CERESChemical Emergency Response E-ServiceProduct sheet
Your department on one page: who is where, what is happening, who has been told.
Most fire departments never run a hazmat scenario, but every one of them has to reach its people in seconds, keep track of them on scene and warn the neighbors when it matters. CERES First Responder is that part of CERES on its own: chat, video, the status board, shared documents, public alerts and the Command Board, for $300 a year per department, up to 60 members, bought online with a card.
- Every member says Responding or On Scene from the phone, and the status board shows the department at a glance
- Chat, photos and video calls with the crew and with mutual aid, kept on the record
- Public alerts and call-down from templates, PAR and MAYDAY on the board, an ICS 214 log written for you
A call, from the tones to the review
Written from the department's side. In each moment, what CERES does comes second.
The tones drop
Who is coming? From home, from work, from the station. The officer wants to know before the first truck rolls, and the radio is already busy.
One tap on the phone says Responding, with the destination and an ETA; the status board shows every member's status and the roll-up shows every station. Members who only need this get the phone-only Status & Tasks role.
On scene
Crews move, assignments change, the tactical worksheet is a wet whiteboard. The one thing you cannot lose is where your people are.
The Command Board puts crews on assignments by drag and drop, with one-tap PAR, air and work-cycle timers, MAYDAY and an automatic ICS 214 log, and keeps working without a connection. A MAYDAY from a phone reaches the board and the officers at once.
Talking to each other
Dispatch, the chief at home, the mutual-aid company on the way, the rehab officer: the radio cannot carry a photo or a sketch, and group texts are gone by morning.
CERES Chat holds a channel for the department and one for every running incident, with photos, files and @mentions, kept on the record. A video call starts from any channel, with a waiting room for guests who are not CERES users. The notification reaches the phone.
Warning the neighbors
A road closed, a shelter opened, a boil-water notice, a brush fire moving toward houses. The public needs to hear it from you, now, in the same words every time.
Public Alert drafts the warning from a template, with the map and the area, and sends it to your call-down groups by email and SMS, with a delivery log. The same alert exports as CAP for the county's warning system.
After, and between calls
The report is due, the review is coming, the SOG needs updating and the new members need training before their first real call.
The incident record keeps the tasks, the log and the costs; CERES Docs lets several people write the after-action review or the SOG together, live; the Training module runs guided missions on a private exercise incident with the real tools.
What is included
Everything a department needs to talk, see each other and warn people. Nothing it has to pay for and never use.
- CERES Chat
- Channels for the department and for every running incident, direct messages, photos and files, @mentions, guests by invitation. Messages are sealed and kept; the incident's chat is part of its record.
- CERES Video
- Video calls from any chat channel, huddles, a waiting room for guests. The plan includes 1,000 participant-minutes a month and up to 8 people in a call; a CERES Video package adds minutes, people and recording.
- My Status and the status board
- Responding, On Scene, Available, On Duty from the phone; the team and site status board, the roll-up across stations, PAR roll calls, MAYDAY. A phone-only Status & Tasks role for members who need nothing else.
- Command Board and incident record
- Crews on assignments, PAR, timers, MAYDAY, the ICS 214 log, the incident manager with tasks and costs, the rehab tracker and the action tracker; FEMA ICS 201, 202, 203, 204, 208, 211, 214 and 233 to Word or PDF.
- Public Alert and notifications
- CAP 1.2 warnings from templates with the map and the area; call-down by email and SMS with a delivery log. SMS and voice through your own Twilio account or a notification allowance.
- CERES Docs
- Documents several people edit at once: after-action reviews, SOGs, pre-plans, the shift log. Versions kept, a copy filed with the incident.
- Equipment and due dates
- The Agency Equipment register: SCBA cylinders, gas meters, fans and protective clothing as serial-numbered units, with their calibration, bump-test, inspection, hydro-test and retirement due dates, where each one is kept (station, apparatus, compartment), who has it, and its repairs.
- Incident Weather and Training
- Live conditions and forecasts read as a size-up; four story missions and eleven Basics lessons on a private exercise incident with the real tools.
- The free chemical tools
- ERG 2024 isolation and protective-action distances on the map, chemical identification by placard, UN number or symptoms, the NIOSH Pocket Guide, the medical and fireground calculators. The hazard models, detectors and met stations are the HAZMAT Team product.
- Runs on
- Any modern browser, nothing to install; the iOS and Android apps with push notifications. Email and password with optional two-factor authentication, or Microsoft and Google sign-in.
- Members
- Up to 60, every account counted, the Status & Tasks accounts too. Every account belongs to the department; invite members from the Users list or with the team QR code. Site administrators, officers who declare incidents and send alerts, viewers, and the Status & Tasks members, who use only the phone.
Price
One price per department. No seats, no per-user fees, no setup fee.
CERES First Responder
Chat, video, My Status and the status board, CERES Docs, public alerts and notifications, the Command Board and the incident record, the equipment register, Incident Weather, Training, the free chemical tools. Bought online with a card from Site Settings, renewed yearly, cancelled any time from the same tab.
HAZMAT Team
Everything in CERES First Responder, plus the hazard models and calculators, gas detectors and met stations, sensor-driven plumes, population impact, Tier II and RMP imports, reports. Licensed per team; write to sales@vlahi.com for a quote.
One license covers one department: a neighboring department joins a chat or a call as a guest, or buys its own. More than 60 members, or a county with several departments: write to sales@vlahi.com for a quote.
Start today
Fifteen minutes from the first account to the first member on the status board.
Create a free account
At ceres.vlahi.com, with your department's email address.
Set up the department's site
The station's address and the response area, the department's name. Site Settings holds the rest.
Subscribe with a card
Site Settings, License, the CERES First Responder card, Subscribe with a card. The licence is set within a minute; the receipt comes by email.
Invite the members
Print the team QR code for the station wall or send invitations from the Users list. Members install the CERES app and say Available.