Sunday, January 22, 2012   INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — County officials across Indiana scrambling to find money to pay for 911 emergency services say they aren’t confident of getting help from state legislators, who might be leery of boosting cellphone fees during an election year.The shift from traditional landline phones to cellphones has cost Indiana’s 92 counties millions of dollars in funding for 911 dispatch centers because the fees charged for landline phones are generally higher than those cellphone users pay.

That comes as public safety systems are upgraded to track cellphone calls and improve communications between police and fire departments.

“We have to install technology to keep up with emails and text messaging, and in order to do that, we need funds,” said Debbie Schmidtknecht, who oversees the 911 center in southwestern Indiana’s Knox County.

One legislative proposal would allow each of Indiana’s 92 counties to set a uniform fee of up to $2 a month for all phone lines, compared with the current monthly maximum of $3 for landlines and 50 cents for most cellphones. Another proposal would establish a flat monthly $1 statewide fee that a state board would distribute to counties.

The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to discuss the issue Friday, but committee Chairman Jeff Espich said he isn’t sure about advancing a plan.

“Nobody can tell me how much how much they were spending five years ago, three years ago or this year and how much they ought to be spending,” said Espich, R-Uniondale. “How much do they have, how much do they need? And I don’t think they’ve given me the answers.”

The Indiana Association of Counties estimates that 911 fee revenue has dropped statewide about $20 million over the last five years. The nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency doesn’t have figures on the landline fees, which are collected by counties, but reports that cellphone fees collected by the state have remained around $28 million for the past three years.

A federal survey in 2010 found that 27 percent of U.S. households had only cellphones — a level that doubled from three years earlier.

The state’s funding system for 911 services isn’t keeping up with that technology trend, said Stephen Luce, executive director of the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association.

“The longer we keep putting this off, the worse it is going to get,” Luce said. “We don’t see it getting any better.”

Schmidtknecht said Knox County officials are directing more than $125,000 from other sources to subsidize the 911 center in Vincennes after its phone fee revenue dropped at least 40 percent within four years.

She hopes the financial bind that counties are facing will get attention from lawmakers, but said she’s not optimistic about action during the legislative session that is to end by mid-March.

“This is an election year — nobody wants to put extra money on cellphone devices,” she said. “I’m realistic about what’s coming.”

Rep. Ed Soliday, who is sponsoring one of the funding proposals, said his time as a United Airlines vice president in its crisis center during the 2001 terrorist attacks reinforces for him the importance of making sure local 911 centers have updated communications technology and adequate backup capabilities.

He said all types of phones should be treated equally.

“We need to make sure the kid on the playground pays the same for his phone as grandma does at home,” said Soliday, R-Valparaiso.

A lack of action by legislators will just force more of the burden onto the counties, Schmidtknecht said.

“I think that our county will pick up the slack,” she said. “I mean we’re not closing 911 — how can you close a 911 center? You just can’t.”

Share

Tweet

Sunday, January 22, 2012   By Kristi Patton - Penticton Western News Published: January 12, 2012 4:00 PM
Updated: January 12, 2012 4:30 PM


Despite some fire chiefs in the South Okanagan complaining of garbled emergency dispatch service, the provider in Kelowna believes it does not impact response time.





“Our hope is with this issue to have a resolution in place in the next few weeks and in the meantime we certainly have backup systems in place to make sure service isn’t affected whatsoever,” said Kelowna deputy fire Chief Jason Brolund. “I don’t want to downplay the issue, but I also want to make sure everyone is aware we are working on it and there is a plan in place.”





However, some fire chiefs in rural areas of the South Okanagan are saying they aren’t having the same “seamless” transfer of dispatch services that the regional district touted last month.





Several departments have been experiencing problems with radio communication since the 9-1-1 services were transferred from the Penticton Fire Department dispatch centre to Kelowna in early December, when the new contract began with the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen.





The service was provided by Penticton fire department for 20 years prior, but Kelowna outbid several groups to win the five-year contract from the RDOS.





Since the transition started on Jan. 1 dropped calls, and garbled, incoherent communications have resulted in some frustration as regional departments attempt to deal with the issue.





“The first three calls we received after the switch to Kelowna were really bad,” admitted Keremeos fire Chief Jordy Bosscha. “It has improved somewhat since then — the last few have improved.”





