Communications remain a serious problem

By DAVID HULSE

Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci discovered last weekend what emergency volunteers have known for years: emergency radio communications in and out of the river valley range from poor to non-existent.

While county and local officials generally expressed satisfaction with their emergency response efforts over the weekend, several of them registered similar concerns.

LiGreci found himself several times in the Pond Eddy area trying to communicate with the Lumberland fire station, only four miles away. “We couldn’t talk. We had to go back inland to get any reception. The downside to all this definitely was the radio system,” he said.

LiGreci said he plans to seek federal Homeland Security funding to find ways to improve the town’s system or “build our own tower,” he said.

“I’d like to get it done by winter,” he added.

Highland Supervisor Allan Schadt agreed. Summarizing his weekend, Schadt wrote that his biggest problem also had been communications. “No matter how many radios you have, with our terrain we aren’t going to communicate well.”

Schadt and Yulan Fire Chief Daryl Barnes were critical of the news response by the county’s radio stations, many of which are not normally staffed on weekends.

County Manager Dan Briggs said the county’s “state of emergency” message went out over WVOS, which is the county’s sole broadcast agent for such announcements.

Upgraded emergency radio capability has been the subject of discussion at county Public Safety Committee meetings since the days of the old Board of Supervisors. Briggs agreed that more towers would be helpful.

Neighboring Pike County’s emergency dispatch is audible in most areas of the river valley and 911 Center Director Bernie Swartwood says there are several reasons for that. Pike employs a “high-band” frequency for dispatch, which often has better range than the older “low-band” frequency used in Sullivan.

Additionally, county dispatches are simultaneously broadcast from all four of Pike’s towers, one of which is privately owned and located in New York on Greenville Mountain in Orange County.

Swartwood said Pike still has some areas it would like to improve in the river valley, but the simultaneous broadcast has improved reception. “We used to select towers closest to the fire departments, but with this system even responders who work in other parts of the area are alerted,” he said.

Swartwood said Pike would be willing to run tests for Sullivan agencies to see if Pike’s towers could be as helpful to Sullivan as the Greenville Mountain tower is for Pike.