The FCC has announced it will conduct a voluntary exercise of the Disaster Information Reporting System June 16—18.
DIRS is a web-based system through which the FCC collects information from communications providers during major disasters, such as hurricanes, wildfires and earthquakes.
The commission said the exercise will help ensure that communications providers, including broadcasters, can access and file reports in DIRS, as well as train new employees on how to use the system.
The commission compiles the submitted data and shares network status information with federal emergency management agencies. It also publishes public reports with aggregated restoration data and uses this information to assess communications reliability during disasters.
Although the exercise is voluntary, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau is encouraging all stations to participate.
DIRS background and mandate consideration
We reported last year on the commission’s consideration of making DIRS reporting mandatory. It voted to do so for cable, wireless, wireline and VoIP providers.
Currently, when DIRS is activated following a disaster, only 20 to 35% of stations typically submit reports, according to commission data.
The NAB believes mandatory DIRS filings will disrupt the emergency restoration efforts of radio and TV stations. In one of its “Delete, Delete, Delete” filings, it urged the commission to terminate its inquiry into requiring all broadcasters to file reports in DIRS and the Network Outage Reporting System during disasters.
How to participate
On June 16, the FCC will send a mock activation letter to all DIRS participants. The letter will clearly state that the exercise is voluntary and not a real DIRS activation. It will include a pre-selected list of counties that form the disaster area for the exercise.
Stations will be asked to report data on their broadcast infrastructure in the affected area.
Since this is only an exercise, the FCC does not expect to receive any actual outage data. If a station does not have any communications assets in the designated DIRS activation area, it can still participate by submitting notional data for the pre-selected counties, the commission said.
Participants should provide initial data sets by June 17 at 10 a.m. Eastern Time and submit updated reports by June 18 at 10 a.m. The bureau will send a deactivation letter by 3 p.m. on June 18 to inform stations that the exercise has concluded.
The FCC said DIRS users should review and, if necessary, update their contact information at the DIRS website to ensure it is current. Stations that have not previously accessed DIRS are encouraged to sign up and familiarize themselves with the system.
(Read the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau’s public notice on the DIRS exercise.)
