With Hurricane Season Approaching, First Responder Radios Still Not Interoperable
Despite widespread publicity after last year’s major storms, on the eve of hurricane season the 8 hurricane-zone states “remain dangerously unprepared for another disaster,” the First Response Coalition said in a report. The document sharpens the focus on the individual states, reviewing efforts of each to build interoperable networks. The report comes as the FCC’s Hurricane Katrina Independent Panel also finishes its report.
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“Insufficient funding and a lack of coordination at all levels of government plague efforts to establish meaningful communications interoperability,” the report said. “Assuming there are plans in place for statewide interoperability, many states are woefully behind in implementing effective solutions for first responder communications.”
The Coalition also warned that based on most predictions by weather experts, 2006 could see “storms just as strong as last year.” The National Hurricane Center is predicting an “above average season.” Researchers Philip Klotzbach and William Gray of Columbia State U. predict 5 major hurricanes this year.
The Coalition found a similar problem in many of the states: Lack of funding is hampering the deployment of interoperable communications systems. Even among states that seem furthest along, local funding is an issue, the Coalition found. For example, Tex. is “moving towards statewide interoperability, but many communities do not have the funds to upgrade and connect to the statewide system.”
In S.C. the state has established a “robust, statewide emergency communications network,” but so far this 800 MHz network is “available only to state agencies, or those local communities that have the financial resources to upgrade to the statewide system.” Ga. plans “statewide” capabilities by the end of 2006, after the pending hurricane season. But even then, those capabilities will offer coverage in only about 80% of the state.
Among laggard states, in Miss. the Coalition found 40 different systems in use. “Since June 2005, the state’s Wireless Communication Commission has held 13 meetings to discuss interoperability but has implemented no solutions,” the report said. In La., interagency fights have impeded progress: “State agencies arriving into locally affected areas are unable to communicate directly with local first responders.” N.C.’s 800 MHz Interoperability Plan isn’t scheduled to be completed until 2010.
Among recommendations, the report said the Dept. of Homeland Security’s SAFECOM program should promptly complete the “National Interoperability Baseline Survey,” originally scheduled to be finished before 2006. “This important survey will quantify the current state of public safety communications interoperability across the nation by identifying where gaps exist and how agencies can most effectively allocate resources,” The Coalition said.
The federal govt. should collaborate with state and local agencies to coordinate regional emergency communications interoperability “starting today, and providing additional targeted assistance” once the baseline report is complete.
The Coalition cited a need for the federal govt. to better track disbursement of interoperability grant money and coordinate spending. “There is currently no way of knowing how localities finance their efforts, use federal funds, or assess the effectiveness of how the funds are spent.” More cooperation is also critical, the report said: “Reports of political infighting and turf tussles are discouraging and only further delay resolution of the communications crisis.”
The Coalition said that while the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on N.Y. and D.C., and Hurricane Katrina last year, pointed to the need for interoperable communications systems among all first responders, only modest progress has been made. “Although there has been some progress in advancing toward the goal of full interoperability, such as increased funding and expanded spectrum availability, for the most part first responders are still struggling with the same patchwork quilt of systems that existed in 2001,” the report said.
The report concluded that with the start of hurricane season just 6 weeks away “the country does not need another national tragedy to highlight again that when emergency responders are unable to talk to each other, communities and those that protect them are in danger.”