Last week, G&H was honored to lead a national level exercise of the Community Lifeline Status System (CLSS) in Hanover, Maryland with participation from the Maryland Department of Emergency Management (MDEM) and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) and with the support of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate and the CUSEC: Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium. This exercise represented a historic milestone in the evolution of the CLSS as we approach its nationwide deployment in April!

During the exercise, participants utilized the CLSS to evaluate simulated hurricane impacts and visualize completed assessments through a shareable community lifelines report. Leveraging GIS and other datasets from the CLSS data library, players conducted detailed impact assessments, customized to their needs, for both the 72-hour pre-storm period and the post-impact phase.  These assessments were seamlessly shared between Maryland and Virginia, showcasing the system’s potential to foster cross-agency collaboration and enhance situational awareness across jurisdictional boundaries. This successful exercise paves the way for more effective, data informed emergency management coordination, ultimately saving lives and enabling smarter prioritization and allocation of limited resources during crises.

We want to sincerely thank the participants from MDEM and VDEM, who devoted their time and expertise to evaluating, validating, and refining the CLSS for the next generation of emergency managers. A special thanks to Russell Strickland, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Emergency Management, for his inspiring opening remarks and unwavering commitment to the future of the CLSS. As we celebrate this achievement, we look forward to the continued success of the CLSS as it rolls out across the nation. To learn more about the CLSS, visit the CLSS website: https://clss-cusec.hub.arcgis.com/

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