FirstNet (Built with AT&T) just closed out its best quarter for new users. Numbers at the end of September 2021 show 18,500 agencies and 2.8 million individual users are now on the FirstNet network. Increased user numbers are a result of more agencies finding that the FirstNet network provides the nationwide public-safety interoperability platform that is needed for multiple agencies to share communications during incidents.
In-Vehicle FirstNet and LMR
One question I am asked almost every month concerns how communications systems might or should be configured in vehicles. There are many answers and some depend on the type of vehicle and what it will be used for during incidents…
Barrington plans to join Northwest Central Dispatch System, which provides 911 services to its neighboring communities, in a move that will be beneficial to the village, officials said.
The agreement with Northwest Central Dispatch System was approved by the village board Monday.
The move also will entail state approval for Barrington to join a different 911 board, the NWCD Emergency Telephone Systems Board…
It’s 2 a.m. and a police officer has pulled over a driver on an isolated rural road on suspicion of driving under the influence. The officer calls for back-up before approaching the vehicle, but emergency dispatch is unable to hear the call.
A fire crew is called to a house fire in a remote part of Kitsap County. Upon arrival, firefighters hear a person yelling from inside the burning building. The crew calls for another unit to respond, but the request is never heard…
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo appointed 11 public safety, technology, and finance leaders to serve on the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) Board. Stephen Benjamin, mayor of Columbia, SC, was named the FirstNet Authority’s new board chair.
With the newly appointed members, including current Board member Karima Holmes, the FirstNet Board is fully staffed, with 12 non-permanent members selected by the Department of Commerce and three permanent seats occupied by the U.S. Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget…
WATERTOWN — After 30 years, Guilfoyle Ambulance Services is giving up its emergency medical dispatch services, handing them over to Jefferson County.
The ambulance service, a private company that has provided emergency medical services in Jefferson County since 1973, has been handling most of the emergency medical dispatch requirements for the city and town of Watertown, the town of Brownville, and parts of Pamelia and Rutland since the early 1990s for free. Now, president and CEO Bruce G. Wright said it’s time for the company to give up that responsibility.
“We’ve had a successful run, but it’s time to hand it back to the county,” he said Tuesday…
The contract will help the city switch its first responders’ communication system from analog to digital technology and replace the old radios, officials said.
According to the city’s Department of Information Technology, radio systems must be compatible with regional partners, including San Diego County government, the port authority, military, local hospitals and universities…
Learn about current efforts to continue to protect the 4.9 GHz Band for public safety as well as recent filings, key decisions impacting these efforts, and how you can support PSSA’s initiative to protect the 4.9 GHz band for public safety.
