LOS ANGELES, Nov. 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- E Team, Inc., the proven, market-leading provider of collaborative software for crisis management, today announced that San Diego County has implemented the E Team solution to manage its response to the recent wildfires there and accelerate assistance and recovery efforts. E Team was deployed in San Diego's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and in three separate public assistance centers the day following the outbreak of the fires, and has now become the County's primary networked collaboration tool, enabling a wide variety of agencies in numerous locations to work together to manage the disaster.
"E Team was quickly up and running in our EOC, providing the ability to share information on fire status, road closures, utility status, health and human service issues, and resources committed to the fire during the critical moments," said Debby Steffen, San Diego's director of emergency services. "Now that the fires are out, E Team is allowing us to effectively track our efforts in assisting residents. It's been an enormous asset to us and has greatly facilitated our work here."
The day after the fires broke out, 22 agencies and 92 people quickly began using E Team to evaluate the situation and plan for the protection of lives and property. E Team's powerful ESRI-based geographic information system (GIS) tools provided responders with real-time mapping capabilities to display affected areas and develop hazard models of possible fire advancement patterns. Red Cross information, such as the locations and status of all temporary shelters in the area, was charted and displayed. Both E Team personnel and other system users were onsite offering support and training. The system was also used to provide information to key decision-makers at the state and national levels. Staff members from the offices of United States Senator Barbara Boxer, United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, and California Governor Gray Davis utilized E Team to monitor the unfolding events.
For the recovery phase of the fires, E Team's new disaster recovery module was released to aid and assist victims, minimize fraudulent claims, and expedite damage reimbursement. The new system has been implemented in all of the San Diego public assistance centers to coordinate and track food, shelter, clothing, travel, and cash disbursements. Detailed records including information such as resident name, address, parcel number, and FEMA number are kept, with real-time calculations of damages and assistance accessible at any time. The new disaster recovery module also presents satellite imagery of the affected areas and overlays a grid of parcel definitions combined with the most recent County Assessor's valuation records. This new technology will expedite the evaluation of required structure replacement and accelerate reimbursement to local government agencies.
"One of the necessities of disaster management is having the ability to secure the financial resources to make the recovery as painless as possible for those in need," said Lewis Stanton, E Team's president and chief executive officer. "E Team's new disaster recovery module has made San Diego's transition to recovery much easier by allowing them to quickly get people the assistance they need, and to track and document this assistance."
At the time the fires broke out, San Diego County had just completed a year-long evaluation of emergency management software and was in the final stages of procurement.
About E Team
E Team is a leading provider of crisis management software to public agencies and private entities. E Team's collaborative software offers comprehensive functionality for the critical tasks of crisis management, enabling users to better prepare for, respond to, and recover from large-scale emergencies and everyday incidents. It is used in a wide variety of applications, including homeland security, biodefense, business continuity, disaster preparedness and recovery, event management, and training and exercises. Proven time and again in real-world situations, including New York City's response to 9/11 and the 2002 Winter Olympics, E Team's browser-based software enables effective multi-agency, multi-group collaboration.
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