Columbia County Emergency Management Agency and Geographic Information Systems teamed up to implement a new GIS-centric technology that provides County leadership with an unprecedented common operational picture and assists multiple departments and agencies before, during and after natural disasters. This new tech-savvy application helps with the coordination, communication, preparation and recovery efforts and has made the process more efficient through the application of GIS data.

Andy Leanza was named the county’s EMA Director in May 2017, after serving as Interim EMA Director from February – May, and held a vision that would far exceed the county’s expectations. He envisioned a low cost system using current county resources that would develop and maintain records to be used across multiple departments and agencies and utilized for emergency situations. Andy and his team worked closely with Mary Howard, GIS Manager, and her team to come up with a system using a combination of Esri’s ArcGIS platform and Cityworks to allow other entities to view data in real time while tracking resources throughout the area. His vision couldn’t have come at a better time as the county was able to utilize this new system during Hurricane Irma dispersing teams from the county’s Roads and Bridges department, Water Utility, Traffic Engineering, Storm Water, Fire Rescue, and the Sheriff’s office with dispatch. Irma was used as an opportunity to test the system and improve where needed.

On October 11, 2017, EMA and GIS were invited by Esri to present their experiences to other Georgia municipalities and GEMA at their post-disaster seminar. It was during this meeting, Mary Howard and Andy Leanza shared how using the new system dramatically improved the efficiency of the Columbia County Emergency Operations Center and became the primary platform for communicating and centralizing information.

In addition, the team was recognized in Civil + Structural Engineer Magazine on February 1, 2018. The article features quotes from both Andy and Mary about the planning and implementation of the new technology as well as how critical response teams (911, 311, Fire Rescue, etc.) came together during the time of the storm using the technology to better serve the citizens. Mary Howard states in the article, “Departments that utilize Cityworks for their work efforts were receiving service requests directly from the EOC so they could respond in the field, attach information and photos, and close tickets as they were resolved. Efficiently tracking this information was integral to capturing personnel, equipment, and material costs not only during the event, but also in documenting the county’s response and clean-up efforts during the declared state of emergency.”

The team, led by Andy and Mary, have been asked to speak to the head of GEMA as well as upper-level management to share the new technology best practices and how the state and other local EMA agencies can work to implement a similar, if not same technology, for their agencies to assist with emergency situations.