by AllThingsECC.com | May 28, 2020 | Articles, Comm Center News
Throughout the night on March 2-3, 2020, a supercell thunderstorm traveled through the middle of Tennessee, producing several violent tornadoes that wrecked multiple buildings and took several lives. Shortly after midnight on March 3, an EF-3 tornado with winds up to 165 miles per hour carved a path over 50 miles long through Nashville, severely damaging the local airport. As the supercell moved east, an EF-4 tornado touched down near Putnam County, producing winds up to 175 miles per hour – the strongest tornado the nation has seen in nearly three years…
The EF-4 tornado destroyed over 100 structures, including part of a local public safety radio tower. With this critical component damaged, responders turned to FirstNet to communicate and carry out damage assessment. READ MORE
by ECC Editor | May 27, 2020 | Comm Center News
On May 21, 2020, the Cook County Board of Commissioners narrowly passed Item No. 20-2378, that calls for Cook County Department of Public Health to temporarily share addresses of COVID-19 positive patients to municipal first responders through Public Safety Answering Point (“PSAP)” dispatch systems.
During the May 21 board meeting, President Preckwinkle responded to the vote calling it “discouraging and dismaying” to not listen to Cook County and State health experts who opposed the measure… READ MORE
by AllThingsECC.com | May 26, 2020 | Comm Center News
Proposals to upgrade the county’s radio communications made it to the chopping block after being placed on the Cooke County Commissioners’ Court meeting agenda for the third time in recent weeks.
On Monday, May 18, members of the court unanimously agreed to reject all proposals to upgrade the county’s public safety radio communications system. Commissioners meet inside the Commissioners’ Courtroom at the Cooke County Courthouse in downtown Gainesville…
by AllThingsECC.com | May 26, 2020 | Comm Center News
A national investigation by The Associated Press found that there has been widespread information sharing between emergency dispatchers and public health officials across the U.S. concerning individuals testing positive for COVID-19.
Per the AP, local governments in at least 35 states have shared COVID-19 patient details with dispatch centers. The premise behind this information sharing is to keep police, EMTs, and firefighters informed of potential risks as they respond to calls at the residence of someone who has tested positive for the virus. However, this has caused concern among some civil liberties groups…
by AllThingsECC.com | May 26, 2020 | Comm Center News
Tensions were high at the Hawkins County commission’s May 18 meeting, as Commissioner Mike Herrell and County Mayor Jim Lee clashed over the county’s plan to replace the failing emergency communications equipment.
This equipment has been the ‘talk of the town’ for several months after portions of the equipment went completely offline on Dec. 18, 2019.
An Emergency Communications taskforce met weekly for quite a while after this incident to look into replacement equipment. In February, the committee brought its findings before the Commission’s Public…
by ECC Editor | May 24, 2020 | Comm Center News
CHICAGO (CBS) — Cook County commissioners voted Thursday to release the addresses of confirmed COVID-19 patients to first responders.
Commissioners voted 9-7 with one abstention for the resolution to share the addresses as a safety measure for healthcare workers, first responders and lawmakers… READ MORE
