The COMCARE Alliance has formally changed its name to the Emergency Response Alliance. On March 23 we suggested that you and your organization take note of the launch of the National Emergency Alerting and Response System (NEARS).

On March 30, eighty-five organizations in twenty-five states across the country demonstrated the effectiveness of the Emergency Provider Access Directory (EPAD) system for data interoperability.

Four demonstration scenarios where used to show EPAD's effectiveness. A terrorism alert for the State of Virginia, a Los Angeles anthrax public health crisis, a chemical spill in Maryland and a New York City radiation alert in the subway were used in the test.

The standards that were developed over the years and the agreed on system interfaces for EPAD access worked as expected.

Agencies can register with EPAD to receive the information that they find beneficial for their area. Find out more about this data interoperability effort here and here.

During the next five weeks you will be introduced to the five commissioners who currently serve on the Federal Communications Commission. These are the public servants like yourself who will make the decisions that affect your communications spectrum, equipment and practices as far into the future as one can see.

The current chairman is Kevin J. Martin. Help yourslf and review his FCC posted biography. If you get the urge to write your Chairman you can do it instantly by email.

"Kevin J. Martin is Chairman of the FCC. He was nominated to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission by President George W. Bush on April 30, 2001, and was sworn in on July 3, 2001. He was designated chairman by President George W. Bush on March 18, 2005. Chairman Martin serves a five-year term expiring in June 2006. Chairman Martin also serves as the Chair of both the Federal-State Joint Board on Separations and the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services, as well as a member of the Federal-State Joint board on Universal Service.

Chairman Martin joined the Commission from the White House, where he served as a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and was on the staff of the National Economic Council. In that capacity, he focused primarily on commerce and technology policy issues. He also served as the official U.S. government representative to the G-8's Digital Opportunity Task Force, a government, non-profit, and private sector task force created to identify ways in which the digital revolution can assure opportunities for developing countries.

Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Chairman Martin served as a principle technology and telecommunications advisor on the Bush-Cheney Transition team. He assumed this role after serving as the Deputy General Counsel to the Bush campaign in Austin, Texas from July 1999 through December 2000.

Chairman Martin is not new to the Federal Communications Commission. From 1997 to 1999, he served as a Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth, advising the Commissioner on telecommunications and broadband issues. Chairman Martin had previously served in the Office of the Independent Counsel following several years of work in private practice at the Washington, DC law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding. While at Wiley, Rein & Fielding, he worked on communications, legislative, and appellate litigation matters. Before joining Wiley, Rein & Fielding, Martin was a law clerk for United States Court District Judge William M. Hoeveler in Miami, Florida."

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE), January 2006 issue of Communications Magazine will be dedicated to "Public Safety Applications of Wireless Communications and Network Technologies."

I am mentioning this because the call for articles and papers was extended but that deadline is approaching fast. As a matter of fact, it is May 1.

The IEEE comments that the "purpose of the special issue is to update the IEEE communications community on the progress in upgrading the public safety communication systems, in regard to both interoperability and the introduction of state-of-the-art systems and protocols."

While the IEEE Communications Magazine is over the heads of most of us, the 300,000 or so members of the IEEE are the folks who think of, and develop many of the communications products you will use in the field in a number of years.

If the brightest among us has a technical paper that you wish to share on these issues, this is the place to go.

The IEEE folks say it best. "Now it is recognized that upgrading public safety communications infrastructure is a high priority, and progress has been made toward implementing interoperability standards and increasing system capacity. In many instances, the opportunity exists to "skip" several generations of wireless communications developments when equipment and systems are replaced. But which of the features and capabilities of the current and the near-future wireless technology are suitable for the operational and the other requirements of local and regional public safety agencies (law enforcement, fire, and emergency response)?"

The January issue should very enlightening.

The national press likes to compare the homeland security dollars that go to Wyoming with the homeland security dollars that go to New York City. We are not going to get into that discussion here.

What is more useful is to look at the progress that Wyoming is making on its new statewide public safety interoperability radio system, aptly named WYOLINK.

The pilot phase is moving along nicely with the pilot phase design review showing that the project could move to a full zone controller during this phase without budget or technical jeopardy.

Installation of the pilot phase equipment should begin in June, 2005. Motorola was conducting frequency fingerpringing at each of the piot phase test sites. This twenty-four hour monitoring of all the frequencies to be utilized has resulted in identifying sites that had interference problems.

Frequency acquisition is continuing with the sometimes dull process of document prepration and negotiation that is always necessary.

Hopefully completion of the pilot phase will make the October 1, 2005 target. And, depending on funding, sixteen sites should be operational by the end of this year.

The WYOLINK Project Manager, Tom Mahon, issues periodic reports on the progress and is ready to answer all question posted to their site.

Their experiences may save you time and money on your installation so pay attention to these updates.

May is an important month for opportunities to update your understand of technology related to public safety.

The International Chiefs of Police Association 29th Annual Law Enforcement Information Management and Training Conference and Exposition is an extremely important event not only for law enforcement but for anyone concerned with public safety agency interoperability in their community.

This technological extravaganza will be held in Greensboro, North Carolina from May 23 to 27.

Every aspect of technology that affects your department will be reviewed and updated.
The exposition will showcase the latest in interoperability devices and deployment.

Sessions such as, "Federal Strategies Supporting Interoperability and Information Sharing: An Executive Perspective," "Achieving Communications Interoperability with Voice Over IP Wireless," and "Mesh Networks for Public Access and Public Safety" will be part of this intense conference.

Updates on the latest developments in national standards for voice interoperability will also be presented.

The National Institute of Justice Office of Science and Technology will also present their reviews of the systems that have come to the forefront.

This conference will be time well spent for any public safety IT official or policy development specialist.

