National Preparedness Month Spotlight: What South Metro and Terrebonne Parish Teach Us About Readiness

September is National Preparedness Month, a time to recognize the everyday heroes who keep our communities safe and the systems that support them when disaster strikes.

Every day, public safety teams prepare for the moment they hope never comes. CentralSquare is proud to equip those teams with the tools and support they need as extreme weather and disaster events increase across the country.

This month, we spoke with two of our customers, South Metro Fire Emergency Communications in Colorado and Terrebonne Parish Communications District in Louisiana, about how they have responded in times of crisis, what they have learned, and the tools they rely on to stay ready.

Staying Ready in Colorado’s Front Range

South Metro Fire Rescue supports seven fire departments across about 1776-square-mile region that includes urban centers, rural towns, airports, and wildland fire zones.

“We cover everything from wildland interface fires to plane crashes. We must be ready for anything.” 

Emergency Communications Director Tyler March

In recent years, that readiness has been tested by flash floods, blizzards, and a tornado that damaged both a fire station and an entire neighborhood. But natural disasters are not the only threat. South Metro also prepares for communication outages, interoperability breakdowns, and delays that can cost lives when every second matters.
South Metro uses CentralSquare’s Unify CAD-to-CAD Hub to automate mutual aid. Instead of calling other dispatch centers to request help, units are dispatched instantly across agencies.

“We cut response times from over 3 minutes to just over a minute. That difference matters when seconds count.”

Emergency Communications Director Tyler March

In 2025, preparedness requires more than backup radios and go bags. South Metro deploys drones with thermal sensors for structure fires and missing persons. They have packed entire dispatch systems into mobile kits that can operate from a Starbucks using their own Wi-Fi and power supply.

What Hurricane Ida Taught Terrebonne Parish

Located in coastal Louisiana, Terrebonne Parish is no stranger to hurricanes. But in 2020, Hurricane Ida pushed their systems to the edge. With wind speeds up to 158 miles per hour, the storm took down fiber lines, water infrastructure, and the electrical grid. The result: no radios, no phones, no communications of any kind.

“Every responder became a mobile operator. They drove through neighborhoods, hoping someone would flag them down.” 

Executive Director Mark Boudreaux

That experience led to a complete technology remodel. Terrebonne is going live with CentralSquare’s cloud-based CAD this October. Starlink satellites now provide backup connectivity at every site. They have upgraded generators to locally supported models and built disaster kits down to the air mattresses.

“We don’t rely on hope anymore. We rely on the cloud, a bigger generator, and Starlink.” 

Executive Director Mark Boudreaux

Tech That Keeps You Running When Everything Else Fails

In both South Metro and Terrebonne Parish, public safety professionals stressed the same truth: technology makes resilience possible.

1. South Metro’s CAD-to-CAD Hub automatically dispatches units across agencies, reducing delay and confusion.
2. Drone-based thermal imaging helps locate missing persons and fire hotspots in real time.
3. Cloud-based CAD enables remote operations when buildings or fiber lines go down.
4. Starlink satellite systems offer internet access in places where traditional networks fail.
5. Unified platforms and automatic mutual aid improve collaboration, transparency, and response.

Preparedness is not about avoiding disaster.

““It’s about continuing operations when disaster hits.” 

Emergency Communications Director Tyler March

What Other Agencies Can Learn

These agencies also invested in smaller operational updates, critical for future preparedness. South Metro conducts annual drills, maintains mobile go-kits, and staffs an incident dispatch team that responds to major events. Terrebonne Parish updates their SOPs and emergency contact lists before every storm season. They test every PC, battery, and air mattress. They train on snowstorms in Louisiana.

They also know that preparedness starts with people. It is not enough to have the right tools. Agencies need staff who are trained, informed, and ready to adapt.

“You can’t predict the next crisis, but you can decide how ready you’ll be.”

Executive Director Mark Boudreaux

Why It Matters

Public safety professionals are often the last to leave and the first to respond. They cannot afford to be offline when people need them most. With the right systems and a culture of readiness, agencies can keep operating through hurricanes, blizzards, wildfires, and more.

Every year, National Preparedness Month is a time to reassess and improve. For the teams at South Metro and Terrebonne Parish, that work never stops. It is integrated into their culture, backed by strong tools and stronger leadership.

Do Not Wait for the Emergency to Prepare

Schedule a discovery call today to explore how CentralSquare can help you build a faster, more reliable foundation for crisis response.