Limits Of Waterford's Radios Highlighted During Terror Drill

Limits Of Waterford's Radios Highlighted During Terror Drill
Money For New System Is In New Budget Plan, But Not Yet Approved

By PATRICIA DADDONA
Day Staff Writer, Waterford
Published on 4/6/2005

Waterford— The start of this week's elaborate terror drill in New London highlighted a known flaw in the town's emergency coverage: the fragmented functioning of its radio system.

Waterford contributed three of its six ambulances and a fire truck or vehicle from each of five fire stations to TOPOFF3. Town emergency workers relied, as they always do, on three distinct radio systems.

As firefighters, ambulance workers and police took part in Monday's mock explosion and catastrophe at Fort Trumbull in New London, First Selectman Paul B. Eccard used three different radios in order to inform emergency workers and a National Guard rapid-response team that the alert level had risen to Code Orange.

At 1:45 p.m. Monday, Eccard began taking and relaying the calls from the town's Public Safety Building. He was responsible for communicating that the Guard team should provide additional firepower and personnel at Millstone Power Station. The nuclear complex did not participate in the drill.

Dialing up the right information and taking incoming calls took about 30 minutes, but should have taken two or three, he said.

“I can end up with three or four levels of communication at one time (while) trying to talk with people, and when you're dealing with emergency workers in the field, everything is about time and efficiency,” he said. “It starts with commands coming out and making sure you're relaying accurate information. For people in the field, these minutes can be crucial and life-threatening.”

Carrying around more gear is cumbersome and “gets in your way,” he added, while having to juggle current and incoming calls on separate radios can result in mistakes.

“The key in an emergency is to have clear, uninterrupted communication, not have it pass through multiple sources,” he said. “You have to have that in order to have confidence that the message is accurate. When you add into that mix the tension and stress of an emergency, it's all the more important to make sure there aren't barriers to that straight line of communication.”

Firefighters and ambulance workers use one frequency of low-band radio, while the public works department and other town employees use another, said Goshen Fire Chief Thomas Dembek.

A second radio, a conventional 800 megahertz brand called ITAC, allows firefighters, ambulance workers and personnel from state agencies to talk to one another. Local police use a third system, an 800-megahertz radio that is outdated, Dembek said.

The mix, and in particular, the low-band system, “has had its day,” he said.

This summer, Police Chief Murray Pendleton, who is also the town's top emergency manager, plans to seek bids for a single, new “interoperable” radio system that would permit local emergency workers to talk to state police, colleagues in other towns and each other. Different channels or frequencies would still be used by command officials, Dembek and Eccard said.

About $1.9 million has been set aside for the new system, and selectmen and Board of Finance members have agreed to set aside another $648,682. The Representative Town Meeting is just beginning its budget deliberations.

p.daddona@theday.com