Emergency management agencies are turning to the FirstNet Authority’s planning tools and support mechanisms — including an exercise inject catalog, event pre-planning program, and post incident/event review process — to help emergency managers and other public safety officials integrate broadband into their daily operations and emergency response. Through collaborative efforts with our team, responders across the nation are leveraging these offerings as part of their SMART approach to emergency management.

Members of the Mason County Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) in West Virginia often find themselves working in more remote parts of the county. Understanding the importance of remaining connected, DHSEM and other county agencies switched to FirstNet after extensive testing. The county’s public safety agencies are now using the network to improve patient care during longer hospital transports and to enhance communications at COVID-19 testing sites.

The FirstNet Authority provides three types of support to help public safety agencies as they prepare for all hazards: pre-planning support, an exercise inject catalog, and post-incident reviews. These three types of support help agencies understand how to best use FirstNet during disasters or large events, leading to more timely and efficient decision-making, better coordinated response, and well-managed resources and logistics.

The FirstNet Authority’s Emergency Management Community of Practice has developed a resource guide for emergency managers. The guide includes an overview of features and functions that may be used in their daily and emergency response roles. Many of the topics covered in the guide are applicable for coordinating response in the field or when an Emergency Operations Center has been activated.

FirstNet Authority’s staff, board members, and Public Safety Advisory Committee members reflect on the events of September 11, 2001. At the FirstNet Authority, our story is indelibly linked to 9/11. Our mission is to oversee a communications network – FirstNet – that was created in light of the events of 9/11 to give American first responders a reliable nationwide broadband network. The lives lost and the lives forever changed on September 11, 2001 are our reasons why. We will never forget.