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October 1, 2008

Message clear: Fix 911 ASAP | Multimillion-dollar system should work better

Anonymous The Tribune-Democrat Wed Oct 01, 2008, 01:07 PM EDT

Cambria County’s 911 radio communications system has problems. How serious they are depends on who’s talking.

Some of what is wrong has to do with equipment shortcomings; some has to do with the way the system is being used – human error.

On this, most of the users seem to agree.

What all county taxpayers should agree on is that we deserve better service, better results for our multimillion-dollar investment, and that everyone involved in buying or using this system – our county leaders, 911 personnel, emergency responders, engineers and factory representatives – needs to sit down immediately and map out solutions.

Let’s do it before an emergency responder’s death can be tied to a flawed communications system.

Although firefighters say their concerns have been ongoing, the issue came to a boil last month during a fire in Coupon, Gallitzin Township. A historic church was destroyed and five firefighters were injured – thankfully, none seriously – when a brick chimney collapsed.

A fire chief complained to the media that inconsistent radio communications had hampered the firefighting operations.

“We had no communications,” said Ashville fire Chief Rick Zupon. “I couldn’t communicate with 911. They couldn’t communicate with me. And I couldn’t communicate with my equipment coming in.”

That’s very disturbing.

To their credit, Brian Feist, executive director of Cambria County Department of Emergency Services, and Carol Peretin, communications director, monitored the communications and then reviewed the recordings.

Feist also went to the scene, ran tests and later reported to the commissioners.

In his memo, Feist concluded: “As I heard with my own ears during the incident, our equipment worked. What problems that were there were caused by people on scene either getting too excited or not practicing the basic rules of radio communications ... Both Carol and I stand at the ready to defend this issue.”

However, officials since have conceded that other problems do exist; that the activation of fire and ambulance sirens and pagers remains a persistent, troubling problem for the dispatch center, particularly in the northeastern part of the county.

Although troubling, that problem is somewhat understandable. Many of us still have problems with cell phone services and satellite TV and radio receptions. There are dead spots throughout the county, no question.

And while the county continues to upgrade, adding towers and relocating others, Feist said, “Everybody thinks there’s a quick fix. But it’s not that easy.”

We agree. But we also want this issue to remain on the front burner.

There’s a lot of frustration and concern, but finger-pointing isn’t the answer. The interaction between 911 headquarters and emergency responders is much like a winning football program: The better the teamwork, the better the communications and the better the results.

Taxpayers cannot be faulted. They have made a huge expenditure to give our emergency personnel the top-notch communications equipment they deserve. We expect that equipment to work efficiently, certainly meeting the standards the companies promised.

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