Enhancing New York State Fire Service Communications

By Chief Brian Wilbur, Ithaca Fire Department
PIO – NYSAFC Communications Committee

As this was being written, we grieved for yet another New York state firefighter lost in the line of duty. The tragic January 21, 2013, loss of Owego Fire Department Captain Matthew J. Porcari and the injury of his teammate, Lieutenant Daniel G. Gavin, is a searing reminder of why we must continuously work to insure that we do all that we can to make a difference in the final outcome. If we do not do all we can to find out what kinds of things will prevent another such death and act on them, we are not worthy.

In this article, I am talking about doing all we can do with radio communications in New York state. Communications in the public safety field is so very critical, yet we often take it for granted or assume "it is what it is." While this article is not speculating about the tragic fire in Newark Valley, the reality is that "what it is" is often not what it should be. Yet, only through constant effort and appropriate expectations will we see changes that truly advance safety for firefighters and other first responders.

Our expectations should include seamless inter-county communications and the ability to subdivide the fireground into manageable divisions and groups that do not exceed an incident commander’s span of control. As examples, the New York state fire service has responded to numerous multi-jurisdictional incidents where the lack of an interoperability plan significantly impeded our ability to do our jobs. Events such as the North Country ice storm back in 1998, the Schoharie Creek, Mohawk River, and Susquehanna River floods, and most recently Hurricane Sandy, all demanded regional response and coordinated communications.

At the local level in New York state, it is still not unusual for fire departments to share a common frequency for dispatch and fireground tactical communications. If multiple departments within a single county are deployed at multiple incidents, they all may be sharing the same common frequency. Our expectations should include utilization of new public safety radio spectrum to provide the frequency allocations necessary to allow any incident commander in the state to subdivide a complicated fireground into reasonable spans of control.

FCC designated National Interoperability Channels and local operating frequencies and/or channels are all resources that need to be identified and efficiently used to enhance our field operations at every turn. To that end, the NYSAFC Communications Committee is working on a project to create an interoperability guide. This would be shared with fire service agencies throughout the state. A quick review of smartphone apps reveals several approaches to such a guide for other states, e.g., NIFOG or TMAC 2012, but we are behind in development of the tools necessary to support our communications needs in the field.

Initial efforts start with information gathering and compilation into easily updated formats that will provide a statewide guide to local communications. Please look for specific information in upcoming issues of The NYSAFC Bugle and SIZE UP to find out how you can help.