The National Incident Management System training efforts are continuing at a fast pace. Everyone has their work cut out for them as the process unfolds.

Last week's press release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency details the training efforts available:

WASHINGTON - The NIMS Integration Center has developed guidelines for ICS training providers that will help them ensure that the training they offer meets the requirements of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). Since one of the first steps for becoming compliant with NIMS is institutionalizing the use of ICS across the response system, ICS training must be consistent with the concepts, principles and characteristics of the NIMS ICS training offered by DHS training entities along with that of the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG).

The NIMS National Standard Curriculum: Training Development Guidance outlines the system's ICS concepts and principles, management characteristics, organizations and operations, organizational element titles and recommendations for a model curriculum. It also provides an evaluation checklist for content that may be used to make sure that ICS training meets the "as taught by DHS'" standard. The guidance document is available for download from the NIMS Homepage at www.fema.gov/nims.

The model NIMS ICS curriculum organizes four levels of training - ICS-100, Introduction to ICS; ICS-200, Basic ICS; ICS-300, Intermediate ICS; and ICS-400, Advanced ICS. ICS training provided by the Emergency Management Institute, the National Fire Academy, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard follow this model.

According to the NIMS Integration Center, emergency management and response personnel already ICS trained do not need retraining if their previous training is consistent with the DHS standard. This would include ICS courses managed, administered or delivered by the Emergency Management Institute, the National Fire Academy, NWCG, USDA, EPA or the U.S. Coast Guard, the NIMS Center said.

For more information about NIMS ICS e-mail the NIMS-Integration-Center@dhs.gov, or call 202-646-3850.

It is time to consult the Department of Homeland Security standards and see where your organization stands. Again, do not hesitate to call for direct assistance. They are very helpful.

Deadlines. Without deadlines it seems nothing would get done. Some deadlines are harder than others. Deadlines with a grant incentive are much easier to deal with.

May 5 is another deadline to aim for if you want to get a jump on interoperable equipment in your community.

The Department of Homeland Security's Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program can help your community take a step into the future. The catalogue of equipment that your community can apply for includes an interoperability gateway switch manufactured by Sytech Corporation. "The switch eliminates interoperability issues by allowing different organizations to connect their equipment (radios, cellular phones, cellular push-to-talk, satellite phones and even computers) into one device." It is described as a "portable system that can operate on AC/DC power and can be set up in any location ..."

The Alexandria Police Department in Alexandria, Virginia is having great success with these units.

If you have any questions on the technical side you can talk to the company directly at 703-941-7887. The aim of the program is for jurisdictions with populations of 50,000 and under, and any questions on the grant application side can be answered on the DHS site.

With $32 million in this program, it can't hurt to look. Who knows, you may fit the eligibility requirements.

Today is a good day to review your upcoming deadlines to see how you are going to utilize those few hours of free time you thought you had today.

What? No deadlines. Let me add one that you must have forgotten.

One deadline of great concern to first responders is April 28, 2005.

The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 requires that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) conduct a study "to assess the short term and long term needs for allocations of additional electromagnetic spectrum for Federal, state and local emergency response providers, including whether or not an additional allocation of spectrum in the 700 megahertz band should be granted by Congress to those emergency response providers. "

In addition, the FCC would like comments on the operation and administration of a potential nationwide interoperable broadband mobile communications network. Finally, the FCC wants comments on the use of commercial wireless technologies.

There are a number of guidelines for your comments. You are asked to identify specific frequency bands and to offer support for the amount of spectrum identified. You also have to discuss the difficulties and potential benefits of what you are suggesting.

You can find out the methods of filing your comments by going to http://www.fcc.gov/.

Every comment is important. This is your chance to be heard.

A few weeks ago we reported on the effort to eliminate hazardous material placards on rail cars. The Department of Homeland Security heard the outcry from first responders. Today's press release from DHS sums up the current position:

Speaking at the National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner last night, Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recommended continuation of the placard system for hazardous materials transported by rail. The placards are designed to ensure the safety of citizens and first responders and the decision came after the completion of a comprehensive study that included input from first responders, rail operators and other key stakeholders.

"I'm pleased to announce that the Department of Homeland Security has completed a review of alternate technologies to the current Department of Transportation placard system," said Secretary Chertoff. "Based on that study and the input of the first responder community, we are recommending that the Department of Transportation maintain the placard system. This is a common sense approach to risk management."

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11th, concerns were raised that placards may unduly draw attention to the transport of hazardous materials on rail cars. In 2002, the Department of Transportation conducted studies and, last year, DHS' Transportation Security Administration commissioned an independent survey to examine available technological alternatives to the current placard system. ...

Based on assessing nine alternative technologies, data from the study found that no existing technology adequately addressed the safety needs of the first responder community.

DHS has taken significant steps to enhance security for the shipment of hazardous materials and our nation's rail and mass transit systems. DHS has provided $150 million in grants to rail and transit operators, created a joint task force with the Department of Transportation to study issues regarding shipment tracking and the hardening of rail cars and conducted risk assessments of rail security in high-threat urban areas.

Good work, first responders.

This was a very hard weekend. The annual national wild land fire fighter pack test was administered. The usual task, walking three miles in forty-five minutes with a forty-five pound pack, was complicated by a very heavy rain and cold weather here in Pennsylvania. Somehow I made the cut off, posting a respectable time of forty-three minutes and thirty-one seconds. Not a bad effort for a middle-aged guy.

The last half mile was grueling. I really had to dig it out and focus. Two days later, I thought it would make a fine analogy.

With only four days and six hours to go until the application deadline it is time to dig it out and put your best effort forward to complete the application for the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program.

Don't give up. Work through the online application slowly and get other personnel in your department to help find the facts and figures you need. With $715,000,000 available for grants, you may get the help you need.

Enough said. Get to work.