Washington, D.C. – Three years after the tragic events of September 11, 2004, most police officers, firefighters, EMTs and other first responders in the United States still do not have the ability to communicate with each other during a time of crisis, according to testimony delivered this week to the U.S. House of Representatives by New York Metropolitan Fire Commissioner William Fox and Gene Stilp, a volunteer firefighter, EMT and vice president of the Dauphin-Middle Paxton Fire Company #1, in Dauphin, Pennsylvania.
Fox and Stilp, who are founding members of the First Response Coalition, urged members of the Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census of the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform to take steps to end the interoperability crisis as soon as possible.
In their joint testimony, Stilp and Fox said: “… (O)n Saturday of this week, it will be three years since the 9/11 attack on America and almost no progress has been made toward achieving interoperability. As we observe this anniversary of the September 11th tragedy, let us determine that now is the time for action. The First Response Coalition has put forth a plan that will help America’s public safety departments achieve interoperability.”
第一反应联盟成员说:“我们urge this Subcommittee and Congress to consider the … proposal as a means to deliver vitally important funding and technology to public safety departments across the country. This Subcommittee and Congress must move forward quickly to provide the funding, equipment, and training necessary to give America’s first responders the communications tools they need to protect our communities. We can no longer afford to wait for solutions to the critical lack of interoperability. First responders need your help, and we need it today.”
Other highlights of the Fox/Stilp statement to the House subcommittee include the following: “… When it became clear that the World Trade Center towers were about to collapse, the New York City police received the call to evacuate the buildings. The fire and rescue personnel did not get this order, because they operate on a different radio system than the police. As a result, while sixty police officers died in the collapse, 343 fire and rescue personnel perished. At the Pentagon, where emergency personnel from 50 different public safety agencies in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia responded, no communication was possible between fire companies of different jurisdictions, or to the Arlington County, VA fire chief who had overall command at the scene …
Solving the interoperability problem is no easy task. New equipment, training, and additional spectrum are required to achieve communications interoperability. Most importantly, providing interoperable communications to first responders will require enormous financial support. It is estimated that $18 billion or more will be needed to replace all the public safety communications equipment nationwide. Nonetheless, the problem must be resolved as quickly as possible. The lack of communications interoperability puts first responders and the communities they protect in danger …
The First Response Coalition Plan calls for auctioning spectrum in the 1.9 GHz band and earmarking the proceeds from the auction, approximately $5-10 billion, for public safety communications needs. This allocation would accelerate regional deployment of interoperable communications systems to ensure that a majority of systems nationwide are upgraded by 2006 …
To the first responder on the ground, interference and interoperability are one problem: the radios don’t work. If the first responder cannot reach the people we need to in order to respond quickly and effectively to an emergency, whether the cause is interference or more likely interoperability, the result is the same – valuable time is lost and people die. Combining solutions to the interference and interoperability problem, which only Congress can do, is the best outcome for the nation’s first responders and the people we serve. Why address one technological problem, spend enormous amounts of money, and still be saddled with a communications system that does not perform at optimal levels? …
The U.S. Conference of Mayors, in a June 2004 survey of 192 cities, found that 60% of respondents indicated that city public safety departments did not have interoperability with the state emergency operations center and 88% did not have interoperability with the Department of Homeland Security.
There are over 2.5 million first responders in the United States, comprising 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies, 26,000 fire departments, and more than 6,000 rescue departments. Upgrading the communications systems of all these departments and providing the first responders with the necessary equipment and training requires a dedicated effort, one that cannot be delayed. The ability of all these entities to communicate in times of crisis is critical to protect the public and save lives.”
For the full text of the Hill statement by Fox and Stilp, visithttp://www.firstresponsecoalition.org.
