Murray State University METL

One Week Down...

2009-02-04T11:00:00.000-06:00

Started training some National Guard guys here on how to use the WebEOC system. WebEOC is a database information system that allows emergency management personnel from across the state to communicate with one another. It's very helpful when you already are on the phone with two different people at once. The MITOCs satellite internet connection helps keep the uptime near 100% too. In the 7 counties I’m currently working , we have 14 shelters up. Three of them have more than 60% power outages. The shelters are filling up because of the cold weather the past few nights. The National Guard is doing door to door across the state, checking on everyone. We’ve heard several reports of them finding folks in bad health from the cold and carbon monoxide poisoning from improper generator use. Thanks to our governor for tasking this mission and saving lives.

Hit The Ground Running...

2009-02-03T09:00:00.000-06:00

We have set up in Owensboro. During the drive up here, there wasn't a single light on anywhere between Benton and Owensboro. My first task was to make sure food and water went to the counties that so far had received nothing. Mission completed! Next step, generators, cots, and other essential items.

New Assignment...

2009-02-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

I haven't had time over the past few days for much but total concentration. All free time is sleep, which isn't much. We have been going pretty much non stop and theres no end in sight for that.
we did get some very encouraging praise from Gen. Heltzel, who is in charge of Kentucky EM statewide. They are extremely happy with the truck and our performance with it so far. They have requested this morning to leave today for Owensboro where we can assist in the recovery in areas that are even harder hit (which is hard to imagine after what we have seen here) So we will pull up shop and head from the frying pan into the fire later this morning.

Controlled Chaos...

2009-01-29T09:01:00.000-06:00

The scope of disaster here is still revealing itself. The MITOC has been running unattended, and I have ended up sitting at the resource / logistics desk. I have never worked in an environment like this. A phone handset on each ear plus someone talking to me, and writing notes, and entering requests for resources on the states communication interface. Living on Mt Dew and MRE’s. Hearing word that all NG in the state will be called up. KyEM brought in another Area Manager to relieve Lori King, but we are so swamped they are working side by side to keep up.

Storm Over...Now The Real Work Begins...

2009-01-28T09:00:00.001-06:00

Finally got a hold of my wife, the kids are fine, the hospital has told them to stay until power is back on at home. Most of our counties are declaring disasters. Getting reports indicating how much water are in tanks, and determining how long the water will stay on in most cities. Numbers don’t look good. The communication infrastructure is so devastated that we are only able to talk with less than half our counties. Rough estimates show 90% people without power. We are moving over to the larger classroom across the hall, figuring there will be a few more people working out of here. The National Guard is sending another truck to help add to the communication bandwith we are providing because business is picking up in a hurry. Controlled chaos best describes what it is like here.

Things Getting Worse...

2009-01-27T20:14:00.000-06:00

Power has been off for several hours now and we are on generator. We have gotten a lot of ice here and conditions outside are getting very bad. Its creepy sitting in the dark hearing the reports on the radio of homes burning due to the power lines dropping and sparking. The fire crews are having a hard time getting to the homes to make sure the people made it out safe.

Ice Storm Underway

2009-01-27T02:00:00.000-06:00

The storm has definitely started. The ice began around 7 tonight and we are already getting a few calls about power going out and its blinking here on and off. It’s playing havoc with the computers, since we’re not on generators yet. I went around the building and found all the computer UPS battery backups and plugged in our computers and radios to give us a 30 minute buffer in between power outages. Still have a long way to go before its over.

The Calm Before The Storm...

2009-01-26T17:04:00.000-06:00

Have just arrived at the Kentucky Area 1 Emergency Management office in Benton to support operations here. This office coordinates the effort of Kentucky's westernmost 19 counties. They have responsibility from Fulton all the way to Owensboro. We are here to make sure that everyone can communicate with one another as much as possible once the power, phone lines, radios, internet and cell phones go out.

Everyone is nervous about this storm. We had a conference call this morning with the National Weather Service where they were using words like "storm of the decade" and "catastrophic ice storm."
Makes me especially nervous with my two sons in the hospital tonight following a tonsillectomy, but the hospital has a good generator and I know that it is a safe place to be.
It's going to be a long week, but this type storm is exactly what the METL is designed for.

Plane Crash

2009-01-09T20:56:00.000-06:00

This morning at about 8:30 AM we were called to a single engine plane crash just N of Hardin KY. The site was very remote, a couple of miles back in the swampy bottoms. There was very limited cell coverage in the area. We were able to provide both VoIP telephone and internet connectivity for emailing press releases and reports to the state Emergency Operations Center. We are now on call in case the NTSB and FAA need connectivity when they arrive.

