<http://www.gcn.com/print/27_12/46335-1.html>
[...]
The most common threat to communications during a severe storm is not
destruction of physical infrastructure but loss of power. Individual
cell sites tend to survive high winds and flooding, Walsh said.
"That is a testament to the site planning" for the towers, she said.
"That's why we focus on backup power." [...]
"Our expectation is that backup will last long enough to get power back
up," Walsh said. "Most outages are of a relatively short duration." But
there are times when outages can outlast generators' reserve batteries
or fuel supplies, and service then depends on getting more fuel into
the stricken areas. If roads are not passable, service could be lost
during an extended outage.
The official spokespeople don't mention it, but there is also a tendency for local officials to divert fuel delivery trucks for their use instead
of maintaining communication facilities.
The official spokespeople don't mention it, but there is also a tendency for local officials to divert fuel delivery trucks for their use instead
of maintaining communication facilities.
Perhaps a company will get in the business of labeling trucks that normally say fuel to something like "spoiled milk" during such events and specialize in refueling certain customers.
>
> The official spokespeople don't mention it, but there is also a tendency
> for local officials to divert fuel delivery trucks for their use instead
> of maintaining communication facilities.
>
Perhaps a company will get in the business of labeling trucks that
normally say fuel to something like "spoiled milk" during such events
and specialize in refueling certain customers.
I *think* I'm kidding.
After we went down at Telehouse 25 Broadway during 9/11 because the
National Guard halted one of the deliveries... I'm open to just about any
suggestions incase of another incident. Maybe "Firefighting Foam Refill
Truck" would be better. Or just "HAZMAT CLEANUP".
You need to make sure you know how to get the DOT waivers (in advance) for fuel deliveries and other deliveries. Knowing which FEMA region you are in and where the JFO and how to properly coordinate with them may help avoid these types of problems. It may take some time to sort through the issues, but it may help to review the NRF, and know what the government means when they say NOC or NICC.
May be a good place to read up on things, as well as what your role may be under ESF #2 or other NS/EP roles. It's not exactly the most enjoyable reading in the world, but it may provide some insight into what is going on.
Jared nailed it on the head. It is absolutely critical to get to know who
your State JFO POC is, State EOC POC, and have the National Communication
Systems Hotline on speed dial or at least in your cell. They can help
facilitate needs such as getting human resources from your company or mutual
aide in to help with a crisis (credentialing issues), fuel trucks, and other
supplies as needed.
Also you might want to check to see if your company has a govt. affairs
person within your organization who might all ready have a lot of this info
and the contacts to assist.
Based on experience, they've also been extremely helpful to have those POC's
on speed dial in case your company needs to get flight clearance to survey
damage if you have an extensive amount of lines in an affected area. If you
have the opportunity to participate in preparedness exercise with DHS I'd
highly recommend it as you'll develop some of those essential relationships
plus get plugged into your local Infragard folks too. You can never have
enough paths for getting assistance when you needed it.
NCS wants to make sure that a number of the ISPs and critical infrastructure operators have WPS/GETS available to the people who rightly need them. If you're not sure, give them a ring and chat with them about what resources you should have at your disposal. If there is a major communication disruption, this may help your operations team communicate.
> Jared nailed it on the head. It is absolutely critical to get to
> know who
> your State JFO POC is, State EOC POC, and have the National
> Communication
> Systems Hotline on speed dial or at least in your cell. They can help
> facilitate needs such as getting human resources from your company
> or mutual
> aide in to help with a crisis (credentialing issues), fuel trucks,
> and other
> supplies as needed.
>
> Also you might want to check to see if your company has a govt.
> affairs
> person within your organization who might all ready have a lot of
> this info
> and the contacts to assist.
I think there's something else to make note of.
NCS wants to make sure that a number of the ISPs and critical
infrastructure operators have WPS/GETS available to the people who
rightly need them. If you're not sure, give them a ring and chat with
them about what resources you should have at your disposal. If there
is a major communication disruption, this may help your operations
team communicate.
You can fill out the forms online at gets.ncs.gov
- Jared
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. Its alot of information.
Unfortunately, next time something like that happens.... I'm getting
out of there. It won't be my company, so I'm gonna get outta there. Living
at Ground Zero (1 BUILDING away before, a few blocks inside during as well as
after) was just plain stupid. No more Port Authority or Japanese pieces of
paper saying I was "Critical" to be down there and could come/go as I please.
No, I wouldn't be wheezing pretty bad this week if I was smart and did get out.
Yea, next time...... I'm SO outta there. Hopefully someone else
read all this and did the right things.
The official spokespeople don't mention it, but there is also
a tendency for local officials to divert fuel delivery trucks
for their use instead of maintaining communication facilities.
How much fuel can you legally carry in drums inside the trucks that
your company already has with your logo on it? Is it logistically
feasible to resupply your sites using such vehicles?
Jared nailed it on the head. It is absolutely critical to get to know
who
your State JFO POC is, State EOC POC, and have the National Communication
Systems Hotline on speed dial or at least in your cell. They can help
facilitate needs such as getting human resources from your company or
mutual
aide in to help with a crisis (credentialing issues), fuel trucks, and
other
supplies as needed.
Also you might want to check to see if your company has a govt. affairs
person within your organization who might all ready have a lot of this
info
and the contacts to assist.
I think there's something else to make note of.
NCS wants to make sure that a number of the ISPs and critical
infrastructure operators have WPS/GETS available to the people who
rightly need them. If you're not sure, give them a ring and chat with
them about what resources you should have at your disposal. If there is
a major communication disruption, this may help your operations team
communicate.
- ----------------------------
What you briefly outlined here applies to outages effecting certain size
of customers. If so I wonder what's that magic number is? How do you
measure the impact of an outage that would require companies to issue
outages?
It would be nice for these companies to report network outages to a
central public forum (w/o bureaucracy) so end users irrespective of the
size can lookup such reports and know why their services (e-mail,
phones, etc) went down eliminating the need to open tons of trouble
tickets during a major event. This way everyone could benefit from it.
Due to such lack of information sharing outages mailing was started
for the purpose of on having outages available to the public when and where
it is most needed irrespective how big or small the company is.
Then there are others who believe that there are companies who are
protected from public disclosure like to use this protection to their
advantage as they no longer have to air their dirty laundry.
IMO, network outages needs to get to the public rather than keeping it a
secret.
Before software bugs were routinely published, network/software
companies denied their existence and wouldn't bother fixing them,
believing in the security of secrecy. If we return to a practice of
keeping these bugs secret, we'll have vulnerabilities known to a few in
the security community. Public reporting forces companies to improve
their service.
It might be useful, too, to talk to the people who did this in NOLA
during and after Katrina; if they didn't know what to do before, they
probably do now...
In article <D03E4899F2FB3D4C8464E8C76B3B68B00295E89C@E03MVC4-UKBR.domain1.systemhost
.net>, michael.dillon@bt.com writes
The official spokespeople don't mention it, but there is also
a tendency for local officials to divert fuel delivery trucks
for their use instead of maintaining communication facilities.
How much fuel can you legally carry in drums inside the trucks that
your company already has with your logo on it? Is it logistically
feasible to resupply your sites using such vehicles?
Briefly, you also need permission for those trucks to be moving inside the cordons. What you need to know who to ask to get that permission, and why they should believe your business case.
Some years ago we managed to get the UK government emergency planning folks to actually factor this into their plans so that communications fuel supplies get adequate priority. In fact we even planned for some highly unlikely contingencies. Fortunately we haven't yet had a chance to find out if this planning actually works out in practice.
Hopefully someone else