The Southern Region Incident Support Program

1. IMPACT ER-MET The Southern Region Incident Support Program Tom Bradshaw Chief, Meteorological Services Branch Southern Region Headquarters National Weather Service (Presentation stolen from Rusty Billinsgley, STSD Chief and ISP Guru)

2. First, let’s get some definitions out of the way… ISP = Incident Support Program = Impact Support Program  Emergency Response Met (ER-MET) Program They all boil down to one goal: “Helping core partners, and in a broader sense, society, make sound water and weather-related decisions”

3. Internally… Here is our message for forecasters: Put your value where it matters most today. This requires many of us to adjust our operational mindset. To help partners make good decisions, we as forecasters need to shift our first frame of reference from Science to Service

4. Southern Region ISP Incident Support Program “I heard from the commander at the site, that when he has a critical decision to make, he doesn't want to be looking at a laptop,” Hayes said. “He wants to be looking eyeball to eyeball at somebody who really understands what the models are saying and really understands how that applies to his situation.” San Diego Union Tribune October 2007 Srn Ca fires …Jack Hayes

5. Southern Region ISP “I think the weather briefing is the best thing since the spotter activation information.  We use the briefing as a tool to prepare elected officials, law enforcement, fire departments, and EMS for the upcoming weather. We are able to evaluate the situation and resources we have to commit.  By having the briefing we are far better prepared than in the past. Every bit of information we have in advance allows the management team to better perform the challenges ahead.” Robert Barrett, Gaines County Emergency Management and LEPC Seminole, TX Incident Support Program

6. Southern Region ISP “It has been handy, especially for our command staff, control staff, and the street department.  We use it to gear up - to develop a contingency plan for things like road clearing.  We also forwarded briefing slides to our school superintendent and assistant for use in consideration for school closures.  During the recent events, we also sent out briefing information to all city employees with an email address. ” David Scott, Police Sergeant and Member of Hobbs Emergency Management Team Incident Support Program

7. Southern Region ISP What it is? A program to provide a spectrum of interpretative incident support services for core partners by Southern Region field offices Incident Support Program

8. Southern Region ISP Legacy NWS Business Incident Support Program Data Forecaster Product

9. Southern Region ISP Incident Support Program • Background • Demand for interpretative services increasing • Examples • Hurricanes of 2005 • Texas-OK Fires of 05/06 • Interpretive services more important than legacy products • Aimed at core set of partners

10. Southern Region ISP • Why this demand? • Explosion of available “information” • Decision makers need concise interpretation • Decision support and DS systems becoming more common • Weather/water info becoming available in formats to feed directly into DSS • Value of weather /water intelligence increasing (accuracy and accessibility) Incident Support Program

11. Southern Region ISP ISP Way of NWS Business Incident Support Program Web Briefing Recorded Briefing Live Virtual Briefing IC Center On-site IC Incident On-site Data Forecaster Services

12. SR ISP Thesis The infrastructure for the beginnings of an institutionalized regional Incident Support Program (ISP) is already in place. Some field offices in the Southern Region are already taking advantage of this infrastructure and have instituted or plan to institute a local ISP-type program. Given the demand for these types of services, it is best to provide a regionally supported framework developed from current initiatives and best practices. Incident Support Program

13. SR ISP • Team Assumptions • Spectrum of Services basis • Areas - technology, training, policy, regional support structure, workload/scheduling, budget, marketing, etc • Initial focus on EMs • Strategy of support – mimic Resource System and Incident Command System • - Assumes field offices are first responders • “Incident” includes any event where weather is a factor in decision-making • Field offices given significant implementation flexibility • Align with national IMET program • Fiscal resources initially out of office/regional budgets Incident Support Program

14. Spectrum of Services Product request Web Briefing Incident Support Program Recorded Briefing Live Virtual Briefing IC Center On-site IC Incident On-site Desired commonalities: • Impact-oriented • Geared toward decision making

15. SR ISP • Assumption - Initial focus on EMs • Why? • We felt we’d get bogged down discussing “the composition of the partners” • Emergency management is our ultimate core customer • Other decision-makers can easily leverage off of this work • We assumed a broad definition of EMs Incident Support Program

16. SR ISP • Assumption - mimic Resource System and Incident Command System • Assumes field offices are first responders • Assume Regional HQ has an operational component Incident Support Program National Regional Response and Resources Based on Complexity and Scope Local