POTUS Visit

2008-11-26T11:43:00.000-06:00

We got the call late Friday afternoon to head to Ft. Campbell KY for a visit from President George W. Bush.

We arrived Monday afternoon and set up all of our equipment just outside the hangar the President was scheduled to speak in. We set up a wireless mesh network inside the hangar for communications support for the White House Press Corps. We had the network up and operational just inside 20 minutes after our arrival. Then it was time to hurry up and wait.

The press corps and support staff arrived early Tuesday morning ahead of Air Force One. Media from all over the country and the region arrived, lining the adjacent buildings with satellite trucks. I think we counted at least seven. Before long we had at least 20 users on our network which we had linked to the press area just a few hundred feet from where the President was scheduled to speak.

Shortly after 11 a.m. Tuesday, Air Force One landed on the airfield. By 11:30, he had taken the podium to address the large gathering of troops inside the hangar. The presidents speech lasted less than an hour. After it was finished the President had his traditional Thanksgiving meal with the troops and we mobilized and returned to Murray. Just another day at the office...

Hazmat!!!

2008-10-10T22:31:00.000-05:00

This afternoon the METL and I were asked to respond to a large fire in Wickliffe KY. Turns out there was some unknown chemicals inside so Hazmat One was also called to the scene. We used the MITOCs internet access to research the chemicals inside the fully engulfed structure. Once it was determined that the chemicals were of little hazard, the firefighters could safely extinguish the blaze, and the neighbors could return to their homes.
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Kentucky Earthquake Technical Meeting

2008-09-25T12:39:00.000-05:00

Today we are in Frankfort KY meeting with the Governor's Kentucky Earthquake Technical Workgroup. This committee was set up to coordinate federal, state, and local government agencies, earth science activities, business, industry, and other institutions in the formulation of public policy and in improving emergency preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery capabilities.
This is important to our research since the earthquake scenario is truly the "all hazards" type event.
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Flat Tire?

2008-09-19T18:53:00.000-05:00

We drove the METL over 1700 miles, through a hurricane, over all kinds of debris, through mud, through water, all without any problems. However within 10 minutes of being back in Murray, it has a flat tire. Hey, I got home safe, I shouldn't complain. :-)
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Demobilization!

2008-09-18T19:00:00.000-05:00

Headed home!
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Home Sweet Home

2008-09-18T11:14:00.001-05:00

I went out last night and drove to Lake Charles LA to find an open store to buy a tent and mattress. No more sleeping in the truck!

Fine Dining

2008-09-17T12:58:00.000-05:00

Someone asked what an MRE was. Meal Ready to Eat. Todays lunch menu was chicken and dumpings, bread, peanut butter, apple jelly, short bread cookie, chocolate, strawberry shake, and a packet with instant coffee, sugar, creamer, salt, gum, toilet paper, matches, and that neat little bottle of Tabasco sauce. As much as people make fun of them, they really are tasty!

Obligatory Gas Station Damage Photo

2008-09-17T10:24:00.000-05:00

Everyone has been asking for damage photos, so I give you the obligatory gas station awning destruction.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous returning this morning, wondering how well the MITOC ran all night without me watching over it. Turns out there were no problems., all systems nominal! We did have a small problem with the router wanting to restart every hour or so, which would bring down the network for less than 60 seconds (more of an annoyance than anything). Turning off UPnP seems to have fixed that problem.

Bad news, the Salvation Army has moved on to other areas. Good new, the FEMA camp should be set up in time for dinner tonight, but looks like lunch will be MREs. And my digestive system was just about back to normal! The camp will also have washers and dryers, which is good, since I'll run out of clean clothes tomorrow.

Driving around this morning in the daylight was interesting. Mile long gas lines at the few stations with generators, miles and miles of utility trucks, and debris all over the road. It's like another world.

zzz ZZZ zzz

2008-09-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

Well I found an excuse to head up to Lufkin TX for the night. A friend of mine back home made arrangements for me to spend the night at an old friend of his here. Lufkins power was restored just today. A hot shower and a bed!!!!! Goodnight!
ZzzzzZ
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Live from TX

2008-09-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

I had an extra couple of minutes today, so I set up a dash cam on the METL. To see it go to MurrayStateMETL Live Video . I'll try to keep the stream up as much as I can, but our emergency traffic takes priority.

