GIS Support
BY DAVE KEHRLEIN AND DAVE SHREVE
During the seven days from April 27 through May 3, 1995, a combined effort on the part of the USAR Incident Support Team (including members from California OES, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and USAR team members), California OES`s GIS team, and Southwestern Bell`s CAD group produced an impressive array of products developed to enhance the operational capability of the USAR teams involved in the Oklahoma City Bombing. The turnaround time on the projects we attempted was astounding. Credit must go to the members of the IST`s procurement group and the Southwestern Bell CAD group. Many people spend a lifetime without having the opportunity to work on a project with the spirit of cooperation and ingenuity that prevailed in Oklahoma City.
Although we have been involved in many disaster operations, this was our first experience with the USAR program. We followed along after the USAR operation, we identified a requirement, and then we pulled a solution to the problem out of our bag of tricks.
The following is a list of what we could help with during and after the Oklahoma City rescue operation:
finding a detailed map of the area;
accurately locating all emergency operation facilities and making these locations available to team members;
mapping out floor plans/elevations of the rescue site;
mapping out a grid system;
mapping out known/suspected victim locations, including a database, and collaborating with the medical examiner;
mapping out dangerous areas and including database information on decisions relevant to those locations;
mapping out team assignments, including a roster;
mapping victim recovery locations;
mapping shoring;
using digital cameras and integrating photos with locations to enhance briefings;
generating 3-D visualizations where appropriate;
generating hard copy in at least four sizes, if possible;
providing real-time interactive presentations for briefings;
providing real-time interactive for individuals;
including real-time weather into the GIS; and
developing a comprehensive information management system for the IST.
Although we are GIS specialists usually involved in producing maps, charts, and reports for areas ranging from 50,000 acres to 50,000 square miles, many of the same principles applied to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Our goal was to provide products that would directly aid in the search and recovery effort within the Murrah Building. Task force leaders were interested in building floor plans and 3-D models to show where the bomb victims might be in the rubble.
We learned that there already was a FEMA GIS effort underway to map the total scope of the disaster, which amounted to some 365 damaged buildings, including 12 to 14 severely damaged and 50 or so moderately damaged. We invited the FEMA group up to the IST to discuss their needs and determine whether they could work with us. They decided that they had their hands full with the overall picture and didn`t have time to deal with the inside of the building.
We met again with the IST leaders to better understand their needs. This time we leafed through all their current maps and asked a lot more questions. Basically, they were interested in the following maps: victim locations by floor, aggregate victim locations from all floors at ground level directly beneath their locations on the floor of origin, shoring maps, victim recovery locations, and 3-D versions of the victim maps. In addition, the different maps had to be created in various sizes, depending on whether they were going to be used in the briefing room, by the structural engineers, or by the USAR teams on the rubble pile.
We learned that Charles Smith from the Baton Rouge (LA) Coroner`s Office and assigned to D-MORT had done an incredible job of determining everyone who had been in the building at the time of the blast. He then got together with the building maintenance supervisor to determine their exact locations on each floor at the time of the blast. This was all accomplished by Wednesday evening. However, there were still some uncertainties about the list, and so the list and the map were still dynamic by Thursday evening. Our group had to map these locations more precisely on each floor and then bring them all together down on the rubble pile. The purpose of this was to refine the search area for each victim to a few square feet. In addition, when a body was found, the D-MORT tried matching the most probable identification first, with a second and third option to fall back on. This would speed up the search and D-MORT operations considerably.
We obtained the paper versions of the shoring maps. Our goal was to record the location and type and develop 3-D renditions of the shoring maps for greater clarity. They were to be used as working maps in the building, as briefing maps, and for training later on.
On Tuesday, May 2, the last full-scale day of the USAR operation, thoughts of strike team leaders turned to documentation and training materials to take home with them. In the process of pulling all the pieces together to create the drawings, maps, and databases, we created a sort of clearinghouse for event information.
Two very significant products that would be very valuable weren`t identified until the after-action debriefing held in Sacramento: tracking building hazards, specifically the “Mother Slab” and other debris hanging from the building, and mapping the team assignments and objectives. Tracking the debris was easy. We took a scanned image of the front of the building, color-coded the debris by level of hazard, and put that color dot on the scanned image. Then, we set up a database that contained a history for that particular piece of debris–i.e., dates inspected, by whom, and action taken. When the dot on the debris is clicked, the information about it pops up on the screen. Mapping the team assignments is a matter of legwork during an event and is an easy addition to the basic floor plan.
LESSONS LEARNED
Use this important technology at incidents when possible and relevant.
Even a single building can benefit from a mapping effort.
A GIS team should get there the very first day to get things going right off the bat.
Have all data in a database (set up an information system to record and share all event information).
Use a map expert-type program for initial orientation. n
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The GIS Section provided this 3-D computer model of the Murrah Building, showing victim locations.
DAVE KEHRLEIN has been the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) manager for the California Governor`s Office of Emergency Services (OES) for the past six years. DAVE SHREVE is a GIS specialist who has worked for OES for the past four years. They have collaborated on nuclear power plant incident; GIS development; and some 15 presidentially declared disasters, including the Oakland Fire, the L.A. Riots, and the Northridge Earthquake.
