PEMA Emergency Operation Center

Status: Existing

Description

Systems housed at the PEMA Statewide Emergency Operation Center (Harrisburg), Western Area Office (Indiana), and Eastern Area Office (Hamburg). PEMA Western and Eastern Regional Offices serve as regional operational arms of the Statewide Emergency Operation Center in Harrisburg. PEMA stores, coordinates, and utilizes emergency response and evacuation information/plans to facilitate coordinated emergency response for all responding agencies throughout Pennsylvania. PEMA supports county and local governments in the areas of civil defense, disaster mitigation and preparedness, planning, and response to and recovery from manmade or natural disasters. It interfaces with other emergency management agencies to support coordinated emergency response involving multiple agencies. As the response progresses, situation information including damage assessments, response status, and evacuation and resource data are shared to keep all allied agencies apprised of the response.

Stakeholders

StakeholderRoleRole Status
Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA)OwnsExisting

Physical Objects

Transportation Information Center
Archived Data System
Emergency Management Center
Data Distribution System

Functional Objects

Functional ObjectDescriptionUser Defined
Emergency Call–Taking'Emergency Call–Taking' supports the emergency call–taker, collecting available information about the caller and the reported emergency, and forwarding this information to other objects that formulate and manage the emergency response. It receives 9–1–1, 7–digit local access, and motorist call–box calls and interfaces to other agencies to assist in the verification and assessment of the emergency and to forward the emergency information to the appropriate response agency.False
Emergency Commercial Vehicle Response'Emergency Commercial Vehicle Response' identifies and initiates a response to commercial vehicle and freight equipment related emergencies. These emergencies may include incidents involving hazardous materials as well as the detection of non–permitted transport of security sensitive hazmat. It identifies the location of the vehicle, the nature of the incident, the route information, and information concerning the freight itself. The information supports the determination of the response and identifies the responding agencies to notify.False
Emergency Dispatch'Emergency Dispatch' tracks the location and status of emergency vehicles and dispatches these vehicles to incidents. Pertinent incident information is gathered from the public and other public safety agencies and relayed to the responding units. Incident status and the status of the responding units is tracked so that additional units can be dispatched and/or unit status can be returned to available when the incident is cleared and closed.False
Emergency Early Warning System'Emergency Early Warning System' monitors alerting and advisory systems, information collected by ITS surveillance and sensors, and reports from other agencies and uses this information to identify potential, imminent, or in–progress major incidents or disasters. Notification is provided to initiate the emergency response, including public notification using ITS traveler information systems, where appropriate.False
Emergency Environmental Monitoring'Emergency Environmental Monitoring' collects current and forecast road conditions and surface weather information from a variety of sources. The collected environmental information is monitored and presented to the operator and used to more effectively manage incidents.False
Emergency Notification Support'Emergency Notification Support' receives emergency notification messages from vehicles or personal handheld devices, determines an appropriate response, and either uses internal resources or contacts a local agency to provide that response. The nature of the emergency is determined based on the information in the received message as well as other inputs. This object effectively serves as an interface between automated collision notification systems and the local public safety answering point for messages that require a public safety response. This capability depends on an up–to–date registry of public safety answering points/response agencies by coverage area, the type of emergency, and hours of service.False
Emergency Secure Area Sensor Management'Emergency Secure Area Sensor Management' manages sensors that monitor secure areas in the transportation system, processes the collected data, performs threat analysis in which data is correlated with other sensor, surveillance, and advisory inputs, and then disseminates resultant threat information to emergency personnel and other agencies. In response to identified threats, the operator may request activation of barrier and safeguard systems to preclude an incident, control access during and after an incident or mitigate impact of an incident. The sensors may be in secure areas frequented by travelers (i.e., transit stops, transit stations, rest areas, park and ride lots, modal interchange facilities, on–board a transit vehicle, etc.) or around transportation infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels and transit railways or guideways. The types of sensors include acoustic, threat (e.g. chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors), infrastructure condition and integrity, motion and object sensors.False
Emergency Secure Area Surveillance'Emergency Secure Area Surveillance' monitors surveillance inputs from secure areas in the transportation system. The surveillance may be of secure areas frequented by travelers (i.e., transit stops, transit stations, rest areas, park and ride lots, modal interchange facilities, on–board a transit vehicle, etc.) or around transportation infrastructure such as bridges, tunnels and transit railways or guideways. It provides both video and audio surveillance information to emergency personnel and automatically alerts emergency personnel of potential incidents.False

Interfaces To

(View Context Diagram)

City/County Emergency Operations Center
Commercial Vehicle Company Offices
County 911 Centers
County EMA Centers
Local Fire and Rescue Services
MMVTA Offices
PennDOT Central Office Organizations
PennDOT Statewide TMC
Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security
PRT Police and Security Services
PTC Traffic Operations Center (PTC Ops Center)