Eureka Fire Protection District Adopts E-SPONDER Express

Jan. 28, 2008

ST. LOUIS , Jan. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Convergence Communications has announced the deployment of E-SPONDER Express by Eureka Fire Protection District (EFPD). EFPD protects an 82 square mile area across two Missouri counties and regularly deploys as part of Missouri Task Force 1 (MOTF-1) a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force. Deploying E-SPONDER Express has given EFPD a tactical tool for managing incidents at the operator and command level -- allowing them to simplify the creation of their IAPs (Incident Action Plans), have on-scene resources able to build and manage those IAPs with or without connectivity back to headquarters, and still maintain a headquarters view of the response for after-action, historical and obligatory NIMS/ICS reporting. They are also leveraging E-SPONDER Express for its' robust resource reporting around costs and corrective action planning.

"Effectively managing our response across a diverse coverage area challenges a smaller department dedicated to providing the best services possible to our community," said Greg Brown , Fire Chief of Eureka Fire Protection District and 2007 Missouri Fire Chief of the Year. "With a combination of professional and volunteer firefighters, longstanding local mutual aid agreements and our FEMA response activities, a cutting edge technology such as E-SPONDER Express becomes invaluable. Our team is better prepared and is able to react more flexibly, which allows us to better serve our community."

Eureka Fire has not only equipped it headquarters with E-SPONDER Express, the system is also installed in the St. Louis Region Mutual Aid Mobile Command Center stationed at the Eureka Fire Department. The command vehicle is designed to tackle any major emergency. Features include satellite, night vision, emergency lights, six laptops, a server and six cellular phones. On-site at major incidents, the mobile command center leverages E-SPONDER Express to manage and support those incidents within the NIMS/ICS structure. Funding for the Mobile Command Center and E-SPONDER Express was received through STARRS (St. Louis Area Regional Response System) to support the Regional Incident Support Team through a Federal UASI grant.

"With this new technology, our ability to adapt to the situations we are responding to is much richer." said Brown. "Our ability to better communicate, coordinate and collaborate is allowing us to provide services in ways we've never been able to before, while meeting the obligations we have to our citizens, as well as our local and federal partners."

E-SPONDER Suite of Products

The E-SPONDER product family provides a range of capabilities for the response management community, from the individual agency to the complexity of multi-agency, multi-regional response planning and collaboration. At the agency level, E-SPONDER Express simplifies and automates the incident management process, mapping to the NIMS/ICS (Incident Command Structure) process being adopted in many locations around the world. It allows the pre-staging and creation of Incident Action Plans, resource tracking, and electronic versions of ICS Series forms. E-SPONDER is a highly customizable software solution that enables diverse governmental or corporate entities to exchange information necessary for daily activities, to plan events, to coordinate command and control during events and incidents, and to review and evaluate performance afterwards. E-SPONDER Alerts provides a notification and alerting capability to either product that enables 2-way communication to up to thousands of people that can be triggered automatically in workflow or on demand as the situation dictates.

About Convergence

Convergence, the creator of the E-SPONDER family of products, provides government and commercial enterprises with highly customizable communications and collaboration solutions as well as providing the commercial market with a wide variety of information technology solutions. A Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Gold Certified Partner, Convergence is an industry leader in mission-specific software for the homeland security and disaster preparedness community with E-SPONDER and the new E-SPONDER Express suite of solutions. Winner of the 2005 and finalist for the 2007 Microsoft Worldwide Partner of the Year Award, E-SPONDER has been used by a variety of customers and events including Super Bowl XXXIX, the 2004 St. Louis Presidential Debates, and the St. Louis-based games of the 2004 and 2006 MLB World Series. Visit http://demo.e-sponderx.com for an online demonstration of E-SPONDER Express.

About Eureka Fire Protection District (EFPD)

The Eureka Fire Protection District is located in Southwest St. Louis County and Northern Jefferson County, which is approximately thirty (30) miles southwest of St. Louis , Missouri. Eureka Fire Protection District is a truly unique Department providing EMS, Fire, and Rescue services to an Urban and Rural community comprising of 82 square miles, the largest in St. Louis County. A "Combination" type department, EFPD utilizes both volunteer (reserve) and career staff. With nearly one hundred (100) members that includes Paramedics, EMTs, Firefighters, Support Team, and an Explorer Post, EFPD operates out of 3 stations protecting a community of over 28,000 people.

SOURCE Convergence Communications

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