To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. A BETTER WAY OF BUYING early 2006 authorized the state to create a centralized response center in Orlando, a 200,000-square foot center where emergency resources from water to drugs to food could be stored. The center includes tarps and temporary shelter equipment, fuel, water, heat, drugs and other essentials, as well as important supplies like ice. The Florida State Logistics Response Center (SLRC), which was the first of its kind nationally, opened in early 2007. On hand at all times for any emergency at the site are 300 truckloads of bottled water, 54 truckloads of shelf-stable meals, 26 truckloads of tarps, 16 pallets of insect repellent, 5,080 cots and 5,080 bedding kits, and 350,000 hygiene kits. The goal of the center, according to Cherry, is to ensure “surge capacity” for providing essential supplies throughout the critical first 72 to 96 hours for a no-notice emergency exists at all times. “Our goal is to use planning and pre-positioned assets to speed the cycle from response to mitigation to recovery,” Cherry said. To coordinate this task, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) contracted with St. Petersburg, Fla.-based transportation firm Interstate, to operate FDEM’s State Emergency Resource Management Network (SERMN), which is used to manage the state’s relief response efforts for major disasters. In the wake of a large-scale disaster, SERMN can provide “total asset visibility” to the FDEM decision makers who are coordinating the relief response effort, allowing them to see, in real time, the location and status of various resources they are directing. SERMN capabilities include resource acquisition, searching for resources locally and statewide, satellite tracking and resource geo-coding, ground, air and sea-lift transportation management, warehousing, bar-coding, shipping and receiving. Using this technology platform, FDEM runs a freight “Movement Coordination Center” at the SLRC, dispatching a full-time team to run freight operations before and after disaster events. The SLRC stores more than 400 truckloads of general commodities and disaster relief supplies. Using Interstate’s technology platform, according to Cherry, “the state EOC, staff and responders gain real time visibility regarding where commodities are and when they will arrive.” Florida’s reforms in logistics response are a harbinger of a new smart preparedness paradigm, according to Josh Filler, former director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and now president of Washington, DC-based Filler Security Strategies Inc. “There’s been a significant change in the model,” said Filler. “Rather than play a waiting game, the new construct is: Let’s all coordinate up front together.” “On the procurement side, the biggest change in the past few years has been the use of just-in-time contracts and pre-positioned storage of emergency assets,” Filler added. “You need to have vendors whose supply plans are set in place and pre-positioned for an emergency before one happens. You need to know who is supplying what, and how and when supplies will be delivered. And you need to have a backup plan set should any aspect of the plan be disrupted in the line of fire. For instance, if you’re relying on a local mom-and-pop shop and it turns out the shop is under water, what is Smarter, Faster, Cost-Effective Response. Deploy fire, hazmat and decontamination foams from a single system. Attain faster results and work smarter with Intelagard equipment. Our systems are easy to use and to maintain, it’s like buying three systems in one. Whether you need 350 or 20,000 gallons of finished foam, Intelagard has a system to fit your needs. Call us today to learn more about Intelagard’s wide range of systems. Intelagard systems were used to decontaminate the New Orleans Arena following hurricanes Katrina and Rita, while the military used them to fight fires in Iraq. FIRE DECON HAZMAT Call today for options and details. Contact John Pellouchoud at 303.309.6341 or jpellouchoud@intelagard.com www.intelagard.com Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters Homeland Security Today Magazine | June 2009 37