Bosscha said that were it not for the additional system of “rip and run” — a faxed transmission of the call that is sent to the fire hall that includes the address, cross streets, access codes and additional information — the department would not have had a clue as to what each call was about.





Kaleden fire Chief Darlene Bailey reports the department continues to have problems with signal quality. She has been in contact with the regional district regarding the problem, most recently on Jan. 5, when two motor vehicle accidents occurred in Kaleden in the morning and some very poor communication with Kelowna dispatch resulted.





Bailey took the issue of bad dispatches up with Brolund in Kelowna.





“I told him I was looking at hiring a technician to take a look at our situation,” she said. “But he advised me to wait, as they were aware of the issue and were attempting to deal with it by switching the service provider for the signal from Kelowna to Penticton, something they will be working on around the 15th of the month.”





Penticton fire Chief Wayne Williams said so far he is satisfied with the Kelowna dispatch service and how they have been dealing with the transition issues. He said they also have had some problems with unclear dispatches that seemed to be resolved on the weekends and evenings.





“Kelowna is dealing with it and we do have backups in case it comes through garbled. Kelowna has really stepped up to the plate to ensure we have a very professional dispatch service here,” said Williams. “We have had a couple that were hard to understand, but they say it twice and we can make sense what is happening along with the rip and run printer right near the fire truck. I think things will be changing next week and hopefully we don’t have that problem again.”





Brolund said the communication teams have been working diligently to resolve the issue, which he hopes is the last in the transition.





“It revolves around the quality of the audio and it comes and goes, but there is a level of static present that we would like to improve,” said Brolund.





The Kelowna deputy fire chief said upgrades to the link between Kelowna and Penticton should clean up the audio quality, which will be followed by additional testing and monitoring.





“All our systems are designed as such there is no single point of failure. One of the improvements we offered with the new dispatch service is providing departments with the rip and run, paper copy of the details of the call they are going to so they can grab it at the fire hall and bring it on the truck with them,” said Brolund.





A former Penticton dispatcher told the Keremeos Review that the area isn’t ready for the Radio Over Internet Protocol.





“It was the plan of the RDOS and Kelowna’s bid to save money by using the Internet to go to each department individually and thus be able to eventually get rid of the mountain top linking sites on Kobau and Beaconsfield. There is nothing wrong with the radio equipment; it works very well and does not suffer from the same jitteriness and missed words that is presently happening,” said the dispatcher, who preferred anonymity.





The dispatcher said the ROIP jitter and latency has to do with use of bandwidth and sharing business lines, which are better than the average home Shaw line, with other users. The former dispatcher said this is why the radios sound better on nights and weekends when business use is way down.





Brolund did not want to comment on the Internet line provider, but did say they are increasing the capacity of the link between Kelowna and Penticton.





“It is the advice of our communications team that it should go a long way towards resolving the problem,” said Brolund.





RDOS emergency services supervisor Dale Kronebusch said there have been a few issues fire departments have brought forward, but these are expected as they are only one month into the transition. Besides the distorted dispatches, they are also working on mapping which firetrucks should be responding to what areas.





“I think conservatively it will take three to six months to work the issues out, but so far we are doing fine. We will know a lot more soon with the dedicated IP line,” said Kronebusch.

Share

Tweet

Sunday, January 22, 2012   VANCOUVER, Wash. — Clark County commissioners approved a plan on Tuesday that would delay most ambulance calls by two minutes, giving firefighters more of the first-response duties.

Emergency response managers say firefighters have the same medical training as paramedics. They can get to the scene faster than ambulances, which may not be required on every call, KATU-TV reports ( http://bit.ly/Ah0QEI).

The Clark County Regional EMS manager says the county can identify patients who have an immediate medical need and would not delay ambulances on those calls.

The city council of Vancouver says it wants more time to examine the proposal and wants more assurances of its effectiveness.

There is no timeline for when the change would go before the council.

Supporters say the change would cut costs without affecting the quality of care.

Share

Tweet

Saturday, January 14, 2012   APCO International reports that come October 1, telecommunicators in the state of Florida will need to be certified. According to an association blog, "A 232-hour curriculum framework was established with the Florida Department of Education. The Florida Department of Health has been tasked with overseeing certification, equivalency and compliance. Subject matter experts worked with DOH in creating a certification exam. Oct. 1, 2012, begins the evolution of public safety telecommunications in Florida, moving into an era of professionalism based on statewide standardized training, expecting the same level of service whether 9-1-1 is called in the Panhandle or the Keys."

