Hurricane Response
FEMA REGION IV:
2020 HURRICANE SEASON
During the 2020 hurricane season, Bridge4PS was a valuable tool for first responders from 8 states and their federal partners in the FEMA Region IV Emergency Services Function (ESF) 2 to support hurricane response operations for the Gulf Coast. They shared incident updates, comms plans, resource deployment information, and ongoing status updates for unprecedented situational awareness for frontline personnel being deployed as well as management of EOC staff.
DIRECTORIES ENABLE UNPRECEDENTED COLLABORATION
Bridge4PS users are vetted public safety and support practitioners. All users are searchable in the Nationwide Directory which reduces inefficiencies sharing contact information common during large-scale incident response. The exclusivity of the platform allowed the Communications Unit (COMU) to create open channels searchable in the Bridge4PS Channels Directory for each hurricane without concern for operational security. Using both public and announcement channels allowed inbound responders to obtain a full operational summary before even arriving at the designated check-in location.
HIGHLIGHTS
OVERVIEW
- Seamless info sharing for Mutual Aid Response across 8 states & DHS
- Collaboration channel searchable in Open Bridge4PS Channels Directory
- User Directory improved efficiency of sharing contact info
OPERATIONAL IMPACT
- Real-time situational awareness across Region IV ESF 2
- Unprecedented collaboration with >70 members from 8 states & DHS
- Efficient collaboration during highly dynamic, incident response
PARTICIPANTS