Lab helps cities prep for terror
- By Dibya Sarkar
- Apr 16, 2002
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Public Technology Inc. are
partnering in an initiative to enhance local governments' ability to monitor,
detect and report chemical and biological releases in the atmosphere.
The multiyear initiative called LINC — which stands for the Local Integration
of the National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center with Cities — will
help local agencies prepare for and respond to urban terrorist attacks involving
chemicals and biological weapons.
Livermore, (www.llnl.gov) an Energy Department
laboratory based in California, began preparations with Seattle about four
to five weeks ago in a pilot program, said Donald Ermak, the national laboratory's
Atmospheric Release Assessment Programs leader.
The laboratory is assessing the capabilities of Seattle's fire department,
emergency operations center, hazardous material units and mobile command
centers. Based on that assessment, the laboratory will provide the city
with Web-based tools and databases that map and predict the probable spread
of hazardous material at multiple sites.
"We want to wed what we have with what they already have," Ermak said,
adding that it will take about six months to fully implement the system
in Seattle.
After this initial phase, Ermak said the national laboratory would identify
regions where the system could support multiple jurisdictions. The third
phase would involve incorporating the federal and state governments.
The project began about 18 months ago when representatives from Public
Technology Inc. ({http://www.pti.org} www.pti.org) — the technology arm
of the National League of Cities, the National Association of Counties and
the International City/County Management Association — visited Livermore
to see what technologies could be used in municipalities, Ermak said.
Ermak and several other Energy officials presented LINC and other emerging
technologies at PTI's annual conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., last week.