This suggests an exceptional organizational agility. Ellen Perlman of Governing.com has this piece, “Crazy Cool in L.A./A fire department taps into microblogging to keep itself on top of situations,” published in the November 2006 issues of Governing magazine.

Last May, Los Angeles firefighters had their hands full. A blaze was spreading through 800 acres of Griffith Park but they only knew what was happening from the side of the fire where their trucks were parked. To get a sense of the extent of the conflagration, firefighter Brian Humphrey sent messages to strangers on the other side of the fire — explaining who he was and asking them to call him right away.

How did he know whom to contact? Humphrey twitters.  

Not as in the birds that buzz around trees. As in the technology of microblogging. Also called “burst” news, a twitter is a message of 140 characters or less, or about 20 to 25 words. Millions of people “in the know” can read these messages via phone, computer or another Internet-enabled device. The Twitter site and one called Jaiku, a similar service recently snapped up by Google, are the Coke and Pepsi of the microblogging world.

– snip –

Many government officials view microblogging as one more disruption in an information-overloaded world. But Humphrey sees such important information as “connective.” It may feel like overload to some, he suggests, because they have not learned how to pluck relevant information from the swirl around them. Governments have to learn how to fine-tune the technologies so they can quickly sift out the information best suited to them.

With RSS, or real simple syndication, the LAFD filters out a lot of the daily overload. It has set up searches on various sites, not just Twitter, using key words such as “explosion,” “fire,” “fire department,” “bombing” and “terrorist.” Then, as Humphrey puts it, “you don’t visit your favorite Web sites, they visit you.” For instance, he knew about the Minnesota bridge collapse before the first fire truck arrived. That’s because some people stuck on the bridge started twittering. The LAFD picked up the buzz.

– snip –

Often, when you hear about the next “next technology,” it can seem silly or pointless. People do microblog to tell their friends they’re washing their dog or heading to McDonald’s for a burger. But government departments don’t have to indulge in those kinds of tangents.

Humphrey says he investigates every digital tool he learns about to see if it can benefit the LAFD. “We can no longer afford to work at the speed of government,” he says. “We must remain relevant to the people we serve.

This is from the city which brought us the CERT program – so at least with respect to their fire department we should continue to expect experimentation and innovation.

And a willingness to see the public as assets.