First Responders and Emergency Communications

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First Responders and Emergency Communications

• James Wadsworth
• Fairfax County, Virginia
• Radio Services Center Manager

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Definition of Interoperability

• The definition developed by the National Task
  Force on Interoperability and refined by Project
  SAFECOM describes interoperability as, "The
  ability of public-safety agencies to communicate
  with one another via radio communications systems
  - to exchange voice and/or data with one another
  on demand, in real time, when needed and when
  authorized."

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Definition of Interoperability

• The ability to communicate with one another
• To exchange voice and/or data with one another on
  demand, in real time, when needed and when
  authorized

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The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow

• Listen my children and you shall hearOf the
  midnight ride of Paul Revere,On the eighteenth
  of April, in Seventy-fiveHardly a man is now
  aliveWho remembers that famous day and year.
• He said to his friend, "If the British marchBy
  land or sea from the town to-night,Hang a
  lantern aloft in the belfry archOf the North
  Church tower as a signal light,--One if by land,
  and two if by seaAnd I on the opposite shore
  will be,Ready to ride and spread the
  alarmThrough every Middlesex village and
  farm,For the country folk to be up and to arm."

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The Department of Homeland Security Described 6
levels of Interoperability

• Level-1  Swap Radios
• The simplest and most basic level of
  interoperability is the physical exchange of
  radios with other agencies involved in an event. 

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Level-2  Talkaround or Directed Net

• Talkaround provides interoperability where
  multiple radio users talk radio-to-radio on the
  same transmit and receive frequency in the
  conventional mode.  In this situation,
  communications are tightly bound by the air
  interface the same frequency is required and
  transmissions are digital-to-digital or
  analog-to-analog, not analog-to-digital.
•  

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Level-3  Mutual Aid 

•  
• Mutual aid channels provide operability for first
  responder radios and interoperability between
  radios within the same frequency band?i.e. VHF
  users can only talk to (or on) other VHF
  systems.  The effectiveness of Mutual Aid Level-3
  can only be achieved through adherence to
  predetermined protocols and procedures as part of
  the National Incident Command System (NIMS) which
  is used in the event of an emergency. 

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Level-4  Gateway (Console Patch)

• A gateway is a generic term for devices that
  connect multiple frequency bands and/or coverage
  areas and thereby provide interoperability
  between them.  Overlapping coverage areas may use
  wired or wireless gateway devices.  For
  overlapping coverage areas operating in different
  frequency bands, wireless gateway devices provide
  cross-band interoperability for the radios
  (require separate Transmit Receivers (T/R)
  frequencies).  For overlapping or non overlapping
  coverage areas, wireline interconnectivity also
  can be used to provide cross-band operation for
  the radio users while also providing connectivity
  to and/or between dispatchers and systems. 
  Gateway devices may be used to provide wireline
  or wireless interoperability between the coverage
  areas of Mutual Aid channels or existing systems
  or a combination of both.  These systems and
  coverage areas may be single-site or multi-site,
  analog or digital, conventional or trunked,
  proprietary or standards based.  Interoperability
  will be limited to the lowest common capability
  that these systems provide. 

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Level-5  System-Specific-Roaming  

• Additional interoperable capabilities for first
  responder incident management can be provided by
  leveraging existing systems using mutual aid talk
  groups.  These systems typically have more
  capabilities and greater capacity than Mutual Aid
  channels.  A greater level of interoperability
  for first responders can be achieved by
  leveraging the existing systems.  These systems
  may be in a variety of frequency bands, may be
  analog or digital and conventional or trunked. 
  Existing systems are owned by specific agencies
  and may come from a variety of vendors. 

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Level-6  Standards Based Shared Systems

•  
• Standard based systems ensure that the radios
  and/or the infrastructures use technology and
  messages that are interoperable regardless of the
  equipment vendor.  By sharing standards based
  systems with first responders, a greater level of
  interoperable features with greater capacity can
  be achieved.  Level-6 systems may be conventional
  or trunked, single or multi-site.  They must be
  based on the P25 CAI standards (ANSI/TIA/EIA-102)
  and conform to SAFECOM interoperability
  standards. 

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Those who can not remember the past are doomed to
repeat it. George Santayana (1863 - 1952),

• Examples Of Past Events And How Interoperable
  Communications Played A Part.

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January 13th, 1982

• There was a major snowstorm that was covering the
  Washington, D.C. area with considerable
  accumulation, and there was an early release of
  federal employees, and heavy strain on the
  region's transportation system.

