• BUILDING COLLAPSENIST Champlain Towers South Investigation

    The NIST investigation into the June 2021 collapse of Surfside, Florida, condo building , is preparing to begin invasive testing and preparation of physical evidence collected from the collapse site.

  • FIRST RESPONDERSDigital Indoor Mapping Capability Available for First Responders

    DHS S&T funded the development of a cloud-based capability that enables first responders to review and analyze indoor floor plans in real-time when responding to incidents.

  • SEARCH & RESCUEDangerous Rescue Situations: Unmanned Vehicles Could Lead the Way

    First responders frequently encounter situations where an incident scene could be either potentially toxic, like an industrial accident, or physically dangerous, like a collapsed building or crumbling hillside. In these instances, the job still needs to get done, but performing it with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or an Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) will be as effective in accomplishing the search & rescue mission, but less risky for the first responders.

  • FIRST RESPONSEChallenge: Innovative Incident Command Dashboards for Public Safety

    NIST is launching a new prize competition to advance incident command dashboard technologies that would allow for real-time tracking of assets, personnel and objects of interest during emergency scenarios.

  • SEARCH & RESCUENext-Generation Search & Rescue: Body Cameras, Live Streaming

    Typically, search and rescue teams in the wilderness use radio, in-person briefings, text messaging, drones and paper forms to communicate and coordinate their efforts. New digital tools have the potential to revolutionize wilderness search and rescue efforts.

  • EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONLocal, Temporary 5G Network to Help Fight Forest Fires

    When it comes to activities such as fighting forest fires, monitoring construction sites or providing multimedia services at sports and other mass events, a reliable, secure 5G campus network is often needed locally and temporarily to ensure maximum network coverage on the entire site.

  • SWAT TEAMSSWAT Team Members as Amateur Inventors Who Make a Difference

    SWAT teams routinely enter dangerous situations where they need to make difficult, potentially life-and-death decisions. Such challenging circumstances present opportunities for innovation, and these first responders are often amateur inventors as well.

  • EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONStrengthening First Responder Communications

    A critical element of protecting the U.S. is securing the ability of first responders to communicate. A DHS-run exercise aimed to help responders prepare to mitigate potential jamming incidents.

  • EARTHQUAKESRisk Models Overlook an Important Element

    Earthquakes themselves affect the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, which in turn could impact on future earthquakes, according to new research. This new knowledge should be incorporated in computer models used to gauge earthquake risk, according to the researchers behind the study.

  • EARTHQUAKESRisk Models Overlook an Important Element

    Earthquakes themselves affect the movement of Earth’s tectonic plates, which in turn could impact on future earthquakes, according to new research. This new knowledge should be incorporated in computer models used to gauge earthquake risk, according to the researchers behind the study.

  • WILDFIRESPredictive Models of Wildfire Behavior

    New partnership will work to Advance fire research capabilities to help support the work of fire-, land-, and emergency managers.

  • WILDFIRESNew Wildfire Detection System Receives Funding Boost

    The high intensity of the recent fire seasons in Oregon, coupled with the increasing wildfire risk this year as approximately three-quarters of the state is now in severe drought conditions, has highlighted how critical a new project, aiming to help with the early detection and monitoring of wildfires, is — both for firefighters and the general public.

  • COMMUNICATION NETWORKSThe Future of 5G+ Infrastructure Could Be Built Tile by Tile

    Currently 5G+ technologies rely on large antenna arrays that are typically bulky and come only in very limited sizes, making them difficult to transport and expensive to customize. Researchers have developed a novel and flexible solution to address the problem. Their additively manufactured tile-based approach can construct on-demand, massively scalable arrays of 5G+‐enabled smart skins with the potential to enable intelligence on nearly any surface or object.

  • EMERGENCY RESPONSEThe Evolution of U.S. Emergency Risk Assessment and Response

    The U.S. emergency management system evolved from responses to many past situations, including the Great Depression and the Cold War. The current system formed as a seeming patchwork of federal, local, nonprofit and other agencies. While the current system has advantages and weaknesses, understanding its makeup can help us address current crises, including pandemics and climate change.

  • DISASTERSLeveraging Social Media During a Disaster

    During a disaster, many people turn to social media seeking information. But communicating during disasters is challenging, especially using an interactive environment like social media where misinformation can spread easily.