Case Study - Mass Notification Systems
Cities & Counties
Background
Arlington County & The City of Alexandria
Arlington, Va. is a world-class urban community that was originally part of the “10mile square” parcel of land surveyed in 1791 to be the Nation’s Capital. Home to
some of the most influential organizations in the world, including the Pentagon,
Arlington stands out as one of America’s paramount places to live, visit and do
business.
Federally-Funded National Capital Region Pilot Program
Arlington County’s Office of Emergency Management, (OEM), in partnership
with the City of Alexandria’s OEM, was selected under a federal grant from the
Department of Homeland Security to manage the pilot test of a new outdoor
warning system. The federally funded $400,000 pilot program was authorized by
the Emergency Preparedness Council of the Metropolitan Washington Council of
Governments.
The Needs
Arlington’s emergency managers use a “system of systems” to provide urgent
information to those who live in, work in and visit Arlington. Arlington’s primary
emergency communications systems before the implementation of Cooper
Notification’s Mass Notification System (MNS), includes Arlington Alert, which
sends text messages to mobile devices and e-mail. Arlington also sends
information to commercial broadcast media, keeps its Web site current, and puts
emergency information on a local radio station with emergency information.
In addition to updating their current notification system, Arlington County and the
City of Alexandria needed an indoor and outdoor emergency warning system to:
• Address people who are attending special events, visiting, or in transit
• Reach people who might not receive emergency warnings from other sources
• Operate with their current emergency communications system
The Solution
On behalf of the National Capital Region Pilot, Arlington County and the City
of Alexandria selected Cooper Notification’s WAVES (Wireless Audio Visual
Emergency System) as the region’s emergency warning system. Also known as a
MNS, WAVES includes the following systems:
• Outdoor (Giant Voice) Warning Systems
• Portable Alerting Systems
• Regional Alerting System
A WAVES Integrated Base Station (IBS) command and control unit has been
installed in the Arlington OEM and in the Alexandria OEM. These are the primary
control stations, which have been integrated into one seamless system for a
Regional Alerting System.
The Outdoor Warning System includes WAVES High Power Speaker Towers
(SPT), which cover large areas with crisp, intelligible warnings. The speakers
broadcast live and recorded voice messages, tones and sirens. The SPTs have
been installed in Arlington at six locations and in the City of Alexandria in two
www.coopernotification.com
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Cities & Counties
Cont.
The Solution Cont.
Arlington County & The City of Alexandria
locations. Arlington and Alexandria each have one TACWAVES Mobile Speaker
Tower (MSPT), part of the portable alerting system, which allow the OEM to rapidly
deploy and move the MSPTs before, during and after a disaster.
Often threats may encompass entire regions. WAVES Regional Alerting System
provides remote access and control of numerous WAVES MNS from a primary
location such as a regional OEM or remotely via a laptop computer with Internet
access for wide-area coverage and a coordinated alerting and monitoring
environment. As part of the pilot, Cooper Notification’s WAVES communicates to
multiple local, geographically separated MNS sites located in the National Capital
Region for a broader regionally controlled system. These systems are expandable
to essentially any scale.
“With WAVES Mass Notification System, we are now able to reach people who
do not have mobile devices, who are visiting the National Capital Region, and
who are outside or away from television, radio, and telephones. In addition
and an important element of the system, WAVES can be activated in specific
neighborhoods, enabling police to help look for a lost child. This warning system
is another important tool in our emergency communications arsenal,” Robert
Griffin, Director of Arlington County’s Office of Emergency Management.
The Result
Arlington County’s emergency managers conducted tests of the WAVES outdoor
warning system on April 13 and May 18, 2007 to check the volume, clarity and
effectiveness of the system. Listeners of the test reported hearing the alerting
tone and the test messages clearly. The results of the report stated “that an
emergency message, especially one that is repeated, should be heard and
understood easily.”
The WAVES MNS was successfully integrated with Arlington’s emergency
managers’ “system of systems.” With 10 outdoor alert systems in place, Arlington
County and the City of Alexandria can effectively reach people in all surrounding
areas. The system also allows the OEMs to send the right message to the
right person by using zones and sub zones without causing panic or disturbing
individuals who are unaffected by the threat.
The system was put to use on July 4, 2007 when Arlington County emergency
managers received warnings that storms and heavy hail were spreading to their
county. They used Cooper Notification’s MSPT at the Iwo Jima Memorial, which is
located in Arlington, across the Potomac river from Washington, D.C. to evacuate
residents who where there to watch the Independence Day fireworks.