Last count I had 48 users on the MITOC system. The traffic is balanced between the Motosat and a Verizon air card. I've been able to experiment with the new MITOC ET router, and I'm excited that it was able to support so many users for over 24 hours straight. The MotoSat has had a few bugs, but I think that may relate to the shear number of other Sat trucks in the area overloading the bird.

The Incident Management Team IT guy has arrived, and is very impressed with the systems. We keep getting requests to add more users to the system, So we keep exanding the system out using the mesh network.

I'm crossing my fingers hoping that we'll get a room tonight, because I need a shower!

Dinner Time

2008-09-15T19:23:00.000-05:00

A hot meal thanks to the Salvation Army.

This morning we interfaced our MITOC system to the building network, so we are feeding the entire building with wired network inside and covering the outside with our mesh wireless. I have plexed together the Motosat and our verizon air card, plus added another Verizon air card belonging to the Incident Management team for additional bandwidth.

It really is a small world. Sitting next to me is a couple of guys from Murray! They work for the Forestry Service in Land Between the Lakes. Not only that, the son of one of them is a Murray State Student in the TSM program!

Logistics is trying to find a hotel in the area to commandeer. We have a generator that should run a 40 or 50 room hotel if we can find one. A shower would be really nice, if it has running water. The FEMA hotel ( ha ha ) out back won't be set up until Thursday morning.

I have never appreciated a flush toilet as much as I do right now.

News of first food and showers

2008-09-15T12:00:00.000-05:00

Last night was a lot more comfortable weather wise. The wind was up and the humidity down. Although that suburban seat is getting uncomfortable. FEMA is setting up a camp for over 2000 workers and contractors at this location. When this is setup, we are welcome to the showers and food. Until then, its beans and franks for me. Note to self - must pack Mountain Dew next time, or I need some of John's coffee. There is a fuel depot on site, so fuel is not a problem, and TX is paying for it. There is no power anywhere, everything is on generators and will be for several weeks. Oh yea, no electricity = no air conditioning!

Bugs....

2008-09-15T01:45:00.000-05:00

Texas has some big bugs. REALLY big bugs. That is all

At the Civic Center

2008-09-15T00:00:00.000-05:00

We are located at a civic center that mostly survived the hurricane, although with water damage. Cell phone service comes and goes, thank goodness I have the VoIP phones to call home. There is no electricity anywhere, so no Walmarts, gas stations, coke machines, nothing. Anywhere. FEMA has a Logistical Staging Area located here. FEMA will bring in food, water, ice, ect to this location, and we will push it out to the Point Of Distribution (POD) centers. This will require communication with the PODs run by the National Guard, as well as the local government agents. I am setting up the MITOC wireless network for them to use with a server and several laptops for logistical purposes. Database kind of stuff, ideal for our new research project, IMDSS.

Beaumont, TX Staging Area

2008-09-14T10:00:00.000-05:00

Hurry up and wait! The staging area is filled with entire fleets of police vehicles, fire trucks, Forestry Service vehicles, you name it. We are being tasked to the TX Department of Forestry. This confused me until I found out that the TX Department of Forestry and the Federal Division of Forestry have a long history of supporting incident management during hurricane responses. Their main mission will be to support the various local governments by coordinating ice, water and food distribution, as well as search and rescue. The radio systems in the METL have been a huge help, we have had contact with amateur radio operators in the area since about Little Rock Arkansas. The interoperability part of the MITOC is helpful in coordinating between different agencies.

Middle of Nowhere, TX

2008-09-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

I’m 60 miles north of Beaumont now and there is a lot of debris on the road. I think it is too dangerous to continue in the dark, so we’ll spend the night here in a small roadside park. I haven’t seen power anywhere since leaving Texarkana. I forgot just how dark it gets when there are no lights for hundreds of miles.

Texarkana, TX

2008-09-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

Currently we’re in Texarkana TX enjoying the remnants of Hurricane Ike. The winds got bad enough that I pulled over at a truck stop, and ate the first of what I figure will be many MREs. The rainfall is very heavy, and I just measured a 78 MPH wind gust! We just received word that our mission will shift to Beaumont TX. That puts us about 5 hours from the staging area. Evidently that area of TX is the hardest hit.

At Home

2008-09-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

Well, Just got the call, heading out to Lufkin TX to stage response for Hurricane Ike. The METL is packed and fueled. I kiss the kids and wife goodbye (it is my anniversary but she is very understanding). Now where is that Willie Nelson “On the Road Again” CD?