If you want to get the radios you need, it is time to get your computer heated up and get your best fill-in-the-blanks person on the key board. The Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program clock is ticking down. April 7 is coming fast. You have a lot of bids to get for the radio equipment you want for your fire, ems or combined company.

But before you you finalize the application, make sure you are heading in the right direction. The Department of Homeland Security's Program Guidance document for the 2005 AFGP should be consulted. http://www.firegrantsupport.com/docs/2005AFGguidance.pdf

Instead of me interpreting the document, here are the exact words from page 16.

"Individual communications equipment (portable radios) and/or mobile communications equipment (including mobile repeaters) are eligible but cell phones are not eligible. We will only fund enough mobile radios to equip the vehicle inventory listed in the application. We will not fund mobile radios for personally owned vehicles with the exception of the chief ... officer's personal vehicle if adequately justified in the application. Mobile data systems are eligible. Integrated communications systems such as base stations, computer-aided dispatch, fixed-site repeaters, wireles and broadband mobile data systems, etc. are eligible under this activity."

Hold on now. Not so fast. The hard part is coming.

There is further guidance because the goal is for your system to mesh with your State's overall plan.

The Guidance document goes on, "The purchase of any communications system should have the intent and/or goal of solving your interoperability problems, as applicable. Note that each State will be provided with the opportunity to review requests for communications equipment, with respect to interoperability problems and the State's homeland security strategy. Any applicant seeking funding for equipment herein should provide details in the narrative section of the application regarding their local plan to enable interoperability for the jurisdiction."

Now that is a mouthfull and your workload has just been tripled.

So get on the stick. Time is running out. Any tips or comments you have for other first responders are appreciated. You can do this by clicking the comment link below.

The 4th Annual Government Convention on Emerging Technologies is a good place to be on March 29 through 31 this year. Technologies that will be commonplace in ten years will see their public debut at this conference.

It is designed for managers and government officials who are way up on the food chain at the major protective agencies. For example, all the military services, all of the intelligence community, all of the Homeland Security component agencies, and all of the federal law enforcement agencies will be in attendance.

It has only been a few months since the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act was signed into law in December of 2004 and the flow of information through the various systems is undergoing comprehensive change that will affect us all.

Information interoperability will be a part of the conference. They describe the future in words such as: "horizontal integration, content management tools, tagging on the fly, data storage technologies, smart search technologies, analytic discovery tools, and sophisticated data visualization tools."

One item that really interested me was the session on "Interoperability in International Crisis." Using the recent tsunami as their starting point, it will be interesting to see what capabilities are being developed for early warning systems for such monumental disasters.

You can give the outline for the conference the once over at http://www.ncsi.com/govcon05/index.shtml. If you have the credentials and enough funding to attend, we welcome your first hand report after the conference. If there are other similar conferences that you recommend, there is a place to comment below and make your recommendation.

I am sure that most of you have tried many different ways to get the legislators in Washington, D.C. to listen to your concerns. Many more have sent emails and written letters. Many of you have visited them in their home offices.

One other path is through your county officials. Many of you know your county officials on a first name basis. They can be an effective intermediary between the first responders throughout the county and the Congressmen in Washington.

The county officials have to worry about effective police, fire, and emergency medical services county wide. In addition, most public safety communication services are county run.

This is why first responders have an effective voice through their county officials.

Within two weeks thousands upon thousands of county officials will descend upon Washington, D.C. for the National Association of County Officials Annual Legislative Conference.

From March 4 through March 8, these officials will be discussing all the topics under the sun. There are so many federal mandates they have to follow they will be pressed to cover all the issues. But if you give them your concerns and the facts and figures to back up your concerns, you will be able to help them be more effective representatives for your interests. For example, what interoperability problems exist in your county, between departments, and between different agencies? What is your interoperable communication solution that you would like to see advanced?

So there it is. Get to work. You have two weeks to see who is going to Washington. Remind them again how much funding is really necessary; funding that must come from Congress.

You can use the link below to give your own views and comments on what you think may be an effective way to get your message across.

The Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program is in full swing. A number of folks have written and asked for more information. I often forget that many folks are at different levels of the technology curve. Funding is there but it really requires computer diligence these days. If you don't have the computer depth in your department, just go to the local high school or college for help. A student may not be interested in running calls but that student may be the person who helps you fill out the online application and gets you enough funding to replace all that out-of-date and unsafe personal protective equipment (PPE) or whatever you need. Reach out.

In addition, help exists in the form of workshops. These AFGP workshops are going on across the country. The Office of Domestic Preparedness is conducting them and you can check out http://www.firegrantsupport.com/Workshop/display/workshops.aspx to see what is happening in your state.

All the workshops are the same so if you miss one you can go to another or even visit a nearby state if you are close to a border.

If you attend one let other folks know what you think by commenting right here on our blog. Let other folks know the good points and the points that need more work.

First Responders got the message last week. At first it looked like the Bush Administration was coming out in support of interoperability. In a section in the new national budget aptly named, "Fostering Communications Between First Responders," it clearly states that "Interoperability will continue to be a major focus of State and local homeland security grants..."

A closer look reveals that funding has not increased for the needs of first responders. According to Police Magazine local law enforcement funding will go from $600 million to $60 million. Those cuts include "assistance to police departments to improve technology and their ability to communicate with other agencies."

Firefighters and emergency medical services are not going to get what they need either. Firefighter grants went down to $500 million for the 2006 budget. Communications needs still exist in most cities and towns in America and this budget still doesn't do you, the First Responder, justice.

