Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Emergency Alert System Survey

Transcription

1 Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Emergency Alert System Survey Prepared on 6/24/2011

2 Introduction In July of 2010 the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management engaged a small group consisting of representatives from the broadcast, cable, wire line industries and the national weather service to develop a strategy of needs and what needs to be done prior to the upgrade of the current Emergency Alert System (EAS). The main focus was how to get a better picture of the current state of EAS in Minnesota. Executive Summary Several ideas were brought forth by the group. The one was a survey to be sent out through the various associations for their members to capture areas that may be of concern now and in the future rewrite of the EAS plan. The group came up with the criteria for the questions and based them off of four different sections to evaluate the current state and potential shortcomings in the Emergency Alert System inside Minnesota. After several revisions it was approved by general consensus with all parties involved and released in March 2011 and the collection of information ceased in June The areas consisted of; EAS Plan Information Basic information collected includes: What stations are they monitoring, any additional stations besides the required two, and are they receiving clear audio. Equipment Information collected in this section will give the committee a better understanding about what is out in the stations. The internet questions were added to get an idea about internet connectivity at stations where their EAS equipment is located. Stations will need internet connectivity to receive a Common Alert Protocol (CAP) message. What capacity they have, is important when planning for the future of CAP to determine if the delivery of streaming audio or pictures would be possible without undue burden on the station. Preparedness Questions asked in this section were to get a snapshot of the level of interaction between Emergency Management officials and station personnel. Decoder Programming The EAS program is largely voluntary questions asked in this section were to get an understanding of what stations actually had programmed in codes over and above the required codes in the EAS plan. The codes that were of primary concern in this survey were the Child Abduction Emergency (CAE) (AMBER Alert), the Tornado (TOR) generated by the National Weather Service, the Civil Emergency Message (CEM) and the Nuclear Power Plant Warning (NUW). Methodology The reason behind why each question was asked is explained following each question. These explanations give more details about why it was asked and if there was any expected outcome that the group was specifically looking for. If the answer does not have a graphic chart it will have a text summary of the results. 2

3 EAS Plan Information Question 1. Call Sign or Group, Cable System or City of? This survey question was placed in as an identifier for the entity that gave the information. 60 Broadcast Radio, Television Stations, Cable and Telephone Companies responded to the survey. The table below breaks down the respondents by the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Regions which are also the same as the Local EAS plans currently published. Region Responses

4 Question 2: What FIPS codes is your EAS equipment programmed to monitor? This question was asked to get a sample of how stations are programming their equipment for Federal Information Processing System (FIPS) Codes since it really isn t specified in 47 CFR Part 11. (2 respondents skipped this question) Note: if a station only lists the county for which its city of license is in, it may not process an alert for the affected county in its broadcast area. Question 3. What are the two assigned stations you monitor? (Call Signs) This question was put in for reference back to the current plan. (no respondents skipped this question) Result: The Stations responses varied from location to location but are within the guidance set forth in the current version of the Minnesota EAS plan. It was noted that most stations were monitoring their assigned points and some have had to make changes to their remote location or coverage changes in the past decade. Question 4. Do you monitor any other stations (i.e. National Weather Service, specific frequencies or other sources)? This question was asked to gain a better understanding of what stations are monitoring. In the current Minnesota EAS plan it is recommended that stations monitor other sources but it does not specifically direct them to do so. (12 respondents skipped this question) Result: The survey found that most stations are monitoring at least one National Weather Service channel and at least one other local station as well. 4

5 Question 5. Is your EAS receiver, receiving a good clean signal from your LP1 station assignment? This question was asked from a technical assistance stand point. (2 respondents skipped this question) Note: In the past it had been noted that stations have not received clean audio signal from their assigned monitoring points and that it has been identified that this could be from various causes (i.e. receiver antenna position or placement, distance from assigned monitoring point, or interference). Instances of poor reception are going unreported unless the station is specifically asked about it. As the plan is currently written, there is no measurable standard for audio quality. There may or may not be a need to put a section in the plan about who to contact if there is a problem with a monitoring point. 5

6 Equipment Question 6. Who is your current installed EAS decoder equipment manufactured by? This question was asked from a technical assistance perspective and not a brand preference indicator. (3 respondents skipped this question) Note: With the first ever National EAS test scheduled for November 2011 the group wanted to capture both the type of equipment and in what volume it was being used, to see if any problems that might arise during the National Test are isolated incidents or systemic in nature. 6

7 Question 7. Has your engineering staff started the research process of digital EAS hardware for integration within your facilities? This was asked to see where stations were at in the equipment transition process. (3 respondents skipped this question) Note: When new equipment is installed it is usually gone through step-by-step by the station or contract engineer installing. This process is hopefully well documented, but that is not always the case. Often the person who did the installation has move on and their replacement is unfamiliar with the type of equipment and has to start from scratch. Question 8. Is internet connectivity available at the place where the EAS equipment is installed? This question was asked stations to consider where their EAS is currently located and whether they would be able to receive a Common Alert Protocol (CAP) message since it is delivered by internet protocol (IP) requiring connectivity to the internet. (3 respondents skipped this question) 7

