A language barrier can be difficult in any circumstances, but when first-responders and those they’re trying to help can’t understand one another, the hurdle can be life-threatening. Last week, the Smyth County Board of Supervisors took action to ease communication for everyone.
The challenge of communicating with those who speak languages other than English presents itself regularly on Interstate 81…
By Bruce Fitzgerald, Senior Public Safety Advisor, First Responder Network Authority
FirstNet helps with the four phases of emergency management – preparedness(link is external), response(link is external), recovery, and mitigation. I’d like to dive deeper into how FirstNet helps with the recovery phase.
Every year, disasters put millions of Americans in danger and cost billions of dollars in property damage. After the threat of harm from a disaster has passed, the recovery phase starts. Recovery can take months or years to get a community back on its feet. It’s critical to quickly start damage assessments and applications for financial assistance following a disaster.
An appeals court rejected petitions for review from multiple organizations asking that the FCC’s rules allowing unlicensed use in the 6 GHz band be remanded back to the FCC for reconsideration.
In April 2020, the FCC adopted rules allowing for unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band, leading to backlash from public safety and critical infrastructure groups who argued that such use could lead to harmful interference to key critical communications systems.
In January 2021, multiple public-safety, industry and critical infrastructure groups filed petitions for review with the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia asking the court to remand the rules back to the FCC for reconsideration. The court later combined all of those petitions into one petition…
While law enforcement officers and fire & EMS crews are out on the front lines responding to emergencies, the unsung heroes of the 911 dispatch team are operating behind closed doors, cooped up in a small room in the basement of the Gordon building on West Main Street, doing their part to ensure safety for all citizens of Orange County.
Fortunately, they will be making the move to their vastly improved headquarters in the new Orange County Public Safety Building on Jan. 20.
With the new move comes new advancements in technology. The new 911 dispatch office will implement the use of a new radio system and next-gen 911…
Habersham citizens have shared their frustrations and concerns with slow response times from the county’s emergency services online, and citizens brought those concerns forward at Tuesday night’s public safety town hall meeting.
At Habersham County Commissioner Bruce Palmer’s public safety town hall meeting, county public safety officials attended to answer questions and respond to concerns citizens had. One of the biggest concerns, and topics of discussion, was public safety response times…
