What's new in CERES 3.0
CERES 3.0 turns CERES into a complete emergency response platform for fire and chemical incidents: incident command, crew accountability and the ICS forms now sit alongside the models, the tools and the live data. This page lists what is new since version 2.7, the last release with published notes (February 2024). Everything here is live at ceres.vlahi.com today; items marked PRO need a paid product.
A new application
On the desktop, the tablet and the phone.
- A rebuilt interface. The map, the scenario wizard and every panel were rebuilt for today's browsers, with the same map on the truck laptop, the tablet and the phone.
- Help in five languages. A new help system in English, French, Spanish, German and Chinese, with metric or US units per user.
- Sign-in. Sign in with a Microsoft, Google or Apple account, and turn on two-factor authentication per site.
- Mobile apps. The iOS and Android apps open the same CERES, with push notifications and background location, so responders can share their position while responding.
- Share links. Share a run, a tool result or the incident's common operating picture with a link that mutual-aid partners open without an account; they see only what you publish.
Incident command
For the officer who has to account for everyone.
- Command Board. Drag crews onto assignments, run a PAR in one tap, track air and work-cycle timers, call a MAYDAY, and let the ICS 214 log write itself; the board keeps working without a connection.
- Eight FEMA ICS forms. The ICS 202, 203, 204, 208 and 214 are filled in from the incident record, the 201 briefing and the 211 check-in list come from the board, and the 233 tracks open actions.
- People. My Status from the phone, a team status board with PAR roll calls, a roster that responders join with a QR code, location shared only while responding, and a responder emergency alarm.
- The record. An incident log whose entries are chained, so any later change shows; an IAP packet; an after-action export; and a public link to the common operating picture.
- CERES Chat. Channels for the incident and the team, with @mentions and push notifications to the phone.
- The rest of the command post. An NFPA 1584 rehab tracker, an incident sketch with NIMS symbols, costs checked against published rate schedules, and call-down notification with a delivery log for every recipient.
- 80 tools in nine groups. From placard to triage to foam supply, grouped by the question each tool answers, each naming the standard or study behind its numbers. Most are free.
- Attached to the incident. Every result lands in the incident record, and a read-only link shares any result.
- Learn as you go. A how-to tour on every tool, most with a practice mode, and your agency's equipment pinned where it matters.
- Chemicals. Identify a chemical by name, UN number, placard, CAS or symptoms; the Chemical Profile shows NIOSH, CAMEO, DOT and OSHA data with the source on every line; plus SDS search and pesticide lookup.
Training
Practice without paging anyone.
- Story missions. Staged incidents played with the real tools on a private exercise incident: guided to learn, or tested to earn a qualification that expires.
- Lessons. Basics lessons on the workspace, chemicals, levels of concern, weather and running models, and incident-command lessons on taking command, the roster and the record, and accountability.
- For the chief. A team matrix, curricula and assignments with due dates.
- A new modeling engine. CERES now runs its own implementation of the ALOHA 5.4 source, dispersion, heavy-gas and fire models by default, with up to four levels of concern, wind-confidence lines and threat at a point.
- ERG 2024. The 2024 Emergency Response Guidebook replaces the 2020 edition, including the tables for chemical-warfare agents, drawn on the map and turned to the live wind.
- PRO Fire and explosion. A BLEVE calculator with time to tank failure and cooling-water guidance, boilover (INERIS), battery energy storage fires with their HF plume, vapor-cloud explosions in congested areas (Baker-Strehlow-Tang), gas-cylinder bursts and liquid-pipeline jet fires.
- PRO Radiological. Nuclear detonation with fallout, and dirty bombs (radiological dispersal devices).
- PRO Spills, smoke and reactions. Oil spills on water, fire smoke with soot and sulfur dioxide, binary reactions between two chemicals, and liquid pipeline releases.
Live data
Your equipment and the public feeds on one map.
- Detectors. Industrial Scientific iNet and AccuSense join Blackline Live and Honeywell Safety Suite, and a new MQTT link connects CERES data-acquisition units.
- Public feeds. Weather radar, weather alerts, air quality, wildfires, earthquakes, flood gauges, tsunami warnings, power outages, boom sites and hydrants, each switched on by the site administrator.
- Weather. The Weather Company conditions and forecasts, nearest station first, and Incident Weather: the forecast read as a hazmat size-up.