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
- Florida
- Georgia
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Louisiana
- Tennessee
- U.S. Dept of Homeland Security