Thanks for the Attention, But…

A lot of attention is given to the approximately 1.5 million fire fighters in 30,000 fire departments in the U.S.  As a second-generation fire fighter, I’m certainly not alone in expressing gratitude that both the once-in-a-lifetime heroic and the day-to-day efforts of all fire fighters are being recognized by our country’s top officials and agencies.

Having said that, I would also like to recognize that the fire service is only one of the many agencies that play a significant role in public safety.  Others include law enforcement (of course), emergency medical services (indeed), public health agencies (certainly), the over-encompassing emergency management agencies and personnel on local and state levels, and many others, like the Red Cross and Salvation Army. The list goes on and on. You know who they are.

The issue that I see is that these key agencies are too often viewed (and treated) as towers, stovepipes, or, as one person recently stated, “cylinders of excellence.”  Yes.  Each one in their discipline.  From start to finish.  Excellent!

I sometimes wonder how the unifying leadership of DHS can pull all these excellent local ‘cylinders’ together for common, coordinated responses to the big disasters?  Local and state agencies and organizations have made remarkable accomplishments in coordination, cooperation, and planning. While there are hundreds of successes, there may be yet uncovered weaknesses caused by the failure to link these stovepiped organizations in time of national crisis. But wait! All disasters begin locally, right? So the real answer is in front of us – the best thing that DHS can do is lead in strengthening the links at the local and state levels!

The National Alliance for Public Safety GIS (NAPSG) Foundation has established a solid relationship with DHS and associated public and private organizations. Although the NAPSG Foundation is relatively new, it is attempting to address the broader scope of public safety in its membership and outreach based on the common use and application of geographic information systems (GIS). One of the common threads that seem to tie all the stovepipes together is the need for data and data analysis and the physical representation of data (maps) that present a common picture of the scope of a disaster or single event in which everyone plays a role.