interTRAX: From Tag to Web

ABSTRACT:
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, emergency managers across the country are scrambling to get a handle on emergency preparedness for, and response to, large-scale incidents. With the prospect of looming pandemics, terrorist attacks, and larger than ever natural disasters, there is a renewed sense of urgency to find and deploy the right systems to manage a major disaster. However, standing in the way of deploying these needed systems are three (3) major obstacles:

Lack of a common incident management system across all agencies.
The separation of agencies into “Silos” with their own priorities and SOPs.
The lack of standard systems and equipment.

It is no surprise that our federal government has come out with mandates to address these stumbling blocks. First of all, they have federally mandated NIMS Compliance – emergency response agencies must comply with the National Incident Management System or it will effect their eligibility for grant monies. Second, the federal government is mandating Interagency Coordination complete with joint-planning and mutual-aid pacts – a key element of NIMS. Finally, they are demanding Interoperability – the requirement that equipment be standard across the various agencies and user groups. Progress towards achieving these mandates has been slow, but help is available from the Salamander Technologies’ family of personnel accountability systems: fireTRAX® for tracking 1st responders; medTRAX™ for tracking victims and evacuees; and forceTRAX™ for tracking field support organizations such as police, FEMA task forces, National Guard units, and volunteers. These systems feature common ID tagging formats (TAG), automated data capture (Pocket PC), and on-scene incident management (LAN). Now, the Salamander Technologies’ family has been improved to include a universal hub for consolidating and dispensing field data to off-scene agencies at the county, regional, or state level (WEB). interTRAX™ is the interagency, interoperable solution for tracking all responders, victims, and volunteers - from the tag to the web.