|
|
|
| A sponsored report from the publishers of Command Post | |
| A Prism Business Media Publication | |
| January 31, 2005 | |
|
|
|
|
Table of Contents Unified response requires unified voice in Texas To read about our privacy policy concerning your email address, click here ADVERTISEMENT Mission critical communications are vital lifelines for first responders. Motorola is helping to connect government agencies and responders with: True interoperability enabling agencies to communicate as one. Critical networks that are always available. Mission critical data for the power of pre-emptive intelligence. Discover how Motorola can help responders keep communities safer. Simply subscribe to the FREE Mission Critical Solution Series at www.motorola.com/missioncritical/guides and receive a copy of In the Event of: A Guide to Mission Critical Communications. Unified response requires unified voice in Texas New communications initiatives provide two regions' first responders with power to respond. By John DeWitt Two years ago, Tropical Storm Allison unleashed torrential rains on southeastern Texas, inundating eastern regions of Harris County, home to Houston. Chief Fred Windisch, Ponderosa Volunteer Fire Department, was on duty when flash-flooding swept away swimmers clutching an inner tube on nearby Cyprus Creek. Linked together by the county's 800 MHz regional radio communications system, a multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional group of rescuers swung into action. "The 800 system allowed us to talk directly to the Office of Emergency Management [OEM], who linked us to the Coast Guard flying overhead in a helicopter," Chief Windisch recalls. "In addition to OEM and the Coast Guard, agencies involved in the rescue included three fire departments, two EMS agencies, the county sheriff's department, the airport, and a couple of mutual aid companies coming in with boats to rescue them. The 800 MHz system was the core that allowed everybody to talk together." More recently in Austin, communications personnel from the Texas Department of Transportation, or TXDOT, watched a major collision unfold on I-35 -- via live feeds to video wall screens in Austin and Travis County's new combined emergency communications center. Immediately, the TXDOT crew shouted for Austin's emergency medical service (EMS) dispatchers -- seated just steps away in the communications center's open, gymnasium-sized operations floor -- to send help. And by observing the situation together, the group quickly realized that the freeway's bumper-to-bumper traffic would delay an ambulance. "They ended up saving someone's life by dispatching a helicopter to avoid the traffic jam," says Peter Collins, chief information officer (CIO) for the City of Austin. "When these things happen, it really does promote teamwork." These two Texas communities recognized the value of communications interoperability long before the Sept. 11 attacks brought "the startling realization that you've got to have the ability to talk to everybody -- emergency response must be regional," says Austin Fire Chief Gary Warren. "We're fortunate to have already started on a cooperative communications system. Now we're not playing catch-up -- we're in a prime position." A few years ago, however, that wasn't the case. Until recently in Austin, even the city's fire and EMS agencies relied on separate, incompatible radio systems, Warren says. Across the state in Harris County, local government agencies -- ranging from police and fire to public works -- once used more than 15 different radio systems, none of which could communicate with each other, according to Steve Jennings, the county's chief information officer (CIO). Harris County: from local to regional system Today, Harris County's interoperable county-wide radio network has grown to become "one of the largest, 800 MHz trunked radio system in the nation," with more than 20,000 radio units and 2,000 mobile data terminals using nine towers and 140-plus frequencies, Jennings says. The system serves "more than 430 agencies and jurisdictions covering local, state and federal government entities," he notes. Ultimately, the system will encompass all 13 counties in the Houston-Galveston Area Council of Governance. It took more than seven years of rolling out radio technology "cautiously and pragmatically to achieve full coverage in Harris County," Jennings says. "We always had our technology upgrade plans on the board, and we always were looking for alternative sources of funding." By 1989, 600 radio units were using 25 channels, with a maximum capacity of 2,500 interoperable units. With full radio coverage in Harris County, Jennings and his team began taking a more regional view. Initially, a regional system began to emerge through interaction with the bordering counties of Fort Bend, Brazoria and Chambers. As discussions continued, other counties decided to join Harris County's system. "We all could benefit with tremendous cost savings, more support and a greater level of interoperability. So, [they chose] to be part of a regional system," Jennings says. However, the cost of full conversion to 800 MHz radios