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The Emergency Management Take: Winter 2021
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The Emergency Management Take with Bruce Fitzgerald
The FirstNet Uplift Request Tool
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Through hurricanes, wildfires, protests, and the coronavirus, emergency managers faced extraordinary challenges last year. As the only network built for public safety, FirstNet helps meet these challenges. One unique feature is FirstNet’s Uplift Request Tool, which allows you to elevate FirstNet users during incidents or high congestion, giving them the highest priority on the network.
Priority and preemption for the extended community
The Uplift Request Tool allows you to give priority and preemption to an extended community of FirstNet users who support public safety during an incident.
FirstNet’s priority and preemption is the unique feature giving public safety the lights and sirens treatment to speed past other traffic on the network. That means emergency management, law enforcement, the fire service, 911, and EMS always get first access to the network when it is congested.
When an incident occurs, an extended community of responders often need the same network access to help with response, mitigation, and recovery efforts. These extended primary users include utility workers, public works personnel, school staff, and waste and transportation crews. They work hand-in-hand with public safety during an emergency to restore utility lines, clear roads, clean up debris, or activate during school shootings — and sometimes need the same priority and preemption to communicate effectively.
When to use the Uplift Request Tool
The Uplift Request Tool can be used to elevate FirstNet users during incidents or when the network is congested. For example, when a major storm damages electric, gas, or water lines utility companies are deployed to restore these life-saving services. Emergency managers can pre-load contact lists of FirstNet users into the Uplift Request Tool. Then, as soon as an incident is created, emergency managers can bulk-uplift those rosters for priority service.
If a storm wreaks extensive damage, utility companies may bring in additional contractors to help restore lines. The Uplift Request Tool can also work for these crews if they are FirstNet subscribers. The company can send over information for contractors needing ad-hoc uplift. Or those users can request uplift using the FirstNet Assist app, which can be downloaded for free on responders’ FirstNet-enabled devices.
When Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana, the storm damaged critical infrastructure, including gas lines operated by Atmos Energy. Rich Gius, Chief Information Officer for Atmos Energy, reported that uplifting smartphones for those working on the frontline made a difference. FirstNet’s prioritized cell service helped their emergency crews to coordinate restoration efforts with first responders and local leaders. Within a week after the hurricane made landfall, all service lines were either repaired, replaced, or marked.
How to uplift devices
The Uplift Request Tool gives emergency managers control of their network resources. An administrator typically designates one or more people as uplift managers who can select any FirstNet device for temporary uplift for as long as 48 hours and extendable up to 30 days. Managing uplift can be done from anywhere in the country — it doesn’t have to be on scene or in the emergency operations center.
My colleague at the FirstNet Authority, Billy Freeman, senior public safety advisor, is a member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IV Urban Search and Rescue team that deployed to the Gulf states in the record-breaking 2020 hurricane season. Billy serves as the team’s FirstNet uplift manager while working from his home office in Tennessee.
As uplift manager, Billy creates incidents and uplifts users through close collaboration with the team’s Communications Unit Leader, or COML. From his remote location, Billy handles all incoming requests within the 15-minute window for approval, allowing the team in the field to focus on saving lives and protecting communities. This is especially useful to the team’s commander and COML who are bombarded with other priorities on scene.
Best practices for uplifting
Like any other tool, the Uplift Request Tool works best when used the right way. Here are some of my recommendations for best practices:
- Pre-plan rosters by working with your partner organizations to collect device information. Save those rosters in the FirstNet Uplift Request Tool.
- Create an uplift incident as soon as an incident occurs. For example, create an uplift incident at same time as a WebEOC incident is created.
- Uplift known organizations as soon as the incident begins and uplift additional responders as needed.
- Incorporate the uplift process into the emergency operations center activation plans, communications plans, and training curriculum.
Your experience
What are your thoughts on the Uplift Request Tool? I’d love to hear your best practices or questions about the feature. Send me an email.
Also, I hope you’ll check out these events that my FirstNet Authority colleagues and I are attending:
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The FirstNet Authority continues to advance unique capabilities for public safety as outlined in the FirstNet Authority Roadmap, including four new mission-ready solutions:
FirstNet MegaRange™ boosts signal strength in hard-to-reach places using high-power user equipment (HPUE) only authorized on FirstNet.
Z-Axis for FirstNet offers vertical location mapping especially helpful with locating personnel in tall buildings that is not offered by traditional GPS.
Compact Rapid Deployables are available for public safety agencies to purchase, providing connectivity similar to cell sites in a matter of minutes.
FirstNet Push-to-Talk now can communicate seamlessly with land-mobile radio users, enabling better collaboration.
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The FirstNet network continues to expand across America. In the last three months, new cell sites have gone up in: Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
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Tech, Innovations, and Hot Topics in Emergency Management
Read what we’ve been hearing from public safety in the field about trends and drivers for emergency management and emergency communications.*
Southern Manatee Fire and Rescue in Florida has a policy to always use a drone during the first stage of a hazmat incident and operate it throughout. Drones provide situational awareness, damage assessment, and debris estimation for HAZMAT incidents that otherwise would be nearly impossible because of the inherent dangers. Drones help to monitor and identify substances, provide overwatch of operations, deliver any necessary tools, provide lighting, and serve as backup communications.
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The American Birkebeiner Ski Race, or Birkie, is the largest cross country ski race in North America. Cell phone communication on the course is traditionally a challenge due to the many hills, valleys, and dense trees in the area. During past Birkie events, first responders have struggled to remain connected along the trails. With a FirstNet SatCOLT (satellite cell on light truck) providing a mobile cellular connection, coverage was not a concern at the 2020 Birkie.
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Bruce Fitzgerald is the First Responder Network Authority Emergency Management Subject Matter Expert. Learn more about Bruce or email him with your questions. |
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*FirstNet Authority may provide hyperlinks for third-party, non-governmental websites in order to offer additional context and added value for our users. FirstNet Authority does not endorse any product or service and is not responsible, nor can it guarantee the validity or timeliness of the content on hyperlinks outside of the federal government. In addition, users may wish to review privacy notices on non-government sites since their information collection practices may differ from ours.
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