Chicago, IL, Febuary 15, 1996 --The Emergency Response & Research Institute (ERRI) today announced that its emergency service World Wide Web site has been accessed ("hit") 100,000 times in less than three months of operation. In noting this phenomenal success, Clark Staten-ERRI Executive Director, said that even he was surprised at the popularity of the computer based news and reference service.
Staten said that more than 300 Fire/Police/EMS/Disaster/ Counter-Terrorism related-articles are now available on-line to be viewed and read by emergency responders and other interested individuals. According to the retired former chief, many articles address controversial or "cutting-edge" topics that can be put to immediate use by members of the emergency response and media commmunity.
In recent days, one article from the website has stirred national interest in regard to the illegal use of a drug called Rohyphnol (Roofies). "Roofies" have allegedly being used as a "Date Rape Drug" and are being called the "Mickey Finn of the 90's" by reporters and police officers alike. Within the past few days, Mr. Staten has held exclusive interviews with Chicago's Channel 2 (CBS), The Minnesota Tribune newspaper, and a Fox-TV affiliate in Florida. Staten cites the "Roofies" story as an example of one of the more beneficial uses of the World Wide Web and says that this is an excellent way to rapidly disseminate information to emergency responders and the public at large. The former paramedic says that he believes that this story may help to prevent future rapes and can assist law enforcement officials in the prevention of drug abuse.
Another component that is most accessed on the website is the EmergencyNet(ENN)News page. This section of the site provides 24-hour a-day coverage of ongoing disasters and other major emergency events. ENN correspondents in S. Africa, Israel, Australia, Japan, and several locations in the United States, provide both the facts and an expert analysis of incidents that is vested in the fact that all our reporters/commentators are also veteran emergency/military personnel. Many ENN reports are based on "first person" observation or participation by the reporters, themselves.
The Emergency Response & Research Institute is a one of the few "think tanks" in the world that conducts ongoing studies of emergency service/military/counter-terrorism issues and provides its reports to the public on a open website. Through it's reporting arm, the EmergencyNet News service, ERRI also provides daily emergency incident reports (ENNFAX) and continuing analysis of related topics to a number of government, corporate, and individual clients via fax and the Internet.
The ERRI website can be accessed at:
http://www.emergency.com
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can be obtained by sending e-mail to:
firenet@emergency.com
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Telnet to: emergency.com
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