6th Annual California Mobile Command Center Rally (Update)


May 7th is quickly approaching. Have you made your plans to visit Sacramento and see the 6th annual MCC Rally?

In cooperation with the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), the Northern California Chapter of APCO Int’l (NAPCO), and the California Fire & Rescue Training Authority, the California Fire Chiefs Association (Communications Section – Northern Division) will host and facilitate its 6th Annual free mobile communications/command vehicle rally on Wednesday, May 7th from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM.

For the event flyer, click here.


Below, you will find a list of all of the classroom presentations being offered:
For the event classroom flyer, click here.

  • 10:00 AM-PG&E Support of Disaster Response
    Richard Rodriguez, PG&E
    An overview of the capabilities of the utility’s mobile command vehicles and how they are used to support
    communities and customers – and first responders and other cooperating agencies during local
    emergencies and disasters such as the state’s recent wildfires, the response to Hurricane Sandy, the
    Feather River Canyon diesel spill, and natural gas related events such as the San Bruno incident of 2010.
    This presentation will address upgraded communications and technical features that were incorporated
    as a result of our vehicle’s use during last fire season. Following the presentation, hands-on demos will
    be held at the PG&E Mobile Command unit throughout the Rally.
  • 11:00 AM-Emerging Communications Technologies: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Sandy and Super Typhoon
    Haiyan
    Rakesh Bharania/Cisco
    Emergency communicators are rapidly changing the way they respond during disasters. The public’s ability to
    communicate instantly is creating high expectations for rapid emergency response. We’ll be looking at some of
    the new communications trends and technologies from recent events such as Hurricane Sandy and Super
    Typhoon Haiyan.
  • 12:00 PM-The Emergence of HF-NVIS as the Base Layer of Fallback Communications for Government, Public
    Safety, & Critical Infrastructure.
    Don Irving & John Rosica, NVIS
    Most modern public safety communications modes require complex infrastructure, which makes them
    inherently vulnerable. HF-NVIS (High Frequency-Near Vertical Incident Skywave) with modern
    software/firmware control is becoming the nation’s base layer fallback mode for reliable, automated, voice and
    data communications over wide regional areas, without need for technical users, and with no intervening
    infrastructure. It is being adopted by Federal, State, and Local government agencies and by critical
    infrastructure providers. This session describes this critical public safety communications mode and the latest
    advances for automatic calling, email, LMR interconnect, PSTN interconnect, SMS, fax, and multi-hop
    networking.
  • 1:00 PM-Upgrades and retrofits to your mobile command/communications vehicle
    Chuck Schuler/Public Safety Innovation
    Whether 10 weeks or 10 years old, all vehicles need maintenance and upgrades. Planning for the future of your
    vehicle is just as important as planning for its original purchase. Learn about: upgrading data, Communications
    Systems, integration of video, physical limitations of some vehicles, and how to anticipate costs.
  • 2:00 PM-Disaster Management & Communications: What We Learned from the Great East Japan
    Earthquake of 2011
    Hitoshi Igarashi/Community Emergency Management Institute Japan
    A critical overview of the difficulties encountered in the early stage of response to the earthquake and
    tsunami in view of improving what was lacking in terms of effective implementation of command and
    control activities at local government level in the 3/11 disaster in Japan. Through the university research
    offices he associates with in Japan, Mr. Igarashi is attempting to introduce the effective use of command
    and communication vehicles in disasters as one method to increase capability of gathering status
    information from devastated areas. In addition, he is doing research to design a command and
    communication vehicle for government agencies with fewer resources in developing countries.
  • HANDS-ON INTEROPERABILITY EXERCISE
    Interop 2014 (11:00 AM – NOON)
    This event will task the various MCC vehicles and their crews with a scenario and the necessity to pass
    messages between diverse systems, networks, and public safety & support entities. More details will be
    forthcoming.