Industry
Poor Cell Phone Service Worries First Maine Responders
December 17, 2010East Millinocket, Maine — On Dec. 1, a pregnant woman was involved in a car accident in a snowstorm so bad that Fire Chief Les Brown told other emergency responders to turn back. The woman appeared to be OK, but Brown wanted to double-check her condition with a doctor and to ensure patient the privacy, Brown used his cell phone to call the doctor, but couldn’t get a signal.
Read full articleConnecting Mt. Blue
December 16, 2010A Maine mountaintop is slated to be the site of a unique communications tower that combines a 1944-style structure with modern microwave technology. The planned Mt. Blue tower is part of Maine’s statewide communications consolidation project, which will incorporate the FCC’s narrowbanding mandate.
Read full articleJasper County 9-1-1 Board & Family Thank Local 9-1-1 Dispatcher
December 16, 2010Carthage, Mo. — Brandi Rush was prepared for a big morning on Oct. 29. She was nine-months pregnant and she was slated to go to the hospital at 5 a.m. that day so her doctor could induce her labor, but baby Baylor had other ideas.
Read full articleLeading Public Safety Associations Announce Open Nominations for 9-1-1 Honor Awards
December 15, 2010Washington, D.C .– The E9-1-1 Institute, NENA, APCO International, NASNA and 9-1-1 Industry Alliance announced the opening of nominations for the 2011 9-1-1 Honor Awards, which bestows the awards each year to honor heroes and leaders in 9-1-1. The 2011 awards ceremony will take place at the 9-1-1 Honors Gala on Tuesday, March 29, 2011.
Read full articleLas Cruces Suffers 3-hour Internet & Phone Outage
December 15, 2010Las Cruces, N.M. — Though it could have been dangerous, calm prevailed over calamity as Las Cruces was affected Tuesday by a major communications failure. Two Qwest Communications fiber-optic cables were severed at a construction site 19 miles south of Socorro, N.M., about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, and at another construction site near Tijeras, just north of Albuquerque. The cuts shut down telephone, Internet and most other communications services for thousands of New Mexicans for more than three hours Tuesday.
Read full articleScrambled Signals on Emergency System
December 14, 2010San Francisco — In the years following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration began providing funds to upgrade local emergency communications systems around the country. But agencies in the Bay Area are not on the same wavelength when it comes to signing up for this program.
Read full articleVirtual ID Links Patients, Rescuers
December 13, 2010Gold Cross, the the 9-1-1 emergency responder for Salt Lake City and Uintah County, is introducing a virtual medical identification card that allows individuals and families to provide information through a secure online web service in case of an emergency.
Read full articleDispatchers Want 9-1-1 Calls Exempt from Open Records Law
December 10, 2010Nashville, Tenn. — The state’s emergency dispatchers said Tuesday they want to exempt 9-1-1 audiotapes from Tennessee’s open records law to save distraught crime victims and their families from hearing their calls played in the media.
Read full articleRochester/Monroe County 9-1-1 Center Reaccredited
December 9, 2010Rochester, N.Y. — The Rochester/Monroe County (N.Y.) 9-1-1 Center has received its fourth accreditation from the Commission for Accreditation of Law Enforcement. The accreditation, received Nov. 20 at the CALEA Conference in California, followed a process to assure the center is meeting public safety standards.
Read full articleEmergency Access Advisory Committee Announcement of Members and Co-Chairpersons
December 9, 2010On Dec. 7, 2010, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski announced the establishment, and appointment of members and Co-Chairpersons of the Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC), an advisory committee required by the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (the Accessibility Act).
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