Feral Jundi

Friday, October 2, 2009

PMC 2.0: Mesh Networks

Filed under: Disaster Response,PMC 2.0,Technology — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:11 AM

   This is important research for PMC’s and PSC’s, because if companies want a simple way for contractors to communicate with each other on some disaster zone or war zone gig, then this will allow them to do that.  Especially since most guys have, or will soon have smart phones that are bluetooth and wifi capable. You could add this capability to your communications plan, and if these guys can make this open source and free, then it would be a no-brainer to utilize Mesh Networks.

   In disaster zones and war zones where there is no infrastructure for 3G or cell towers, or those things were destroyed somehow, you must have a communications infrastructure back up system.  Mesh Networks is a possible solution if they can pull it off.  To make it free is even cooler, because then it will not be something that is exclusive to one company or another.  Along with the Mesh Networks, there must also be a way to encrypt the communications or something, and I am sure some technology will come along to do such a thing.  But first things first–get the Mesh Networks going.

    And for military/police/medical/disaster response crews, this will be awesome. For coordinating purposes and for evolving incidents like the Mumbai attack, you must have communications and information sharing systems that have redundancy built into them. If terrorists or some flood destroys the cell tower(s), then you must have an alternative network for everyone to talk on.  This is smart and I wish them all the luck in their research. –Matt

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Researchers developing free mobile mesh network

Munir Kotadia

Oct 1, 2009

Can provide comms during mobile network blackout?

Researchers from Australia and Singapore are developing a wireless ad-hoc mesh networking technology that uses mobile handsets to share and carry information including high quality video.

The mesh network will make use of Bluetooth or Wifi and could be used at a large sporting event, conference, or even a crowded city centre during an emergency, to swap information between handsets – even if the mobile phone network was offline.

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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Disaster Response: U.S., Australia Lead Samoa Relief Mission

Filed under: Australia,Disaster Response,Samoa — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 12:25 PM

     Below you get a little indicator of the type of Incident Response mechanisms FEMA is using for this.  I am not familiar with IMAT, but I am familiar with Incident Command, and that is exactly what will be used to coordinate these efforts.  The best part is Australia is fully on board with Incident Command as well, and this is a prime example of using a universal command language and system to unify the effort. –Matt

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US, Australia lead Samoa relief mission

by Amy Coopes

Wed Sep 30, 2009

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia, New Zealand and the United States led immediate pledges of assistance to the Samoan islands after a devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which killed dozens.

US President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in the remote Pacific territory American Samoa, where at least 14 people were killed when a massive wall of water swept over the US-administered island early Tuesday local time.

“The president tonight declared a major disaster exists in the territory of American Samoa and ordered federal aid to supplement territory and local recovery efforts in the area struck by an earthquake, tsunami, and flooding,” a statement from the White House said.

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Monday, August 31, 2009

Disaster Response: The Security Officer and Incident Command

Filed under: Disaster Response,Industry Talk,Leadership — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:05 AM

    I read this story below, and it reminded me of how little respect folks have for the security officer of a facility, all the way up until something awful happens.  Something like a terrorist attack or natural disasters or a response to a influenza virus outbreak like Novel Influenza A (Swine Flu). It usually takes a really bad deal to remind everyone how important an initial response and attack is, in order to combat these type of things.

   But what this story missed, and was ‘oh so close’ to mentioning, was the importance of Incident Command to the initial response to an incident like a pandemic.  Incident Command is the answer, and it is also something that has been federally mandated by DHS.  But what does that really mean, you might ask?

   It means that the US government has recognized the power and efficiency of such a system, based on it’s usage during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the hurricane responses the last couple of years and the fires that ravage the west every summer.  It is a simple command language and structure, that all units involved can rally around and understand.  That is a powerful thing, because the emergency response that is most organized and most flexible to answer the rapid pace of an evolving incident, will win.  It has been proven time and time again, hence why it is the preferred command structure for emergency response in the US.

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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Funny Stuff: Katrina Flashback–Police Looting a Walmart in New Orleans

Filed under: Disaster Response,Funny Stuff,Law Enforcement,Video — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:06 AM

Friday, June 5, 2009

Disaster Response: LCES, 10 Standard Fire Orders, and the 18 Watch Out Situations

Filed under: Disaster Response — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:48 PM

    Why does this belong on Feral Jundi?  These orders and watch out situations, and LCES, were all developed out of some hard learned lessons in the forest fire fighting industry.  Which usually means that a fire fighter died or a really bad accident happened, and these were the patterns of mistakes or indicators prior to the incident that were ignored.  If you are going to be patrolling in a high fire danger area, or protecting an estate or FOB up in the mountains, then these lessons dealing with fire will be helpful. Summer is here, and fire is a disaster in every sense of the word.

    What led to the development of LCES was that it was an easy to remember, catch all acronym used to simplify the safety of fire fighting.  As a smokejumper, LCES was first on my priorities and planning for the fight, and then during the operations phase, I would constantly be evaluating the situation and referring to these orders and watch out situations to help me see the potential problems. We were constantly seeking intelligence and observing fire behavior, while at the same time using strategy and hard work to extinguish it.  Often times on fires, guys got killed when they got tired and did not heed these rules of forest fire fighting. Those lessons were pounded into our brains every year during fire refresher training, and for those that lost friends or survived a burn over, those lessons are seared onto the brain. Most have a fireline handbook on their person, just so they don’t forget anything out there. 

    I also posted this as a supplement to the building snowmobiles article I wrote that deals with the attack by fire.  There is even some carry over with some of these rules of firefighting, to the war fighting or security industry, and I think it is interesting to see some of the similarities. –Matt

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Fireline Handbook 

LCES

Lookouts, Communication, Escape Routes, Safety Zone

10 STANDARD FIRE ORDERS

    The arrangement of the Orders are logically organized to be implemented systematically and applied to all fire situations.

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