Technology in Society 25 (2003) 539–541

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First responders: problems and solutions:Office of Emergency Management

Henry Jackson �

New York City Office of Emergency Management, 11 Water Street, Brooklyn, New York,

NY 11201-1332, USA

The primary charge of the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) is inter-agency coordination. On September 11 and for some time after that, we coordi-nated many inter-agency needs at Ground Zero and around New York City,especially for recovery. An additional responsibility is to work with all the agenciesto develop contingency plans for responding to a variety of scenarios and then todrill and practice with them. A third responsibility is activation of EmergencyOperations Centers—a facility that we are prepared to activate whenever there isan emergency anywhere in the city. We bring together representatives from differ-ent city, state, and federal agencies, as well as non-profit and private organizations,and we work to coordinate and resolve every issue that arises.On September 11, we lost our OEM Emergency Operations Center at 7 World

Trade Center. Shortly after we evacuated sometime after the second plane hit thetower, we reconvened and activated recovery plans. We used a bus as a commandcenter, and thus were able to remain up and running the entire time. We activatedthe Police Academy, and then, within 32 hours, set up Pier 92 as a triage center.We had all the infrastructure needed to support a working group of over 300people.We have numerous technological concerns and needs. We go out into the field

every day, and we respond to events, but we are not first responders. The firedepartment, police department, and the EPA are first responders, with an IncidentCommander onsite. It is our job to sort out all the other resources available fromthe city to assist with a specific event.One thing we always look for is redundancy. We did not have it on September 11,

specifically as a backup center. Rest assured, we have it now. The Fire Department

� Tel.: +1-718-422-4600; fax: +1-718-422-4662.

E-mail address: hjackson@oem.nyc.gov (H. Jackson).

0160-791X/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.techsoc.2003.09.015

builds redundancy into its communication system. OEM uses a different frequency,an 800-MHz frequency, that was operational on September 11. We were able toimmediately identify all our people, ascertain that everybody was safe, and thenpick a location to reconvene.None of our cell phones worked for a short period after the attacks. My Black-

berry kept telling me that two planes had hit the World Trade Center, but that wasthe only thing that worked. Today we typically carry several different phones, andwe try to achieve sufficient redundancy so that something will work if an incidentoccurs.One of our recovery successes was the establishment of a wireless broadband

pipe for data transmission when most data lines were down in the area. We hadcommand centers at the World Trade Center, and a company called Ricochet wasbrought in to pull everyone together at their various command centers. A multi-tude of requests were coming into our command-and-control center and then dis-seminated against the availability of different resources deployed throughout thecity—all through the use of this wireless pipe. There needs to be more such capa-bility, with even more stable wireless broadband width. This capability applies inmany scenarios when another site is needed. For example, when the American Air-lines plane crashed in Queens in November 2001, we built a Family Center in theJacob Javits Center. That was an overnight response, but the provision of stablewireless solutions helped all the first responders.The Fire and Police Departments are working with vendors to strengthen their

specific need in terms of personal protective equipment, especially given the newthreats that continue to appear. The more that companies and state and federalgovernment begin to look at such needs, the better prepared everyone will be.The federal government has offered to share technology, along with its many

resources. One area is GIS data, which come in a variety of formats. In addition toproviding these data, we are also working to develop compatible data that can beuploaded to any system a particular provider gives us.Satellite phones and satellite transmissions are tricky in New York City owing to

the so-called ‘‘canyon affect’’, which is a big problem in the city. OEM is examin-ing a variety of potential technological solutions. OEM is working to obtain fund-ing for further research, and we also hope that private corporations and the federalgovernment will join with us.Related to that is plume modeling—a model of where a particular vapor—

biological or chemical—is going as a result of wind conditions at the time andthe surrounding geography that may be affected.Another issue we are pursuing is a Web-based program called EMOLS (Emerg-

ency Management On-line Locator System). Prior to September 11, the worst thingwe conceived was a hurricane slamming into New York City. EMOLS maintains adatabase of addresses, so when a use inputs their address, EMOLS points them toevacuation shelters. In a hot summer, it can suggest cooling centers, which areespecially helpful for elderly residents without air conditioning and for those need-ing to cool off if they are suffering from heat exhaustion.

H. Jackson / Technology in Society 25 (2003) 539–541540

Therefore, shortly after September 11, we redesigned the website to add infor-mation for lower Manhattan residents about where utilities were working, whattransportation systems were running and which entrances to use, the best ways tonavigate around and near Ground Zero, how they could access their apartment,etc. Having such flexible systems in place and ready for instant activation in thefuture means designing such systems now so that they are ready to provide a var-iety of informative resources.The federal government is reactivating its CERTS (Community Emergency

Response Team) program, which had been around for some time but is now upand running again. Currently, it is affiliated with the Police Department as part ofthe auxiliary police, and there are some non-profit organizations that are beginningto pre-register people and determine their field of expertise so that they can becalled into action in case of an emergency.In summary, New York City has many science and technology resources, all of

which are key assets for responding to daily emergencies as well as terrorist threats.We at OEM are working every day to develop, implement, and fine-tune ourresponses, so that we are fully prepared to respond when any emergency occurs.

Henry Jackson is the Deputy Commissioner for Technology at the New York City Office of Emergency

Management (OEM). Previously, he served as the Deputy Director for Administration at OEM, to

which he was appointed in May 1999. He has worked in the Office of the Mayor for every New York

City mayor since the Koch administration. Mr. Jackson has served as Assistant Personnel Director,

Deputy Budget Director and Director of Management Reporting and Analysis. From 1997 to 1999, he

was a Regional Administrator at InterAmerica Technologies.

A 1982 graduate of Hobart College, Mr. Jackson also holds a Master’s in Public Administration from

New York University.

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