proved too steep for a number of Harris County's fire and EMS agencies, so many still rely primarily on UHF radio networks, Chief Windisch says. A federal grant allowed Ponderosa to purchase 34 800 MHz handheld radios -- though the combined department, which has 70 members and seven full-time-equivalent employees, still also maintains its UHF radio system for paging as well as some communications in the field. Windisch and other local chiefs all have 800 MHz units -- and his dispatch center, which serves seven other fire departments as well as an EMS agency, uses technology patches to link other departments' lower-cost UHF radios in the field with the 800 MHz system. "We're all on the same page by being on the 800 MHz system, yet we still have our own system capabilities," Windisch says, noting that several other independent dispatch centers in Harris County also combine UHF and 800 MHz technologies in their radio consoles. "The 800 MHz system has been invaluable. When you're using telephone and relying on standard radios, there's always information lost in translation. The 800 system has been the savior." Austin and Travis County: Key to success Although interoperability requires different technologies to work together, it is "really not a technology issue, it's a people issue," Collins says. As Austin and Travis County learned that teamwork -- from planning to implementation -- was the key to the success of five interrelated communications projects, all large in scope, and costing more than $100 million. While it was hard to achieve consensus among diverse agencies and find funding, Collins says the most difficult part of the project was "going live." "Standing at the base of the mountain of implementation and getting to go-live [was] very tough." Collins was recruited in 1999 from the police department to take charge of all five communications projects -- a joint communications facility, a regional radio system with 10,000 subscribers, a police records management system, a mobile data system and computer-aided dispatch systems for fire and EMS. Going live required the interoperability team to work together in one building for several years. "I cannot convey what it's like to manage five major projects like that with multiple agencies. It's a roller coaster," Collins says. He recruited city staff to be project managers -- the Dirty Dozen and brought in a University of Texas professor to do some intensive project management boot camp sessions. When he formed a project office, Collins told the staff, "When you're working in this building, we're one team with a common goal of delivering all five projects. That's how we'll measure our success." To get the participating agencies to agree on the technology specifications and infrastructure, Collins introduced another project management technique. "It all boils down to determining the non-emotional requirements," he says. The project team developed the requirements and presented them to each agency. "Each agency [must confirm] that they believe these are the requirements for the project." One by one, over the next three and a half years, each project concluded. A $6 million combined emergency communications facility opened in early 2004. It houses a state-of-the-art emergency operations center and an indoor arena-sized operations floor shared by dispatchers for city and University of Texas police, as well as city and county fire and EMS dispatchers, TXDOT dispatchers, and the 9-1-1 and 3-1-1 call centers. In the field, some 70 locally based city, county and state agencies share an interoperable regional radio system -- a $40 million project. Each agency has its own talk groups, and all agencies can communicate together. For example, fire and EMS personnel -- previously on separate radio systems -- now talk together as a daily routine. "Since 75 percent of our calls are medical calls -- and EMS is a separate city department -- our systems have been a huge bridge for us," Chief Warren says. "We talk all the time on a common channel with ambulances going to the same call -- and also with our helicopter, StarFlight. Everyone talks like they work for the same department -- which is what we wanted in the first place." John DeWitt is a Cape Cod, Mass.-based business consultant and writer. ADVERTISEMENT |
|
About This Newsletter
You are subscribed to this newsletter as #email#
Privacy Policy concerning links within this
newsletter:
Click
here if you do not wish to share your email address with our
sponsors.
To subscribe to this newsletter, go to: Subscribe To visit the Fire Chief web site click here If you know of someone in the fire services who would be interested in the information in this newsletter, please pass it on. |
|
|
|
To get this newsletter in a different format (Text or HTML),
or to change your e-mail address, please visit your profile
page to change your delivery preferences.
For questions concerning delivery of this newsletter, please contact our
Customer Service Department at:
Prism Business Media Copyright 2006, Prism Business Media. All rights reserved. This article is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of Prism Business Media. |
