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Volume 25 — Issue 1 | January 9, 2025 |
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Firefighter occupational cancer is the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths in the fire service.
January is Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month. Every January, the Firefighter Cancer Support Network (FCSN) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) partner to provide firefighters with essential tools and guidance to develop life-saving protocols for cancer prevention and to support those with cancer diagnoses within their departments.
This year’s theme is “Doing it Right,” which aligns with the guidance FCSN released in its September 2024 white paper, Doing it Right- Reducing Cancer in the Fire Service: a Groundbreaking Resource for Firefighters, EMS Providers, and Their Families. This white paper provides recommendations that apply to all firefighters, including structural, wildland, wildland-urban interface (WUI), airport, and industrial. Recommendations are focused on what firefighters, fired department leaders, and local government leaders can do to reduce cancer risks.
Each week of the month builds on the theme:
- Week 1: Doing It Right: Presumptive laws and coverage with occupational cancer.
- Week 2: Doing It Right: Battling Reproductive Cancers.
- Week 3: Doing It Right: Behavioral Health for Fire Fighters Diagnosed with Cancer.
- Week 4: Survivorship, Personal Responsibility, and Culture Change.
FCSN encourages fire departments to hold weekly safety stand downs using the content posted on their website at https://www.firefightercancersupport.org/ffcam.
Other critical actions firefighters can take this month:
- Join the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer (NFR) and encourage fellow firefighters to register. The NFR for Cancer is the largest effort ever undertaken to understand and reduce risk of cancer among U.S. firefighters. It is maintained by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
- Spread awareness about firefighter occupational cancer. Download and share FCSN’s announcement to let your colleagues know about the educational resources FCNS will be sharing throughout the month. The content is designed to engage the nation’s firefighters and their fire departments in a mass effort to prevent and reduce their risk of occupational cancer.
(Sources: FCSN, IAFF, NIOSH)
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Since the beginning of December 2024, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the following 10 recalls due to fire or burn hazards:
According to the CPSC’s estimates, when combined together, the recalls above impact nearly 1 million units. The CPSC has already received 244 reports of overheating, melting, smoke, electrical short circuit, or fire for the above products. Thirteen injuries and 55 incidents of property damage were reported. Consumers should stop using these products and follow CPSC’s instructions for seeking a refund, repair, or replacement.
Manufacturers are legally obligated to report safety issues with their products to the CPSC once discovered. Additionally, fire investigators will report consumer products like these to the CPSC if they are discovered while documenting a fire scene. But by the time a significant incident has occurred, it is too late.
That is why CPSC depends on consumer incident reports to assist in the discovery of safety issues with products. Incident reports help the CPSC generate the appropriate warnings and recalls and get the word out to consumers. However, many incidents go unreported.
Fire and public safety departments should share this information with their community through all means available. Encourage your community to stay informed by following CPSC’s social media feeds or by signing up to receive email notifications for future product recalls and alerts.
Anyone can report unsafe products to CPSC at SaferProducts.gov.
(Source: CPSC)
The National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) will host a webinar on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, at 2 p.m. EST, Navigating crisis communication - Lessons from North Carolina's response to Hurricane Helene.
This webinar will explore the powerful partnership between emergency management and public health agencies, uncovering the most effective strategies for communicating with diverse communities.
Participants will hear firsthand stories and strategies from communications leaders who responded to North Carolina's Hurricane Helene. Their presentations will focus on the critical role of messaging in times of crisis.
Participants will learn:
- How to craft clear, concise warnings, provide actionable response instructions, and build trust in your messaging.
- Practical tips on leveraging communication tools and ensuring accessibility, to equip you with the knowledge to enhance your organization's preparedness and response efforts, ensuring your messages resonate and drive action during critical moments.
This webinar is part of NEMA’s Empowerment E-Learning Series. Visit nemaweb.org to learn about upcoming webinars in the series and to access previous webinar recordings.
Learn more about the speakers and register for this webinar on Zoom.
(Source: NEMA)
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) National 911 Program will host a webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025, at 12 p.m. EST, Enhancing 911 Operations & Technology for Safer Streets.
Participants will hear from leadership at the National Emergency Numbers Association (NENA), the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch (IAED), the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, and North Central Texas 911.
The webinar will be presented in two parts.
Part 1: 911’s Role in the Safe System Approach
911 plays an important role in all five elements of the Safe System Approach. As the first, critical step in the life-saving system of care on our nation’s roadways, 911 systems are integral to safer people, safer speeds, safer vehicles, and post-crash care. This presentation will examine how 911 operations, geographic information systems (GIS), data and interoperability all contribute to roadway safety.
Part 2: Utilizing Waze Data in 911 Center Operations
Learn how the North Central Texas Communications District (NCT911) incorporated Waze data into their 911 operations, improving emergency response times. Waze is a live map app providing user-provided traffic updates and safety alerts. Nearly 40 percent of the time, users of the app report crashes approximately five minutes faster than calls to 911. Hear about the benefits and challenges of implementing this technology as part of your 911 center’s operations.
