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…
The Public Safety Network (PSN) on the Central Coast has been expanded with the completion of a new site in Algewn Rd, Gosford.
The site is part of a state-wide publicly owned network of telecommunications towers that services the emergency services and other State Government agencies.
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and Member for Terrigal, Adam Crouch, said the new radio site, delivered by NSW Telco Authority, is vital to ongoing community safety in the region.
“These sites provide emergency service organisations with a single, integrated network on which to communicate,”
Crouch said…
A state lawmaker will propose legislation for the 2022 session recognizing 911 dispatchers as first responders and supply them help for instances of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rep. Bill Wesley, R-Ravenna, said he will be sponsoring the Lifeliner’s Act, to help spread awareness of work-induced stress, recognize the symptoms of PTSD, and provide resources for telecommunicators for treatment.
“I am calling this bill ‘the Lifeliner’s Act’ because our dispatchers are sometimes the lifeline between our first responders and the life-and-death situations,” he said. “They are our lifeline in every situation. I am so thankful for the brave individuals that selflessly save others.”
Wesley says he respects 9-1-1 dispatchers for the work they do every day. “As a chaplain over six departments, I hear about the many issues they face. When we think of PTSD, we often assume that people who suffer from it all carry a badge or a gun. In this case, that isn’t true… READ MORE
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.
