ChicagoFIRST Goals
ChicagoFIRST initially formed to address three issues:
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- Developing information sharing protocols with local and state emergency response agencies to ensure that members receive access to trusted, real-time information. Formal, joint procedures were developed beginning in 2004;
- Working with Chicago on evacuation planning
- ChicagoFIRST assisted in planning and implementing a mass evacuation drill in 2006
- Mass Evacuation Safety – After the 2006 Evacuation Drill, the City of Chicago produced this life safety video that provides tips and information for evacuation training and during a real evacuation.
- In 2010, ChicagoFIRST collaborated with the City on another evacuation exercise where 500 volunteers from the Aon Center and the Blue Cross Blue Shield building exercised evacuating their premises and relocating to a Hub Resource Center at Soldier Field while volunteers from Northern Trust Bank and BMO Harris Bank participated in a shelter-in-place exercise.
- Collaborating with the City and other private organizations on developing and implementing a credentialing program.
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- Through the Chicago Public/Private Task Force — which ChicagoFIRST co-chairs with the Chicago Office of Emergency Management & Communications — a Business Recovery Access Program (BRAP) was designed in 2013 and tested in 2014.
- BRAP relies on the Facility Inventory Management System (FIMS) database to identify persons eligible to access restricted areas under certain conditions.
In 2017, ChicagoFIRST goals include working with our public sector partners before, during and while recovering from emergencies. Our areas of focus are Crisis Management, Business Continuity, Cyber Security, Physical Security and Life Safety. Our activities include planning, exercises, situational awareness and intelligence broadcasts, and facilitating recovery from emergencies. ChicagoFIRST’s overall goal is to get the community back to normal as soon as possible.
