With the vast number of local, state, tribal, federal and private-sector agencies involved in fire and emergency response, information systems are quite complex. Agencies collect and use information, but often through drastically different information-technology systems and sharing tools. How can users ensure that they can share this information across disparate systems?

The departments of Justice and Homeland Security launched the National Information Exchange Model, or NIEM, in 2005. Since that time, NIEM has been incorporated into information-sharing initiatives by 31 states and a variety of local and federal agencies, including: public safety, justice, homeland security, emergency management, maritime, immigration, infrastructure protection and international trade.

NIEM is meeting this “information interoperability” challenge by providing a common language nationwide for all-hazards and homeland-security operations. The NIEM common language, in turn, provides the basis for developing NIEM-conformant common exchange standards for information shared across the broad public safety, emergency and disaster management, justice, intelligence, and homeland security enterprises.

In addition to a common language and library of NIEM-conformant information-exchange standards, the model also provides:

• A framework, methodology and technical tools for collaborative development of information-exchange standards;
• Training, technical assistance and help-desk support for exchange standard developers and users; and
• A governance structure that encourages the active involvement and input of users and practitioners from all levels of government and industry.

Emergency-Service Projects

NIEM already is at work in a number of initiatives that affect fire and emergency services, including:

Public-Safety Data Interoperability Program. Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and co-managed by the IJIS Institute and the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, this initiative is focused on advancing standards-based information-sharing to support emergency communications and other relevant homeland-security domains.

The goal of the program's first project, the conversion of the External Alarm Interface Information Exchange Packet Documentation to the NIEM Version 2.0, is to improve the real-time information-sharing capabilities in the emergency-response environment. This includes development of high-value information exchanges (IEPDs) related to local communication centers and public-safety answering points. An IEPD is a set of data artifacts used to support the sharing of data for a particular business purpose or, more simply, the framework on which the actual information exchange is built.

The purpose of the External Alarm Interface IEPD is to provide a standard data exchange for electronically transmitting information between an alarm-monitoring company and a PSAP. There are three primary uses for this IEPD: initial notification of an alarm event, bidirectional update of status and bidirectional update of other events.

The External Alarm IEPD has been in development since 2004, and has been tested extensively through partnerships with APCO, the York County (Va.) Emergency Communications Division, The Richmond (Va.) Department of Information Technology and Police Department's Division of Emergency Communications, the Central Station Alarm Association, and Vector Security.

More than 5,000 alarm exchanges have been transmitted between Vector Security and the two Virginia PSAPs in the two years of operation. These exchanges resulted in:

• 5,000 fewer telephone calls to the two PSAPs, eliminating the need for the alarm-monitoring company operator to converse with the PSAP call-taker.
• Elimination of miscommunication between the alarm-company operator and the PSAP call-taker.
• A significant decrease in response times to alarm-related calls for service, with an increase in law-enforcement apprehensions made and lives saved, and more quickly extinguished fires.