17. SR ISP • Assumption - “Incident” includes any event where weather or water is a factor in decision-making • Examples of incidents include: • Winter storm due at day 5-6 timeframe • This afternoon’s severe weather outbreak • Ongoing drought • Republican national convention • A college football game • Train derailment with “bad stuff” • River flood event • Note: support for “events” like the convention and the football game is directly for EMs – not consultant support for the event itself Incident Support Program

18. SR ISP • Assumption - “Field offices given significant implementation flexibility” • Forecast Office/RFC can choose which part of the Spectrum of Services makes the most sense in their area • Forecast Office/RFC can determine appropriate core partners and what they can support • The Regional HQ provides the framework Incident Support Program

19. SR ISP • Assumption - “Fiscal resources initially out of office/regional budgets” • Expectations should reflect the reality here • Our core partners should understand our resource limitations (“We may not always be able to do what we want to do”) • No dedicated $$ to support deployments outside of the office • Seed money to move us forward as an agency • We have to be creative! Incident Support Program

20. SR ISP • Status: • 10 months old • Version 0.1 complete • Situational Awareness • Internal Marketing • Virtual Briefing Capability • Other areas • Deployable laptop status • ISP training plan • Graphical Web products Incident Support Program

21. SR ISP • Version 0.2 plans (under development): • Core Partner Requirement Identification • Reach a higher level of collaboration with core partners • ICS/Communication Training • Internal Communication/Marketing • Start measuring/rewarding for ISP • Tools/Technology • Evaluation/standardized support of regional briefing tools • Better on-site support • Services • More/better decision-support on web pages Incident Support Program

22. Example: Graphical Forecast Incident Support Program WFO Midland makes extensive use of web images to convey impacts to EMs and other core partners. These are a few of the many images that were provided on the MAF “Dust Devil Dispatch” web page during the recent critical fire weather period.

23. Incident Support Program Example: RFC Graphical Forecast

24. Incident Support Program Example: Web Briefing Hydrologists’ HMD communicates decision support information:

25. Example: Web Briefing Incident Support Program

26. Example: Live Virtual Briefing Incident Support Program John Feldt providing an FXC-based briefing to State of Florida during Tropical Storm Hanna in 2002

27. Example: GoToMeeting Conference Call Briefing Incident Support Program Support to Arkansas/FEMA during March 2008 floods

28. Incident Support Program Example: VTC/Web Brief WGRFC

29. Incident Support Program Example: Instant Messaging 4/24 16:43:44 <nwsfwd3> Folks...Severe on the way for S. Palo Pinto/N Erath Counties...for an hour. Specifics to come. 4/24 16:38:26 <nwsfwd3> caused the roof damage. 4/24 16:38:10 <nwsfwd3> wow...ok. There it could've been a combo of wind/heavy rain (downburst) that caused. Thanks for the info. 4/24 16:37:31 <kxas_wx> homeowner description from Pecan Plantation was that it all happened in heavy rain... 4/24 16:35:49 <nwsfwd3> you bet KXAS. 4/24 16:35:38 <iembot> FWD cancels Severe Thunderstorm Warning for Hunt [TX] 4/24 16:35:31 <kxas_wx> thx for the multiplier.... 4/24 16:35:28 <iembot> FWD issues SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR for Erath, Hamilton [TX] till 5:00 PM CDT 4/24 16:35:16 <nwsfwd3> Also...WGRFC has noted that KFWS is running cold on storm total estimates, due to warm-process rain in some cases. Generally need to mulitply by 1.25-1.3 on the STP from the radar. 4/24 16:34:28 <iembot> Celeste [Hunt Co, TX] amateur radio reports TSTM WND DMG at 04:29 PM CDT -- tree limbs down 4/24 16:34:20 <nwsfwd3> That was 4:29 pm on the Celeste report per HAMs 4/24 16:33:30 <iembot> FWD issues SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR for Lamar [TX] till 5:00 PM CDT 4/24 16:31:04 <nwsfwd3> Some tree branches down in Hunt Co near Celeste. No other damage reported as of yet.

30. Example: Multi-media Briefing Incident Support Program

31. Example: On-site Support Incident Support Program

32. Example: On-site Support Texas SOC RITA 2005 Incident Support Program

33. Example: Situational Awareness Incident Support Program

34. SLINGBOX Cable SAWR SHARP SA System at SERFC

35. Caution!!! Incident Support Program • Resources are limited! • This is a partnership – offices have to come to an understanding with partners • Not all offices will offer the same services

36. It still gets back to culture… Again, here is our message for forecasters: Put your value where it matters most today. This requires many of us to adjust our operational mindset. To help partners make good decisions, we as forecasters need to shift our first frame of reference from Science to Service

37. This is exciting!!! Incident Support Program