WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it was reaching out to public-safety officials in Texas to make sure they knew that 911 calls should be rerouted if a public-safety answering point is damaged by Hurricane Rita.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was summoned to Capitol Hill to tell the Senate Commerce Committee about the commission’s efforts and reactions to Hurricane Katrina.
One of the key lessons that Martin said the FCC learned was that the Gulf-area PSAPs did not know where to transfer traffic when several 911 call centers went down.
“They didn’t have a protocol in place as to where the traffic should go, so the calls were just dropped,” Martin told lawmakers.
While the Senate Commerce Committee leadership and Martin applauded the communications industry for efforts to restore communications to the Hurricane Katrina impact area, one senator was obviously displeased.
There was a “complete and total implosion of the communications systems,” said Sen. David Vitter (R-La.). “The communications system was just dark not just immediately but for a long time to come.”
Both Martin and the industry witnesses who followed him said that Hurricane Katrina was a unique situation because of the flooding and security issues that followed the initial impact.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, was concerned that communications personnel were unable to get access to the impact area because they did not have the proper credentials. Stevens would like to authorize the FCC to credential communications-industry personnel prior to a storm, but Martin said he thinks authorizations should be done “by the people on the ground.”
Many of the issues are not new, pointed out Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee.
“I cannot help but think that we are repeating history. We expected so much more four years after the Sept. 11 tragedy. Yet, here we are today and next week, asking many of the same questions that we asked then,” said Inouye in a prepared statement. “In my view, the time for talk is over. The inability to effectively communicate during major disasters costs lives. We simply cannot repeat these failures.”
Most of what Martin said Thursday was a repeat of what was said at the FCC’s Sept. 15 meeting held in Atlanta.
At the Atlanta meeting, Martin said he is proposing the creation of a new Homeland Security and Public Safety Bureau. In addition, he said the commission is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide mobile phones and 300 free minutes to anyone eligible for FEMA assistance.
While Martin was appearing at the Senate Commerce Committee, the Senate Homeland Security Committee was passing legislation to provide $400 million in grants to states and localities to improve first-responder communications. This amount gradually will increase over five years.
“One of the many lessons we can take from the Hurricane Katrina disaster is that many communities throughout the nation still do not have the communications infrastructure in place for first responders to communicate with one another during an emergency,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security committee. “Our legislation builds on work that we have done in the past on this matter. It will help ensure that our first responders have effective interoperable communications systems, which are critical during any emergency.”
As indicated by Inouye, the Senate Commerce Committee is expected to examine first-responder communications at a hearing Thursday, Sept. 29.
In the meantime, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced legislation late Thursday aimed at creating a backup communications system for first responders.
The Communications Security Act of 2005 would require the FCC and the Department of Homeland Security to study the feasibility of a secondary communications system that could be used if the first system fails or is inadequate. The study would be technology neutral and evaluate the costs and how it should be paid for. DHS is to report to Congress.
“Our first responders make the greatest commitment to our country by protecting us in times of disaster, and it is unacceptable that four years after Sept. 11 we are still putting them on the front lines without reliable communications equipment. The tragedies of 9/11 and Katrina have taught us many important lessons, and we need to start learning from these lessons-not wait until the next emergency,” said Kerry.
Some of the spectrum reclaimed as part of the transition to digital TV could be used for the backup system, according to a press release about the bill.
The DTV transition also was pushed by an unlikely senator at last week’s hearing. Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), a former radio broadcaster, said the completion of the DTV transition was necessary.
