The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) recently outlined results of a demonstration testing new flood and wildfire alerting technology.
DHS S&T partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert Warning System (IPAWS) to initiate the testing focusing on integrating unattended flood and wildfire sensors with IPAWS Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).
“The Wildland Urban Interface affects millions of Americans who live in or near areas prone to wildfires and flooding,” DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Dimitri Dimitri Kusnezov said. “This program is focused on developing innovative solutions that can help minimize the devastating impact on people and their communities.”
Kusnezov said DHS S&T and FEMA IPAWS are dedicated to making long-term investments in innovative technology as a means of ensuring the nation’s first responders and emergency managers do not face tomorrow’s floods and fires with yesterday’s tools.
The analysis occurred at the Smart Community Testbed in Stafford County, Virginia, with data determining unattended field sensors are optimal alert originators for the future of emergency alerting; unattended field sensors may generate specialized warnings for local government and alert originators, possibly changing how communities are notified of local emergencies; and unattended sensor technology paired with location-based alerting technologies can ensure warnings are only sent to relevant devices and without over-alerting.
“The demonstration showed how IPAWS-OPEN can integrate with unattended flood and wildfire sensors to originate alerts directly into the IPAWS-OPEN for geo-targeted alert distribution and provided an excellent demonstration of IPAWS’ capabilities to also deliver alerts in Spanish to an infotainment system,” FEMA IPAWS Division Director Antwane Johnson said.