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Air Florida Flight 90

• Air Florida flight 90 had taken off from
  Washington DC Airport and due to wing icing and
  pilot error, the aircraft lost altitude and
  crashed into the 14th Street Bridge and the
  Potomac River less than a mile from the airport.
  There were only 5 survivors out of 79 people on
  board. The aircraft descended nose-high and
  tail-low, and at 401 PM, the tail struck the
  deck and parapet of the Rochambeau Bridge (the
  northbound span), struck seven vehicles, killed 4
  motorists and injured 4 motorists, and went into
  the frozen river between the Rochambeau Bridge
  and the express span (they are a couple hundred
  yards apart). The aircraft shattered the surface
  ice, and broke into multiple large pieces which
  quickly sank into the river. Traffic was already
  stopped in a traffic jam, due to the storm.
  Between the effects of the storm, and the rescue
  efforts around the 14th Street (I-395/US-1)
  bridges, the 12-lane complex ceased to function,
  and closed to traffic. The George Washington
  Parkway, which parallels the Potomac River in
  Virginia, also closed near the crash site.

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Metrorail Fire

• A rapid rail transit accident occurred about one
  half hour after the air crash. At 430 PM, one
  car of a WMATA Metrorail train derailed while the
  train was being backed up through a crossover
  switch south of the Federal Triangle Station in
  D.C., and the car was pulled sideways and it
  crashed into the concrete pillar separating the
  inbound and outbound subway tunnels. A misaligned
  switch at Smithsonian Interlocking caused the
  rear wheel truck to derail, and the wheels
  tracked alongside of the rails for 171 feet,
  following the opposite track, until the car
  impacted the concrete pillar. There were 3
  fatalities, and 25 injuries.

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Metrorail Fire

• The crash occurred on the Blue/Orange Line, and
  resulted in the both lines being shut down. At
  that time, the Blue Line ran from National
  Airport Station in Arlington to Addison Road
  Station in Maryland, and the Orange Line ran from
  Ballston Station in Arlington to New Carrolton
  Station in Maryland. The derailment occurred on
  the section where the two lines share the same
  cross-town subway route, and the wrecked subway
  car blocked both tracks. The other (then) open
  line, the Red Line, was not affected.

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Summary

• So in a one hour period, the D.C. area lost the
  use of its (at that time) busiest airport,
  busiest expressway, and busiest subway line. The
  (by far) widest/busiest bridge from D.C. to
  Virginia closed, and the one rapid rail transit
  line from D.C. to Virginia closed. This was a
  true area-wide transportation disaster, a major
  chunk of the air, highway, and rail system
  closed.

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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSIONPUBLIC SAFETY
NATIONAL COORDINATION COMMITTEENovember 16,
2001comments by Mr. Steve Souder

• The crash of Air Florida flight 90 created a
  tremendous outpouring of public safety response
  to that horrific event. And, unfortunately, it
  didn't go well. It was communications gridlock to
  the nth degree. Everybody that was there had
  good intentions, everybody that was there wanted
  to do good. But everybody that was there couldn't
  talk to each other.
• You had every imaginable frequency, and every
  imaginable brand and type of radio, and every
  imaginable kind of agency converging on that
  snowy riverbank, on that January afternoon at
  430. It was a mess. But what it did was to
  reinforce what public safety had been saying,
  both to Congress, and to the Commission, for at
  least the previous four years. That then, as now,
  public safety needs more spectrum on which to
  operate, and more common spectrum on which to
  operate.

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Interoperability A Local PerspectiveTestimony
by Chief Michael P. NeuhardFairfax County Fire
and Rescue Departmentbefore the House Government
Reform Subcommittee on Technology,Information
Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the
CensusWednesday, September 8, 2004

• Interoperability is a critical issue for the
  emergency services police, fire, and emergency
  management. It must be remembered that
  interoperability is not just about technology. In
  fact, it has been said that interoperability is
  really 80 percent communication and coordination
  in various forms, and only 20 percent technical.
• Critical components of emergency response systems
  which are interoperable, but not technical,
  include
• ?? common incident management techniques
• ??common terminology
• ??common policy and procedures
• ??standardized training
• ??compatible equipment such as protective
  clothing, metering devices, selfcontained
  breathing apparatus
• ?? common hose threads for firefighting, and
• redundant methods of communications

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Conclusion

• Know what tools are in your toolbox
• Practice with your tools
• Practice with your neighbors using your tools
• Practice again