Oregon’s diverse landscape — spanning Cascade Range, multiple valleys with rivers, and the Pacific coast — presents a number of challenges for the state’s first responders. Fire-prone pine and juniper trees cover much of the eastern part of the state, and responders must always be prepared for natural disasters.
The First Responder Network Authority team recognizes the unique communications challenges that Oregon first responders face. We have been working closely with Oregon public safety officials since 2014, capturing their feedback and translating it into the design of the FirstNet network. During the development of state deployment plans, our team worked hand-in-hand with Oregon leaders to ensure the plan was customized to address their needs, including:
- Providing coverage in rural and tribal areas within the state, along the coast, and east of the Cascades
- Making deployable network assets available for natural disasters
Following this close collaboration, Oregon chose to adopt the plan and “opt in” to FirstNet. Today, we continue to meet regularly with state, local, and tribal officials to discuss their public safety broadband needs. In 2019 alone, our team met with Oregon public safety officials more than 25 times. Our engagements in Oregon included quarterly planning with the Oregon SIEC, collecting feedback on the FirstNet Authority Roadmap from the Oregon chapter of APCO/NENA, participating in the Eastern Oregon EMS Conference, and having additional Roadmap discussions with the Oregon Broadband Advisory Council and with the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and Northwest Tribal Emergency Management Council. Engagements like these are crucial to the ongoing success of the network and the advancement of public safety communications across the state and the nation.
Connect with our team of Public Safety Advisors to learn about FirstNet in your community.
Oregon's FirstNet Authority Public Safety Advisor
FirstNet in Action in Oregon
- Thunderbird and Whale was the first-ever national-level exercise fully planned and executed by tribal nations. Lynda Zambrano, Executive Director of the National Tribal Emergency Management Council, recounts her team’s approach to the exercise and how they maximized resources to benefit tribal communities in the Pacific Northwest.
- First responders have worked tirelessly to keep our country safe, and even more so during the COVID-19 pandemic. FirstNet offers reliable and adaptive mobile broadband solutions to first responders as they continue to be on the frontlines of COVID-19 response. With the pandemic bringing a new set of challenges to delivering public safety services, emergency managers across the country, are turning to FirstNet’s innovative solutions to support the continuity of operations.
- The Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon uses FirstNet on cell phones and mobile data computers to better protect a community of 600,000 people spread out in mostly rural areas.
