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MEMA Home > Programs> Communication> News > SCIP Monthly Update April 2009

SCIP Monthly Update April 2009

 

April 15, 2009

 

SCIP Monthly Update April 2009

State’s Interoperability Vision

The State of Maine will have a firmly established, formally managed and maintainable communications environment, based on technology, protocols, training and usage, that will provide seamless communications capability to all emergency management, first responder, and response support organizations at the local, regional and State levels, enabling them to exchange information via voice and data means, as required by standard NIMS response procedures, to provide effective, coordinated and timely all hazards response to our citizens.

State Interoperability Communications Coordinator

The Communication Survey deadline has passed except one County who will have the opportunity to complete them past the deadline. The results will be compiled and posted to the MEMA website for all to review very soon. This is how you rated the Interoperability Continuum in your own communities.

Preliminary results of the Survey question #4 – Training:

Excellent - 8% Needs Improvement - 8% Average - 36%

Your Commentary includes:

  • Would like to be kept informed of all training
  • Annual exercise, sometimes table tops, mostly full scale
  • Needs more but we are dealing with long distance to
    travel for training and all most all volunteers with no time or resources to spare
    • Working on it
    • Fairly poor
    • Much training is needed for dispatchers and RCC staff
    • Biggest issue is being able to get the right people, not
      just the top staff
    • Being able to watch training by persons well versed to
      see it done right would be beneficial
    • Thank you for the many opportunities
    • Training among Depts. (Operational) going well but could use more on County level
    • All emergency Services are highly trained. We are completing CONOPS training

Maine Interoperable Communications Committee (MICC)

The next meeting is scheduled for April 21st at 0930.

Scenario to think about?

Are you ready? Imagine your only tower in the community fails and the backup generator fails as well; your tower has no power and will be inoperable for at least three or four days. Are you prepared in case this happens? Do you have SOPS that cover this type of incident?
Do your people know? How would you communicate? Something to think about…

If you need assistance and/or would like to talk about this with us please don’t hesitate to contact me at 624–4476 or email me at steven.mallory@maine.gov

Training & Exercises

COML Unit Leader Type III Training (COML) - Through the Office of Emergency Communications Interoperable Communications Technical Assistance Program (OEC/ICTAP), the All-Hazards Type III Communications Unit Leader (COML) Class is available to provide DHS approved National Incident Management System (NIMS) compliant Communications Unit Leader (COML) instruction to ensure that every state/territory has trained personnel capable of coordinating on-scene emergency communications during a multi-jurisdictional response.

This Training is scheduled for June 23-25 in Waterville. This is a train the trainer course and this class will be open to NIMS compliant communities with a population of 4000 or more. Five (5) students from each of the six (6) regions will be selected for a total of thirty (30). Contact MEMA Interoperable Communication Division (624-4476) for questions or further information, or go to our communication website to see the full descriptive and details.

NEWS from our March Workshops……

Here are the top five concerns from the County Workshops that were held in March. I selected comments that were mentioned from the majority of the Counties...

Top five (5) Concerns:

Governance: Needs to be more structured and formal with State, County, and local.

SOP: Most entities have these but they need to be improved and formalized

Voice Tech: Well known dead zones, these areas need to be improved upon.

Data Cap: Almost non existent within the Counties, sharing is limited at best.

Training: Would like to have more

Usage: We do the best with what we have. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five tips for COML Training:

  • Know who you have to communicate with.
  • Have a resource list and contacts available.
  • Sometimes the manufacturer is most knowledgeable about a radio but they only work 9 to 5.
  • Incident command brings together many different agencies quickly. Capture what they use to communicate with and what their preferences are.
  • Know the terrain and use it to your advantage. Sometimes a good hill and a well placed radio can help you out.

You are invited to the 1st Annual Maine Partners in Emergency Preparedness Conference to be held April 30 and May 1, 2009 at the Augusta Civic Center. Participant registrations are now being accepted. The registration packet is attached or can be downloaded now in Adobe® .pdf format.... The last page of the packet is a Registration Form that may be filled out electronically, but must be printed and submitted by mail.

For questions, please call the Affiliate Liaison at 1-800-452-8786 x2297.

 

Contact:

Steven Mallory
207-624-4476
steven.mallory@maine.gov

 

Last update: 07/20/10