Critical Response Group outlines school-mapping plan to meet House Bill 3166 requirements
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Sign Up Free
Summary
At a Brooke County Schools meeting, Zach Query of Critical Response Group presented a GRG-based mapping system to create accurate, interoperable digital maps of every school to help first responders comply with House Bill 3166; the superintendent has signed off on a quote and staff will coordinate next steps.
Zach Query, regional director for West Virginia at Critical Response Group, told the Brooke County Schools board the company will produce standardized digital maps of every district facility so first responders can reliably locate people and critical infrastructure during emergencies. The maps are intended to satisfy the requirements the speaker said are outlined in House Bill 3166 and to be in place by September 2026.
Query described the approach — a gridding reference graphic, or GRG — as a simple, repeatable system adapted from military practice that overlays a labeled grid on aerial imagery and floor plans to make locations unambiguous under stress. "We're not trying to militarize schools in any way, shape, or form," he said, adding that the technique is a communication tool designed to reduce confusion about location during incidents.
He told the board that three recurring problems make existing plans ineffective: inconsistent map orientations, renovations that leave blueprints out of date, and schematic floor plans that lack clear, human-friendly labels. To address those issues, Critical Response Group said it will rotate and align floor plans to a consistent north, overlay them on current aerial imagery, and send engineers to each site to verify walls, doors, utilities and AED locations "wall for wall, door for door." Query said the company will produce both internal floor maps and campus-level zoomed maps and include elevation data so calls can be placed to the correct floor.
Query also described how the maps will be shared: his team will deliver files compatible with next-generation 9-1-1, RapidSOS and the county's CAD/mobile vendors (including Motorola/Spillman and Active911) and will integrate with the district's video management system so responders can see camera locations. He said the county will receive printable maps for prestaging and that the project closes with free tabletop exercises that bring school staff and first responders together to rehearse response using the maps.
In discussion, school officials and audience members asked whether a caller in a classroom could be pinpointed; Query confirmed that location data will drop a pin on the maps in compatible systems. A staff member told Query the superintendent had signed off on a quote and said staff would follow up with him on next steps. The presentation did not include a formal board vote on contracting; the district indicated it would coordinate internally and notify the vendor of direction.
The board received the presentation during new business and asked staff to continue coordination; no contract award appeared on the transcript as a formal action during the meeting.