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CAMEO Developers Meet with Emergency Responders and Planners

OCTOBER 30, 2015--Members of the CAMEO software suite development team (from both NOAA and EPA) recently attended two back-to-back conferences in Texas to continue gathering stakeholder feedback on potential areas of improvement to the CAMEO suite programs as a result of Presidential Executive Order (EO) 13650 to improve chemical facility safety and security.


The team also took this opportunity to let users know about upcoming changes in the suite, such as the apps being developed for mobile phones and tablets.

The first conference was the mid-year meeting of the National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials (NASTTPO) that was held in Houston from October 20-22, and it was attended by emergency planners from many different states. The conference kicked off with a training session on either the CAMEO suite of emergency planning and response programs or the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants process. The training was followed by a day and a half of presentations and discussions, including one on worst-case planning for a Bakken crude oil spill in a tunnel that runs underneath the downtown area of a major U.S. city. The CAMEO team was able to brief the conference attendees on the status of the EO and the ongoing enhancements to the CAMEO suite tools.

The 2015 HOTZONE Conference was held from October 22-25 in Houston, directly following the mid-year NASTTPO conference. HOTZONE is one of the major annual conferences for first responders, where they can receive hands-on training, hear case studies and lessons learned from their peers, and learn about the latest technologies. This year there were over 600 attendees from 30 different states. Most of the attendees were first responders, but there were also a number of attendees from the emergency planning and industry sectors.

This conference offers multiple tracks to provide attendees with access to a wide variety of topics. On the first day, attendees could choose from 11 different full-day workshop classes. On the following days, attendees could choose from almost 70 different short sessions (1.5 hours) to tailor the conference to their individual needs. Several of the workshops and sessions were focused on CAMEO products, and the CAMEO team members used those as an opportunity to get direct stakeholder feedback from the users. The conference also featured an extensive Exhibit Hall with over 40 vendors.

The closing keynote speech for the HOTZONE conference focused on the people, events, and incidents that changed emergency hazardous materials response history--based on feedback from the first responders themselves. The development of the CAMEO software suite was listed as one of those noteworthy events. The CAMEO software programs were first released in the 1980s and continue to be enhanced to this day, giving users access to vital hazardous chemical information and tools for emergency planning and response.

For more information, contact Mark.W.Miller@noaa.gov or Brianne.Connolly@noaa.gov.

Firetruck parked outside of a building.
(NOAA)
Last updated Monday, August 7, 2023 11:09am PDT