This webinar is part of the State of 911 webinar series. The series is designed to provide useful information for the 911 stakeholder community about federal and state participation in the planning, design, and implementation of Next Generation 911, or NG911 systems. It includes real experiences from leaders utilizing these processes throughout the country. The recording and slide deck from every webinar in the series is posted online shortly after the event. Sign up for email alerts to be notified when upcoming webinars are announced.
Register for the Jan. 21 webinar on Zoom.
(Source: NHTSA)
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Target rich, cyber poor: Strengthening our nation’s critical infrastructure sectors
Our nation’s critical Infrastructure—the services Americans rely on every day—is under continuous threat by nation-state cyber adversaries and cybercriminal organizations around the globe.
Despite efforts by sectors including Water and Wastewater Systems, the Education Services and Facilities Subsector (K-12 Community), and the Healthcare and Public Health (HPH) Sector to invest in additional resources for cybersecurity, they remain at elevated risk from adversaries who see them as highly profitable targets, generally “target-rich, cyber-poor.”
CISA has published several key products focused on these sectors, bringing together existing resources to ensure easy access.
In addition to these no-cost resources, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 established the first-of-its-kind State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program to support state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) partners across the country and appropriated $1 billion for this program. The program enables access to funding to address cyber threats and vulnerabilities, identify and evaluate needed capabilities, implement measures to mitigate the threats, and develop a modern cyber workforce across local communities.
CISA supports these efforts with a suite of available resources, including state cybersecurity coordinators and cybersecurity advisors located in communities across the nation.
Learn more about CISA’s free resources, funding, and guidance to strengthen the security of critical infrastructure in its Jan. 7 blog.
(Source: CISA)
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AI-enhanced ransomware and defending against it
The Center for Internet Security has posted its latest episode of Cybersecurity Where You Are, which discusses the threat of AI-enhanced ransomware along with the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to defend against it.
Here are some highlights from the episode:
- How AI in the cybersecurity space has advanced over the past few years.
- Why cybercriminals are incorporating artificial intelligence into their attacks.
- The application of AI in various stages of a ransomware attack.
- How AI can inform different aspects of a ransomware defense strategy.
View the full episode at cisecurity.org.
(Source: CIS)
Edtech giant PowerSchool says hackers accessed personal data of students and teachers
Education technology giant PowerSchool has told customers that it experienced a “cybersecurity incident” that allowed hackers to compromise the personal data of students and teachers in K-12 school districts across the United States.
In a letter sent to affected customers on Tuesday and published in a local news report, PowerSchool said it identified on December 28 that hackers successfully breached its PowerSource customer support portal, allowing further access to the company’s school information system, PowerSchool SIS, which schools use to manage student records, grades, attendance, and enrollment. The letter said the company’s investigation found the hackers gained access “using a compromised credential.”
(Source: TechCrunch)
December ransomware attacks slam healthcare, public services
Several cyberattacks against the public sector occurred in December 2024.
One highly disruptive attack occurred against PIH Health in Whittier, Calif., Dec. 1. The attack affected healthcare appointments and services at PIH Health Downey Hospital, PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital and PIH Health Whittier Hospital, as well as urgent care centers, doctors' offices and PIH Health's home health and hospice agency. While urgent care centers and emergency rooms remained open, patient health records, laboratory systems, pharmacy services, patient registration and internet access remained down.
Ransomware affected RIBridges, the system Rhode Island uses to manage several important state health services, at the beginning of December.
Marietta City Schools in Georgia experienced network disruptions in early December. WSB-TV in Atlanta reported the attack Dec. 4. The RansomHub ransomware gang claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Dec. 6, People Newspapers reported that Highland Park Independent School District (HPISD) in Texas cited ransomware as the cause of a weekslong network disruption.
Officials in Wood County, Ohio, paid a $1.5 million ransom demand following an attack on the municipal government that was detected Dec. 9.
On Dec. 23, Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) disclosed it suffered a ransomware attack that was initially detected on Dec. 19. Pennsylvania's public transportation system includes more than 700 buses and 80 light rail vehicles, providing "more than 60 million rides a year," according to its website. PRT said the attack temporarily disrupted rail services and affected its customer service center.
(Source: TechTarget)
‘Cyber incident’ impacts Kingston Police
Provincial investigators are looking into a “cyber incident” that took out much of the internal network at Kingston (Ontario) Police headquarters and impacted several of its non-emergency services.
The police service announced this week it first became aware about a “network issue” on Jan. 3 and later found it had been caused by a cyber incident. The incident affected some of the IT systems, particularly the non-emergency functions, which are currently “experiencing delays,” the police service said.
(Source: The Whig)
Man who exploded Tesla Cybertruck outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI, police say
The highly decorated soldier who exploded a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump hotel in Las Vegas used generative AI including ChatGPT to help plan the attack, Las Vegas police said Tuesday.
An investigation of Livelsberger’s searches through ChatGPT indicate he was looking for information on explosive targets, the speed at which certain rounds of ammunition would travel and whether fireworks were legal in Arizona.
The sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department called the use of generative AI a “game-changer” and said the department was sharing information with other law enforcement agencies.
(Source: Associated Press)
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The InfoGram is distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. |
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