The Daily Yonder always does a nice job presenting the rural side of the story. The more I talk to folks in cities, the more I realize how valuable the service they provide is. Last week they wrote a harrowing story of what it’s like to be in the wilderness in NE Wisconsin and off the communication grid when an emergency happens…
When the folks on “Green Acres” had to climb a telephone pole to make a call, it was funny. But no one here was laughing when our rural volunteer fire department had to resort to something similar. We had been paged out for a river rescue — an injured rafter clinging to a rock in a Class III rapid.
That may sound straightforward, but as usual it wasn’t. There were concerns about other members of the party, which had become separated. It was pouring rain, cold, and lightning flashed around us. We had team members on the water and others deployed at a location several miles downstream, and were getting ready to send searchers out on foot while trying to get an ambulance unstuck from mud halfway up the wheels.
And we couldn’t communicate with any of our people. Our portable radios were not connecting with the county’s communication infrastructure. So the tallest person on the scene stood on the tailgate of a pick-up truck holding a portable radio as high as possible (despite the lightning), and the best we could get was broken and scratchy.
The author explains the tower situation…
Here are some things you should know about public safety communications systems in rural areas.
Who Owns Those Towers?
Good question. In Langlade County, two of the towers are owned by the county. Others are owned by private enterprises. County zoning ordinances require any towers erected here to allow space for emergency communications equipment. The contracts are non-lapsing and the county does not pay for the use of the space, only for its equipment and maintenance. Those towers generally reserve space at the top for local government, then quickly fill up the rest with paying tenants.
And part of the problem…
It’s not just fire departments, emergency medical systems (EMS) and law enforcement using local government channels. The airways are crowded with other users that may include the Department of Natural Resources and public utilities. Last winter, when parts of the Upper Midwest had record cold temperatures that caused widespread freeze-ups in public water utility lines, we heard a lot of pages for the on-call worker for the water department in the county seat.
Public utilities are considered integral to homeland security. But a lot of that traffic on local government channels could be carried out effectively by other means. And some of it will be, soon, in our area, thanks to E-Sponder — software that sends out simultaneous phone, text and email alerts instead of paging for non-emergency situations.
Paging is what the local government communication system was designed to support. And paging was a huge step up from the telephone tree used to summon firefighters when my husband joined the volunteer fire department in 1987. But now, in addition to paging, the system is expected to support more traffic on more channels. We need to be able to get the alert for volunteers. We also need to know who’s responding and to where, to get situation reports from those first on the scene, to relay information to and get authorizations from medical control and a hundred other things. And in rural areas where small departments rely on mutual aid partners and where EMS transports are long, we must be able to communicate with each other.
Finally he adds that money is always part of the problem and/or solution too.
Just something to consider as you head out for the 4th weekend. Will you be able to communicate if you need too? What’s that worth?