Software blazes trail in California wildfire fight

By William Welsh

San Diego, California - December 14, 2003 - San Diego County Emergency Services Director Debby Steffen faced an ordinary fire season this year, until wildfires in the county turned it into the worst in California history.

The fires scorched nearly 400,000 acres, destroyed more than 5,000 homes and other structures and killed 16 people. They caused about $1 billion worth of property damage, not to mention millions of dollars in firefighting costs.

Steffen had to know the location of each of the county's emergency response personnel and the situation each faced in order to protect the lives and property of residents. But the county lacked a modern automated system that would allow her to do this.

As the fires began to reach blowout stage, Steffen placed an urgent call to Mark Fell, director of sales for E Team, requesting that he quickly train personnel at the county's emergency operations center to use the company's crisis information management software, or CIMS. The software helps personnel from different agencies communicate with each other and manage their resources.

"We were in the process of procuring from E Team when the disaster occurred," Steffen said. "Mark called and offered to set us up. He said we could use the software in advance of the purchase."

Fell made good on his offer. "We hit the door at 7 a.m. [Tuesday, Oct. 28] and began training within the hour,"

Fell said. Over the course of the next 20 hours, Fell trained about 60 workers from two shifts.

The software was effective, Steffen said.

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4/14/2004