[Scan-DC] Adams County to upgrade emergency radios

[Alan Henney]

http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/local/article_4beee468-1c5c-11e0-939e-001cc4c002e0.html

Gettysburgtimes.com

County to upgrade emergency radios 

Dispatcher Phil Hagerman handles calls fire and ambulance calls at the Adams County 911 communications center. The county is preparing to upgrade its system. (John Messeder/Gettysburg Times) 
 
Posted: Sunday, January 9, 2011 8:49 pm | Updated: 9:04 pm, Sun Jan 9, 2011. 

BY JOHN MESSEDER Times Staff Writer | 0 comments 

Interoperability is one of the key words for a planned upgrade to the Adams County 911 communications system, according to county Emergency Services Director John Eline.

"The real question is are we at risk of losing a firefighter because they can't talk (to other departments)?" Eline said Thursday.

"We're interdependent," he said of fire departments that often assist each other across county lines. "The technology we (Adams County) are using is way outdated, and to a great extent can no longer be serviced."

A Request for Proposals has been published for which the deadline is Jan. 25. He said anticipated responders include four radio system providers, a microwave provider, and site developers who would install any required additional towers.

The system will be an 800 MHz digital system capable of working with 800 Mhz systems in the surrounding counties; Cumberland, Franklin, Frederick and Washington counties all are on the 800 MHz system.

A story published earlier this week told of communications problems that reportedly made communications impossible between Penn Township (York County) firefighters and Adams County departments assisting them.

Eline said the problems likely were caused by incompatibilities between the two counties' systems.

"If a company from a neighboring county wants to talk with us," he said, "they have to have our radios."

He noted New Oxford and East Berlin fire companies, which often respond to calls in York County, carry radios capable of working on the York County system - a situation he agreed was bothersome in an actual emergency situation.

That problem is expected to disappear with a new system that would allow firefighters to communicate with different departments simply by switching a knob on their radios.

In addition to ability to communicate with surrounding county's responders, the current Adams County system has several age-related problems:

"It's 40-couple-years-old, and it's hard to find parts for it," said Senior Dispatcher Jim Shank. "It's falling down around our ears."

With increasing use of cell phones, the system could become overwhelmed by a multitude of people - sometimes up to two dozen simultaneous callers - calling at the same time about the same car accident;
The cost of the new system is unknown. For one thing, the bottom line will include new towers, but until the actual engineering is done the number of towers is unknown.

Eline said the U.S. Department of Justice in 2010 promised a $200,000 grant for the law enforcement side of the new system.

"(But) the money's not in the bank, yet," he said, "and we're not yet certain about what restrictions may be attached."

The economy also will have an effect on available funds. Eline said he has been told by the offices of Congressman Todd Platts and Sen. Bob Casey "not to ask for money in 2011."

The county likely will issue a bond for much of the cost.

Efforts are being made to reduce overall costs, including possible sharing of backup services. Adams County moved its primary emergency communications suite from the courthouse basement to the new Emergency Services Center on Greenamayer lane in February 2004. It left behind a backup system, to be used if the Greenamayer Lane facilities become out of service.

"We have had preliminary discussions with Franklin County," Eline said. "I think the technology is there, and there is interest on their part."

"We've talked with everybody around us about their technology," he said, adding he also has visited Westmoreland and Centre counties to learn of their experiences.

The response was "very positive (and) that's encouraging," he said

The county commissioners last week authorized publication of another RFP, to upgrade the county's Computer Aided Dispatch suite.

"The CAD needs to be upgraded to use the capabilities of the new radio system," Eline said.

CAD is the system by which computers instantly display address information, including which emergency responders are to be dispatched, when a call comes into the center. The alternative is for dispatchers to find and pull information from paper files, based on where the caller's reported location.

The service is increasingly valuable as more cell phone users have devices equipped with GPS. In many of them, the telephone will report its position to the 911 center even if the device owner has turned off GPS for other uses.

"CAD is really important to us," Eline said

Eline said if the county meets the early March deadline for submission, there could be money from the state Emergency Management Agency to help pay for it. The money would come from fees on telephone service - currently $1 on wireless and $1.50 on wired services.

Readers may contact John Messeder at jmesseder at gburgtimes.com.