WISER: Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders

Welcome to the WISER tutorial. This tour allows you to work in the live WISER website in the right-side frame, while following instructions in this left-side panel.

Use the arrows below to navigate through the tour. You can also navigate from the "Contents" button above.

Important note: If you'd like to go to a previous section of the tutorial, use the arrows below. Using your browser's back button may cause you to exit the tutorial.

Click the arrow below to continue.

WISER: Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders

Imagine emergency personnel coming upon the scene of an overturned truck carrying hazardous materials. As they approach the vehicle, they notice liquid leaking out of tank.

How can they identify the substance?
How do they protect themselves?
How do they treat anyone who may have come in contact with the chemical?
How do they contain the spill and clean it up?

WISER, the Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders, is designed to assist emergency responders in hazardous material incidents.

WISER: Wireless Information System for Emergency Responders

In the top menu, click on About. 

WISER is available for free as a standalone application that can be downloaded to your device for use when the internet is not available, an important feature for many emergency responders. 

Scroll down to the Frequently Asked Questions to learn where information in WISER comes from and how substances are selected to be in WISER. 

WebWISER: Known Substance

Please click this link for WebWISER. (There is a link on WISER, but this opens in a new tab, and would exit this tutorial.)

In the event of a hazardous material incident, responders may or may not know what the substance is. WISER allows you to find appropriate information either way. 

In October 2016, two chemicals were inadvertently mixed together at a plant in Atchinson, Kansas. As a result a large chemical plume was created, many people were evacuated, and over 100 were treated after the incident.

One of the chemicals in this incident was sodium hypochlorite. 

Click on Known Substances. Type sodium hypochlorite in the search box on the left and click search. 

WebWISER: Known Substance

Select the first result. 

The menu on the left organizes information about the substances properties as well as information for hazardous materials response, medical response, and environmental response. 

At the top of the list, under Key Info several sections are featured, such as Protective Equipment or the Treatment Overview. 

WebWISER: Known Substance

Explore the sections of the substance record using the left side menu. 

Find the Protective Distance section under the HazMat section of the left-side menu. 

Click on Map at the top.

Enter your location (as specific as you choose) in the top bar and click Submit. 

Notice you can set the wind direction, spill size, and time of day. You can also change the view to aerial or street view. 

WebWISER: Unknown Substance

Suppose the second chemical in the incident was found leaking into the sodium hypochlorite and was unknown when first discovered. WISER can help us determine what it is in several ways.

Click Help Identify in the top menu. 

The liquid was colorless.  

We know that workers exposed the unknown chemical experienced severe coughing, red, irritated eyes and numbness or tingling on any exposed skin. 

When the leaking container was located it had a sign like this on it:

WebWISER: Unknown Substance

Enter the known information into the tool to narrow the possible substances.

• Properties: liquid, colorless
• Symptoms: coughing, irritated eyes, tingling skin
• Sign:

This sign is a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) placard used for identifying hazardous substances.

Notice as you enter the information, the number of possible results decreases. 

Click on results on the left to see the possible substances.

What was the unknown substance? 

WebWISER: Unknown Substance

If you found that the unknown substance was sulfuric acid, you are correct! 

Select the result and open the Hazmat section from the left menu. 

Click on NFPA Hazard Classification to learn about what each number or symbol in the placard indicates. 

WebWISER: Unknown Substance

Let's explore one last section of WISER.

Select Tools in the top menu. 

Notice that you can access the radiological tools from REMM and the key guidance documents and tools from CHEMM from within WISER, making WISER a comprehensive emergency response resource. 

You have reached the end of the WISER tutorial. 

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