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The aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City highlighted the critical need for dependable communications among first responders during emergencies and disasters.
As part of our Roadmap Engagements, the First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet Authority) Public Safety Advocacy (PSA) team was pleased to recently hold a Mission Critical Services Workshop in Fairfax County, VA.
FirstNet’s deployables were recently used by the Yankton Sioux Tribe Police Department in South Dakota, where rough terrain physically limits LTE coverage. During a critical search-and-rescue mission, the department reached out to the FirstNet Authority and AT&T, which deployed a SatCOLT within hours.
The latest stop along our public safety roadmap led the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) to Atlanta, Ga., last week for a regional forum with the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). As a policy and research organization for the nation’s law enforcement community, PERF is delivering a series of forums that explore the adoption of FirstNet by police and other public safety users around the nation.
Hattiesburg, Mississippi’s AAA Ambulance Service subscribed to FirstNet to help connect its 24-hour emergency and non-emergency medical transport service. FirstNet is helping the ambulance service to seamlessly communicate as they serve the 1.2 million residents living across 16 counties in southern Mississippi.
The First Responder Network Authority’s mission is to be a catalyst for advancing the nationwide public safety broadband network. As part of the launch of our roadmap engagement program, we were pleased to co-host a Public Safety Innovation Day on March 6 in College Station, Texas.
Every February, 30,000 skiers and spectators descend on northwestern Wisconsin to take part in the largest cross-country race in North America, the American Birkebeiner. The more than 30-mile race from Cable to Hayward, known as the “Birkie,” tests the endurance of skiers. It also creates a huge emergency communications challenge for first responders.
When it comes to emergency communications in the National Capital Region, Dave Mulholland has seen it all. Public Safety Advocacy Director Dave Buchanan recently sat down with him to discuss his experiences with public safety communications in the National Capital Region for the Public Safety First podcast.
In August 2018, the Citizen Potawatomi Tribe hosted its annual FireLake Fireflight Balloon Festival, a two-day event that attracts crowds as large as 34,000 people to Shawnee, Oklahoma, every year. As with any gathering in a place not accustomed to large crowds, commercial networks can become overloaded and congested, delaying or sometimes impeding communications among public safety officials working the event.
The First Responder Network Authority’s (FirstNet Authority) Public Safety Advocacy team traveled recently to Traverse City, MI, to participate in and present to more than 230 attendees at the 2019 Michigan Statewide Interoperable Communications Training Conference.