In recent testimony before a U.S. House subcommittee, the head of FEMA’s National Continuity Programs Directorate said the next major step for IPAWS is training state and local officials who want to be able to send alerts through IPAWS. IPAWS training will be necessary before officials are given authority to issue alerts through IPAWS. The training will be offered through FEMA's EMI – the Emergency Management Institute.
Training for certification is expected to first be made available in the coming months, at least on a selective basis to get ready for early-stage use of cell broadcast alerts later this year in New York City and Washington, DC. (See our earlier posts here and here.)
We’ve not seen the training program yet, but we expect it to be heavily skewed toward teaching when IPAWS can and cannot be used. There are limitations that vary from the type of alert delivery to be used. For example, for cell broadcast (also known as CMAS – Commercial Mobile Alerting System or PLAN – Personal Localized Alerting Network), it can be used only for imminent threats, Amber Alerts, and Presidential messaging. Emergency Alert System (EAS) alerts, which will eventually be activated through IPAWS, will have different alerting criteria.
We also expect questions on the test about message preparation, particularly important with CMAS because of the 90 character limitation on messages. Sorry, URLs cannot be used in the messages per the agreement with the mobile carriers. They don’t want networks clogged should lots of people in a concentrated area hit the same URL at the same time.
No word yet on exactly when specific guidance will be issued to local and state authorities on what they need to do to make IPAWS happen for them, but there does seem to be progress in that direction.
All the best,
Rick
www.galainsolutions.com