8 Question 9. If yes, what type of service is it? The group was interested in what capacity was available to deliver a Common Alert Protocol (CAP) message. (6 respondents skipped this question) Note: While a CAP message in itself is very small and XML text based, would stations have the capacity to handle a message with a picture attachment (i.e. for an AMBER alert) or streaming audio for a preproduced message as one would be for a Nuclear Power Plant Incident. 8

9 Preparedness Question 10. Do you have a working relationship with the emergency management officials in your area of operation? This question was asked as to determine if the stations had ongoing contact with local Emergency Management and if they are working with stations in the area. (4 respondents skipped this question) Question 11. Does your station or group have any memoranda of understanding (MOU) with local emergency management or public safety offices to broadcast EAS Alerts on their behalf? This question was asked to see if there are any formal agreements in place to broadcast a message from the station on behalf of the local Emergency Management or Public Safety offices. (3 respondents skipped this question) We received a few additional comments from this question. They are: Verbal communication Via local NWS transmitter We would air local alerts, but no official MOU is in place. No active relationship with MN emergency managers 9

10 Decoder Programming Question 12. Is your system currently relaying the Amber (CAE) Alert generated by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA)? This question was asked because the AMBER Alert is an important alert to get out to the public. (4 respondents skipped this question) Note: It is the policy of some stations not to broadcast this alert for various reasons since it is a voluntary system at the State and Local alert levels, it is the stations option. What impact would there be to the stations that don t currently broadcast this alert if this becomes a Governors Must Carry message under the new EAS rules and plan? Question 13. Is your system set up for auto or manual forwarding of the Amber (CAE) alert? Will an AMBER alert go automatically without someone at the station manually having to review it or send it out over the air? (27 respondents skipped this question) 10

11 Question 14. Is your system currently relaying the tornado (TOR) Warning generated by NWS? This question was asked to see what percentages of stations are relaying the NWS Tornado code. (7 respondents skipped this question) Question 15. Do you relay the National Weather Service audio portion of the tornado warning? Question was asked to see if the actual audio sent would be aired. Note: Some stations use the staff to relay the information in greater detail. (21 respondents skipped this question) 11

12 Question 16. Is your system set up for auto or manual forwarding on this alert? Will a Tornado Alert go automatically without someone at the station manually having to review it or send it out over the air? (26 respondents skipped this question) Question 17. Is your system currently relaying the civil emergency message (CEM) alert? This is one of the original codes that Public Safety and Emergency Management personnel could use to warn the public and the intent is to see what percentage of stations had it voluntarily programmed into their equipment. (8 respondents skipped this question) 12

13 Question 18. Do you relay the audio portion of the civil emergency warning when sent out by public safety officials? Question was asked to see if the actual audio sent would be aired. (23 respondents skipped this question) Question 19. Is your system set up for auto or manual forwarding on this alert? Will the Civil Emergency Message (CEM) go on air automatically without someone at the station manually having to review it or send it out over the air? (26 respondents skipped this question) 13

14 Question 20. Is your system currently relaying the nuclear power plant warning (NUW) alert generated by MN Homeland Security and Emergency Management? This question was asked from an Emergency Management view point for the Radiological Emergency Preparedness program (this question was considered long before the situation in Japan in the Spring of 2011). Note: Out of the sixteen stations that answered yes to this question; (6 respondents skipped this question) Ten of the stations broadcast coverage area is within the 10 mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ) of either the Monticello or Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plants. Six of the respondents were outside of the 50 mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ). 14

15 Question 21. Is your system currently relaying the nuclear power plant warning (NUW) alert generated by MN Homeland Security and Emergency Management? Note: Of the stations that answered; only one television station stated it would not relay the audio as sent by MN Homeland Security and Emergency Management. (43 respondents skipped this question) Question 22. Is your system set up for auto or manual forwarding on this alert? Will the Nuclear Power Plant Warning (NUW) go on air automatically without someone at the station manually having to set review it or send it out over the air? (43 respondents skipped this question) Note: Of the stations that responded manual all were Television stations with news staff. 15

16 Question 23. Is your system's EAS decoder set up to trip on any other EAS alert code not previously mentioned (CAE, TOR, CEM, NUW)? This question was asked to get a snapshot of what other codes stations had programmed in their equipment. (16 respondents skipped this question) Note: While not required by the current Minnesota EAS plan, the twenty stations that provided codes the majority of them have most of the severe weather codes programmed. Some have programmed in the 911 Telephone Outage Emergency (TOE) and the Shelter in Place Warning (SPW). 16