An official website of the United States government
On Memorial Day 2019, nearly 55 tornadoes touched down in eight states across the country. Ohio saw some of the worst damage, including an EF3 tornado that tore through Beavercreek Township. The Beavercreek Township Fire Department used FirstNet to assist with damage assessment efforts.
Officers with the Troy Police Department in New York rely on FirstNet for a differentiated emergency communications experience in the city’s densely populated urban setting. FirstNet’s priority and preemption service allows officers to stay connected, make calls, and send and receive information securely without signal delay or disruption.
At the 2019 FireLake Fireflight Balloon Festival in Shawnee, Oklahoma, public safety officials from the Citizen Potawatomi Tribe relied on FirstNet-enabled devices for seamless interoperability among the many agencies supporting the festival.
In December 2019, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) held its final quarterly meeting of the year in Sitges, Spain. Dean Prochaska, FirstNet Authority Director of Standards, summarizes the discussion and what the standards body is working toward next.
When disaster strikes or large crowds gather, public safety officials need a broadband network they can rely on to remain connected. FirstNet’s fleet of deployables is an important resource for emergency managers for planned and unplanned events to ensure that connection is available. First Responder Network Authority Senior Public Safety Advisor Timothy Pierce describes the deployables that are available to FirstNet subscribers and how those resources can make a difference for first responders.
Nicknamed the “Hall of Fame City,” each year Canton, Ohio plays host to the Enshrinement Festival. At the 2019 festival, FirstNet proved invaluable to first responders during a severe thunderstorm, which caused the evacuation of over 30,000 attendees.
Once again, the CES annual conference is promising an impressive line-up of tech tools and displays tapping into 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence to cultivate smart solutions for the consumer technology ecosystem.
In a world where technology trends are ever changing, the FirstNet Authority and our network contractor, AT&T, are working diligently to deliver a dedicated public safety broadband network. In addition to a reliable and secure connection, we are working with AT&T to build a diverse device ecosystem that will meet the needs of public safety.
A robust broadband ecosystem for public safety demands a proven pool of mobile apps based on the needs of the responder community. The FirstNet applications strategy is to enable the creation of public safety mobile applications while maintaining support for existing commercial applications. This will establish a portfolio of resilient, reliable, secure and easy-to-use mobile applications for first responders.