Real-Time Data Systems and Emergency Management

Over the last several years, Lansdale Borough has been working diligently to improve and enhance our preparedness for emergency events that take place within our community. This process began with the hiring of Lansdale Emergency Manager Rick Lesniak, who was tasked with leading the effort to modernize our internal emergency management processes and increase training to improve communication across departments.

This week, we took a major step down that path by testing our newly developed emergency management software, GEMS.

GEMS, GIS - Emergency Management System, is an online workflow system that allows all departments to have full clarity into where assets and staff are deployed across the borough and for what purpose during an emergency event. One of the hardest skills to master during an emergency is efficient and accurate communication. This becomes even more challenging when communication is cross-departmental. GEMS allows everyone to see what is occurring in each department so that everyone is working with the same information in real time.

This week we had the opportunity to pressure test the system to see how it enhanced, or complicated, the Emergency Management process by simulating an emergency snow event in the borough. Simulations, by design, are there to tax every department to reveal gaps or challenges within and between departments. The team was tasked with managing snowfall of 3-to-4-inches per hour resulting in traffic incidents, structural and electrical collapses, and the need to manage residents’ health and well-being. An event like this required every snowplow, every police officer on duty, and regular coordination with our fire department to see the event out. GEMS allowed every “player” in the simulation to immediately know what tools they had at their disposal, where they were deployed on a cross functional map of the borough, and what task they might be able to handle next in a timely manner.

GEMS could never replace the knowledge and skills of our department managers and staff. That is not the goal of the software. GEMS is another way of representing incoming data in a way that helps makes decisions easier by providing more context to the totality of the emergency event itself and how each individual piece plays a part. Ultimately, it enhances the skills of those utilizing it so that they can make even better decisions and manage communication more effectively saving time and, in an emergency, saving lives.

Thanks to the simulation, we are already looking at adapting and adding in features that will allow for better two-way communication between residents and staff while also looking at further integration with police department systems to help improve the software. Undoubtedly, as we get deeper into the fall and snow begins to accumulate GEMS will be utilized in a real-world scenario and that enhancements and additional advancements will be needed. However, we now have a tool to improve upon. We have a system that will become the backbone of our emergency response management and allow us to resolve serious events safer and more quickly than ever before making Lansdale a better place to live, work, and play.