Florida responders train using National Grid System | 09.06.2007 | 07:44:40 | Views: 7309 | ID: September 6 '07: Responders in South Florida are learning to use a new national location system to train for disasters, Naples Daily News reported. Using the National Grid System, the Southwest Florida Urban Search and Rescue learned how to send information about the location of disasters and their victims. The grid system was developed in 2005 by the Department of Homeland Security and was based on the Military Grid Reference System. The system uses a nonproprietary alphanumeric referencing system "to increase the interoperability of location services." Lt. Frank Giuliano, Master Instructor for Florida, told the Daily News, "The grid system is going mainstream. ... All 50 states will eventually be using it." In the case of a disaster inside an urban area where street names, building locations and other physical landmarks are no longer existing, the grid system helps to provide coordinates to locate those areas. Giuliano told the Daily News, "You can't go to an address on Elm Street if there's been a flood or other disaster and the street just isn't there anymore." Responders training with the Southwest Florida USAR told the Daily News that learning how to use the grid was helpful - in the past four years, they have had to respond to seven hurricane emergencies and that many of the response and recovery operations have taken place in areas which no longer had any recognizable signposts.
Copyright ©2007 TheBreakingNews.com. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction in part or full without prior written permission.
|