We live in a wired world where the land-line telephone is virtually obsolete to the rising generation. The thought of not having instant communication is terrifying to many in the newest demographic group. The appetite for instant communication has bred a market space for wireless telecommunications companies to fill and governments to attempt to regulate. High-speed wireless data delivers email, text messages, and voice data with what seems to be a right as opposed to a convenience. It is no wonder we see people flummoxed, anxious, and even aggressive when they lose the ability to communicate. The stress of a failed wireless communication device during an emergency is the high but unknown force multiplier of stress.
Many of today’s hand held devices offer access to web pages and file transfer systems with ease. Videos can be captured and streamed from many hand held devices. Think about the incredible advances in just the past 10 years in telecommunications. This is also just 11 years from the 9/11 attacks. Yet today, emergency service providers still struggle to effectively communicate with varied radio types which lack of interoperability or are simply inadequate for the mission.
NYC fireman calling for workers in World Trade Center wreckage after 9/11
During the 9/11 attacks the cell phone networks failed in several parts of the country. Of course, during an emergency, we can expect to lose communications. However, would the average person have thought the local emergency management services communications would fail? How about the State Emergency Operations Centers and National Guard? Would you personally be surprised if federal agencies also lost the ability to communicate? The reality is everyone lost a significant part of their communications infrastructure during 9/11. Everyone.
The President made changes quickly, after 9/11, recognizing the failure of the country’s emergency management teams to either foresee or correct the weaknesses in the communications system. Many Emergency Operations Center’s Incident Commanders carried a backup Satellite phone. In New York City, the cloud of dust was so thick it literally choked people to death on the street. The cloud also prevented the expensive satellites hovering 10,700 miles above the earth from connecting to the expensive satellite phones on the ground. The phones were rendered useless by just a cloud of dust and thus the urgently needed incident commanders were invisible islands in a sea of chaos. Cellular communications were not working, text messaging was sporadic, land-lines were overwhelmed, and traditional 2-way radios had very limited range and lacked interoperability with so many dissimilar agencies rushing to the attacked city’s aide from all over the world. One of the lessons learned for emergency communications leaders was single points a failure must be eliminated.
Post 9/11 Lessons Learned
9-11 proved, again, interoperable emergency communication is integral to initial response, public health, safety of communities, national security and economic stability of our nation. Of all the problems experienced during any disaster event, the most serious problem, is limited and failed communication systems. The communications deficiency prevents appropriate and efficient means to collect, process and transmit important and critical information timely. In some cases, radio communication systems are incompatible or inoperable not just within a jurisdiction but within departments or agencies in the same community. Sadly, the story of the communication failures during 9/11 have been repeated over and over again for the past decade: Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, Virginia Tech Shooting Massacre, The Fort Hood Shooting and the list goes on.
Source: Trinity College
Somebody should do something…
Many ideas are being explored to solve the communication shortfalls of our Nation. The ideas center on giving the First Responder the tools to communicate in an emergency. We agree and will offer a solution taken right from the battlefield of the most effective, well trained, well equipped, volunteer Army in the World. However, the citizen still lies at ground zero of any incident natural or man-made on American soil.
Perhaps it makes sense:
• To be able to have a communication system that permits any Emergency Operations Center the ability to send and receive messages to an affected area regardless of commercial carrier networks.
• To be able to automatically merge communications systems in order to expand and contract resources during an emergency.
• To be able to quickly train anybody, soldiers and citizens, to utilize the communications equipment collaboratively.
We think so and will present a system to enable this ability.