You can read more at: apcointl.org/2012/01/0psc.5/mandated-telecommunicator-training-takes-effect-in-florida/

Share

Tweet

Tuesday, December 6, 2011  It was a problem city officials hadn't anticipated when the $445 million Rivers Casino was being built in Des Plaines.


After the frenzy over the casino's July 18 opening died down, officials discovered emergency personnel were having communications problems when inside the fortresslike facility, situated on 20 acres off Devon Avenue and Des Plaines River Road.

Advertisement Des Plaines police didn't test the radio system at the time of casino construction, said Deputy Police Chief Mike Kozak.

Officers noticed a problem while responding to the many service calls received from the casino almost daily.

“It's pretty much anywhere inside the casino — 98 percent of the time, our radios will not receive,” Kozak said. “Basically when our officers are inside the casino, we can transmit, but we can't receive. And the fire department is experiencing both transmitting and receiving problems ... I think because of the metal and the way the structure is built.”

After months of studying the issue, the city and Midwest Gaming & Entertainment officials have determined the radio equipment used by emergency personnel is not powerful enough to penetrate the steel walls of the casino.

Officials have come up with a roughly $49,000 fix that will involve installing upgraded telecommunications equipment — receivers, amplifiers and antennas — inside the casino so police and fire radios can work indoors.

Des Plaines is on the hook to pay half that sum after negotiating with casino representatives. Rivers Casino is responsible for future maintenance of the equipment, Kozak said.

The city council approved the expense at a recent meeting, though some aldermen were not entirely happy.

“This deal kind of stinks,” said Alderman Mark Walsten, who represents the city's 6th Ward, which is home to the casino. He said a multimillion-dollar company like Rivers Casino shouldn't be squeezing city taxpayers to pay for its security equipment.

The city's portion of the equipment upgrade cost could be funded through the police department's asset forfeiture fund and/or the general fund, which could be reimbursed later through gambling revenues from the casino.

“At this point we are still looking into it,” Kozak said. “The city manager hasn't made a decision.”

Having working communications equipment inside the casino is imperative for the safety of police and fire personnel who are called to handle emergencies there, Fire Chief Alan Wax said.

Since the casino's opening, police have responded to nearly 500 service calls, while firefighters have responded to nearly 100 ambulance and other emergency calls.

Fire officials had been monitoring the communications situation as the building was being constructed.

“When it (was) finally completed and we did a thorough test, we recognized that there was a problem,” Wax said.

It wasn't until firefighters started responding to emergencies there that officials realized the full extent of the issues, he added.

“There's a lot of wiring, reinforced areas of the building, a lot of steel (and) construction elements that serve to block radio signals,” Wax said. “We have had situations where personnel have been trying to (radio) out to obtain more equipment or help where they were not able to do (so).”

As a result, the fire department has sent additional responders on certain types of calls, he added.

Kozak said installation of the radio equipment likely will be done in a couple of months. The equipment has to be ordered from the casino's surveillance company, United Radio Communications, which could take six to eight weeks.

City officials are pondering making such amplification systems part of the city code requirement for larger buildings that pose communications problems for police and fire personnel.

“There are some buildings where we have spotty coverage but not to the extent of the casino,” Kozak said.

Share

Tweet

Monday, November 28, 2011   According to a newspaper article, dispatchers in Champaign County, OH got a little close to the scene of a call when they had to report an odor of smoke in their own dispatch center. Turns out it was a minor incident, details of which can be found at:

http://www.urbanacitizen.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=5&ArticleID=158705




While all's well that ends well, it does beg the question of, "How prepared are YOU to evacuate your dispatch center? Is there a written policy in place on what do to, and why and when to do it? Has it been tested? Remember, that fire is only one of many options that include flood, loss of power, bomb threat, locusts, etc. Well, maybe not so much locusts, but you get the point. The ultimate in COOP is making sure your calls get answered and dispatched - no matter what.

Share

Tweet

Wednesday, November 23, 2011   A Durham, NC dispatcher got a shock earlier this week when the operator next to her took a call for a house fire - at her address.

