Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS)

Welcome to the Wisconsin EAS Website primer page on the FCC DIRS program.

DIRS has been created to allow communications companies to report the status and needs of their operations to the FCC during times of crisis.

All broadcasters and cable operators should register on the DIRS Website now.

During a disaster, you will be contacted by the FCC if DIRS is activated in your area. At that point, stations and cable operators will be requested to report their on-air / off-air status on a daily basis, as well as any needs they have.

Here are two examples of actual DIRS activations for hurricanes in 2008:
DIRS Activation for Hurricane FAY
DIRS Activation for Hurricane GUSTAV

Some aspects of the DIRS program are not immediately evident when visiting the DIRS Website. To gain valuable insight from those who have gone before you, you are encouraged to read the 2-page primer below:

DIRS Guidance Document

After reading the primer above, access the Production Version of the DIRS Website to register for DIRS.

Once registered on DIRS, you will benefit from reading the FCC’s DIRS User Manual.

However, be aware that there are errors in the current August 3, 2007 version of the User Manual. See Guidance Document above for details.

UPDATE: The following paragraph has been added to the DIRS Guidance Document above:

Being Prepared to File DIRS Broadcast Disaster Reports
When the time comes to fill out a Broadcast Disaster Report, users will need their FCC Facility ID number and their transmitter site coordinates expressed in decimal form. Coordinators in particular might want to gather these details ahead of time for all facilities in their company.
To convert minutes/seconds coordinates to decimal coordinates, use FCC site:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html

Updated: September 4, 2008