the staffing unit to get that information to FEMA to be included on the Incident Action Plan (IAP).  Yep, that’s right, the New York State EOC did not produce an IAP but FEMA did one that included the state’s information.  You can imagine how it is; I suggested very gently an IAP but was rebuffed so I let it go.  But as far as resume building, I’ve got a good job with no intention of changing.  My job at the New York State EOC was to build a situation report every 12 hours and generate an executive report.  The Counter-terrorism task force desk was tasked with doing a separate executive report.  We collaborated by sharing information and dividing work.  It was very redundant and a waste of manpower.   


The numbers were enormous; 940,000 people without electrical power, 100,000 people evacuated in one day.  Shelters, Disaster Recovery Centers, nursing homes and hospitals in need of evacuation encountered egress difficulties as many roads were destroyed.  While we were there, Tropical Storm Lee came for a visit.  Nine inches of rain on Binghampton, NY which was already inundated caused an evacuation of 20,000 residents. 


New York utilizes a computerized emergency tracking system called D-Lan instead of WebEOC that I am familiar with.   I have to say as a guy who has an ongoing feud with technology I found it pretty efficient and intuitive.  Dare I say superior.

New York is a nervous state.  The vibe is anxious and we spent way too much time and energy writing a situation report for an unknown audience.  The stereotypes of people in the Northeast are accurate.  I walked in one morning and said “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!” The entire unit looked up at me and said nothing.  With a smile I loudly asked if they were stumped for a response.  Nothing but silence, WOW!

Finally, I had a great experience and look forward to my next deployment with the intention of serving whomever I am working for.  This is my great joy.

Randy Freed

Lead Trainer, The Blue Cell, LLC  

Deputy Planning Section Chief, The  Blue Cell Deployment Services Group