Visit: http://www.wral.com/news/local/video/10395600/#/vid10395600 for details.

Share

Tweet

Saturday, November 12, 2011   NBC Nightly News ran this story on dispatch technology. While the name of one vendor is mentioned, there are a variety of systems included in the video.




http://www.hulu.com/watch/297360/nbc-nightly-news-with-brian-williams-new-technology-cuts-emergency-response-times

Share

Tweet

Saturday, November 12, 2011   A recent FCC report indicates that states are improving their use of 9-1-1 Funds. There has been significant concern that over the past decade millions of dollars of funds earmarked for improving the 9-1-1 system have been "raided" by states and diverted to other uses.

Read the update at: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db1108/DOC-310873A1.pdf

Share

Tweet

Thursday, November 10, 2011   The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through the Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) is helping to set the broad policy framework for the nationwide public safety broadband network to ensure it meets the needs of its users and aligns with existing emergency communications policy.



As part of these efforts, and in keeping with its stakeholder-driven mission, OEC has released the Public Safety Communications Evolution Brochure. The guidance document, developed in collaboration with members of the SAFECOM Program and the National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators, has been designed to do the following:

• Help educate the public safety community and elected and appointed officials about the future of emergency communications;
  
• Describe the evolution of emergency communications and how traditional land mobile radio (LMR) communications used today may converge with wireless broadband in the future if specific requirements are met; and
• Discuss some of the most important requirements that must be met to achieve the desired long-term state of convergence.

This brochure is one more step in OEC’s continued work with the public safety stakeholder community and our Federal partners to build and refine a resilient nationwide emergency communications system for the future, while continuing to support vital LMR capabilities and preparing for the emerging technologies of tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates on how OEC is continuing to work with our public safety stakeholder partners in planning for the future.



To download your free copy of the Public Safety Communications Evolution Brochure, visit http://www.safecomprogram.gov/library/Lists/Library/Attachments/330/Public_Safety_Communications_Evolution_Brochure.pdf or for more information visit the OEC website at www.dhs.gov, Search OEC.  

Share

Tweet

Monday, November 7, 2011   If you've got a smart phone. FEMA has a deal for you; recently announcing the release of disaster applications that run on these devices. While primarily geared for citizen preparedness and post-event information, they may be worth letting folks in your community know about them.




Craig Fugate and the info-mercial about these products can be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM-kABQVu_g&feature=share

Share

Tweet

Monday, November 7, 2011   As reported by 911 Dispatch Magazine On-Line, a recent audit of the City of Atlanta was critical of call processing and other response based time lines.

You can surf there and view the report, along with graphs comparing Atlanta to recognized benchmarks.

http://www.911dispatch.com/2011/10/atlanta-fd-audit-reveals-comm-center-delays/

Share

Tweet

Monday, November 7, 2011   A Cuyahoga Falls dispatcher was suspend over an error in dispatching firefighters to the right street - but in the wrong community. Although some point to this as a liability of consolidated centers, if truth be known, the advent of cell phones has made the distribution of 9-1-1 calls more problematic than "in the old days." Even if you only dispatch for a single community, the name of the city, village, or town needs to be part of the questions you're asking.

Read the full story at: http://www.fallsnewspress.com/news/article/5116274

Share

Tweet

Monday, November 7, 2011   The budget news out of Chicago is that the mayor is proposing laying off a significant number of dispatchers; 26 of which are dedicated to the fire service.

New Orleans went this route a few years ago, and is now trying to hire people back.

Short-staffed comm centers are just as hazardous to your health as short-staffed companies.

Check out the news at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/crime/8397567-418/emanuel-administration-defends-emergency-dispatcher-reductions.html

Share

Tweet

Tuesday, October 18, 2011  In the height of election season, the radio communications system in Shelton has become an issue.

Chris Jones, the Democratic candidate for mayor in Shelton and a volunteer firefighter, says the radio system is old and needs repairs. He cites a grant application the city filed with FEMA to back up the claims. The application says the radio communications fail half the time.

Jones and other firefighters say the radio system has been a problem for several years.

Mayor Mark Lauretti, a Republican incumbent running for re-election, said the system needs to be upgraded, but disputes that it fails half the time.

Share

Tweet