Madison, WI - Wis. Emergency responders face serious problems communicating

[Thunderbolt]

MADISON, Wis. -- Emergency responders in Wisconsin still cannot communicate with each other statewide during large scale disasters, and local agencies are worried about the obstacles -- and high costs -- for plans to build a radio system here, auditors say.

Politics blog: Wis. emergency responders face serious problems communicating

 

[wuzafuzz]

Claims such as this are usually a plea for more funding. There are so many ways to talk to each other it's staggering. Teaching people to understand and use those methods is far cheaper than the new whiz-bang super cool zillion dollar systems everyone wants to play with. But try telling that to the empire-builders out there.

There are advantages to the multisite linked super trunking do-your-thinking-for-you systems. But I think those who sell those systems as the bare minimum needed to keep us from falling into the abyss out to be run out of town.

 

[canav844]

All this money being spend on communications equipment, and I am yet to see any go the way of training. There's lots of misconceptions going around and things don't appear to be getting better. I read one article in the fall where officials thought P25 was required to meet narrow-banding requirements. I read something a few weeks ago that defined interoprability and putting everybody (Fire, EMS, local county and state law enforcement and highway department) all on the same frequency and channel; not properly structured nets, with individuals that ontitor multiple nets with multiple radios.

Until the education (and the Manufacturer's sales pitch is NOT education) starts the spending will continue to be in vain, and as many local and county agencies don't have the money but are approving these contracts, I'm not only not surprised but also don't expect these types of reports to continue to reoccur.

 

[LouCheese]

As someone who listened to the big multi-agency training exercise and disaster scenario Operation Badger One last week, not once did there seem to be a breakdown in communication, nor did any of the response teams mention experiencing any difficulty in communication during the exercise.

I used to live in Ohio where they have a big multi-agency communications network MARCS, and even with that in place for several years now the various departments have intra-state communication errors. I think that the idea of a statewide communications network works great on paper, but there's too many obstacles to have a flawless system. Even if there a state had the best communications equipment and network in the world, the people using it are going to make mistakes, either in planning, design, and/or operation...especially in the event of a real and sudden emergency.

 

[zerg901]

Page 43 of the report says that "OJA spent $503,000 to purchase radio frequencies and licenses". Does that really mean "$503,000 was spent on radio interference studies"? Obviously that is $500,000 that cannot be spent on new equipment. Peter Sz