So what is next?

Now the Administration's budget goes to Congress. No matter what the Administration puts in the Budget, Congress has the power to increase or decrease the amounts that First Responders will receive. So your responsibility is as clear as glass. Congress is where you have to put your energies to accomplish this task.

I'm sure you know who represents you in Congress. Make your appointment at the nearby home office today. It is never too early to tell your Congressperson what you need. And don't go alone. This one requires mutual aid. Get your surrounding First Responders to go with you.

By the time this Budget passes Congress almost four years will have passed since September 11, 2001. Let's hope we will receive the increases that we should have been receiving all along.

RCR wireless news is reporting that Nextel Communications Inc. is expected to hand over its official acceptance of the Federal Communications Commission's plan to solve public-safety interference in the 800 MHz band in a press conference/photo opportunity today.
The press conference is expected to be attended by outgoing FCC Chairman Michael Powell and public-safety representatives.
Today is the deadline for Nextel to accept the plan. In addition to accepting the plan, Nextel must also file other documents to ensure the financial stability of the plan including a letter from bankruptcy counsel declaring it will meet its obligations even if the company goes bust.

This is good news for first responders because there was some uncertainty swirling around the deal to solve the public safety radio interference problems caused by cellular phones.

Now we can move forward on solving the interoperability problems!

http://rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=21355

Last year the "I" word was on everyone's lips. The "I" word was interoperability.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors study on interoperability in May of 2004 put a price tag of over fifteen million dollars to implement interoperability in the country.

Congressional committees took testimony from police, fire and emergency medical responders. The 911 Commissions noted the need for interoperability implementation in their well read report.

The Department of Homeland Security set up a new office of interoperability and compatibility to coordinate, develop and implement programs.

On June 22, 2004 the Administration formally announced the RapidCom 9/30 program which provided resources to certain high threat urban areas and introduced standardized operating procedures, regional governance, and training and exercises

The following areas were to have incident-level, interoperable emergency communications by September 30, 2004, hence RapidCom9/30: Miami, Jersey City, San Francisco, Philadelphia, the District of Columbia, Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.

As we pass the four month marker since the RapidCom9/30 roll out it would be interesting to see the views of those participating and those who are watching the implementation in those cities.

Is RapidCom9/30 meeting the unique needs of each individual urban area in the program? Is the DHS guidance being provided adequate and is the hoped for regional governance developing at the pace anticipated?

There are probably internal checklists that would be very good to review as the programs progress but I'll settle for a person-in-the-trenches view so that things aren't glossed over.

Any takers?

Police Captain J.R. Dunlap of the Lake Jackson Police Department of Lake Jackson, Texas was more than enthusiastic about the solution he wants to see for his police department's interoperability problems.

Every since he participated in a demonstration of the ACU-1000 in May 0f 2003 he was sold. That demonstration involved an organized employees strike at two nearby chemical plant facilities that involved multiple jurisdictions' communications in the Brazoria County area of Texas.

Their interoperability problems had become more than apparent after a major railcar explosion at one of the chemical plants the year before showed their communications gaps.

The live demonstration was supported by the National Institute of Justice's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centers (NLECTC) located in Rome, New York which brought in the manufacturer's equipment for the test. The test was flawless, linking everyone who needed to communicate.

In a recent conversation with Captain Dunlap, I asked him how the system was working now that seven months had passed. I had assumed the department had purchased the system. The captain told me that unfortunately the grant funding had not yet arrived for the system but that fixing their interoperability problems remained the highest priority.

My next step was to contact NLECTC directly to locate ACU-1000 systems in use in various departments. Charles Stephenson who serves as the lead technical contact was extremely helpful. The CommTech program that they run is open to all of us for technical assistance and can be reached directly for your communications needs. You can communicate with them at http://www.nlectc.org/agile/justnet.html

If anyone out there has your own experiences with the ACU-1000 system let us know. Otherwise I'll report back after I contact a few users and see what they have to say.

In the meantime send a little donation to Captain Dunlap at the Lake Jackson Police Department in Lake Jackson, Texas to help support his interoperability efforts.

While we are fixing the radios, it is always a good time to be concerned about the health of those using the radios.

Articles on first responder health in national, state and local, fire, ems and police publications have multiplied in the recent past.

The articles range from couch potato wisdom to doctors with advanced degrees. Every first responder has read at least one article as of today I would bet.

Now for the hard part. How many are practicing what they read? Not very many.

The last seven volunteer fire departments I observed spent litttle or no time on an exercise program or health issues. The fast food addiction was alive and well. This coupled with video games, movies or sports events on tv produced the perfect day rooms for the volunteers.

Some missing motivator is still out there that I haven't put my finger on yet.

The lists of first responder deaths and causes of deaths in the backs of many publications has little or minimal impact on changing behavior. Poor performance on a call or longer recovery times are ignored by many. The example of older officers is just not there. Added responsibility, paper work, etc., leaves no time for the "luxury" of exercise. Besides, they did that stuff when they were younger and now it's the young folks turn.

What is the key to this mystery?

Why would anyone eat two boiled chili covered dogs from a food service canteen rehabing folks at a fire or rescue scene? Come to think of it, I have never seen a canteen with many health choices at any scene. I thought they liked first responders.

Anyone got the answers?

A fixed radio would be better in the hands of a healthy responder during a long, exhausting operation.