Arkansas’s radio network opens new lines of emergency communication

By AMY UPSHAW
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
Copyright 2006 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.

When Hardy Fire Chief Lonnie Phelps first heard the state planned to spend millions on a high-tech digital radio system so emergency workers in all Arkansas counties could talk to each other, he didn’t really see much of a need.

Not a lot happens in Sharp County that would pull agencies from across the state — much less the federal government — together.

“I really didn’t know when we’d use them,” Phelps said of the radios, which cost about $3,000 each. “I didn’t understand them that well.” The floods that deluged northeast Arkansas in late September changed his mind. Over 300 volunteers from 20 counties showed up to help Phelps’ firefighters search miles of terrain for people swept away by the rain-swollen Spring River.

Had they not had access to radios for the new Arkansas Wireless Information Network (commonly called AWIN), a $75 million project paid for with state and federal money, the searchers would not have been able to talk to one another, Phelps said. Nor would have they been able to speak to the Jonesboro dispatcher who drove to Sharp County on his day off and turned a fire department folding table into a makeshift dispatch center.

“Now that I know more about them, and know what they are for, I’ve decided they are a good thing,” the fire chief said.

As of the end of September, all 75 counties are connected to one another via the system — meaning emergency officials with police departments, sheriff’s offices and state agencies who have long used different radio systems and frequencies now have common radio equipment that allows them to talk anywhere in the state.

The only other state with a single radio network for statewide communication for more than just state agencies is Michigan, said Penny Rubow, who helps oversee the project for the Arkansas Department of Information Systems. However, not all county-level entities in Michigan have radios like they do here.

Illinois is scheduled to have its system completed by year’s end, Rubow said. Colorado aims to have its system complete next year.

“It is a huge accomplishment [for Arkansas] that will save lives,” Gov. Mike Huckabee said in an e-mail exchange with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “but we realize that the average citizen will probably not even be aware of what a huge issue this is — few states have gotten close to what we’ve done.” In emergency management circles, the ability to communicate anywhere in the state on radios with emergency workers from different agencies is called “interoperability.” The lack of interoperability astounded the nation in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the time, New York police officers and firefighters used different radio frequencies, explained Steven Jones, executive director of the non-profit First Responders Coalition.

“They were not able to communicate with each other,” Jones said.

So when a police officer in a helicopter warned police dispatchers that the towers were in danger of collapse, police were ordered to evacuate. Firefighters did not hear the warning, Jones said, and it is believed that at least 120 died as a result.

The issue came up again when Hurricane Katrina submerged the Gulf Coast. Initially, parts of New Orleans’ communication system failed. But once it could be used again, the thousands of rescuers, paramedics and federal officials that had flocked to the city had no common radio system.

“The ability of first responders to talk to one another is critical,” Jones said.

By the time weary storm victims began arriving at shelters in Arkansas from New Orleans, Arkansas officials were already using the new radio system.

“We had a lot of operational issues going on the ground at Fort Chaffee,” said Col. Steve Dozier, director of the Arkansas State Police. “We were able to sit at headquarters in Little Rock and listen in to what was going on with the radio traffic there.

“It was the first time in our history we’ve been able to listen in. The old system was very compartmentalized,” he said.

Huckabee had asked the Legislature to fund a study on the new radio concept in January 2001. He wanted to replace a patchwork of eight radio systems used by 12 state agencies, including the state police. For years, troopers had trouble radioing anyone outside their home counties. Some areas also lacked thorough coverage, so in some places, troopers could not use their radios to talk at all.

Because the state Highway Police and the state Highway and Transportation Department were on a different radio system, neither agency could use radios to talk to state police or the National Guard.

Soon, the idea of replacing old state radio systems was expanded to include emergency workers in cities and counties from Texarkana to Jonesboro. By June 2004, a steering committee had been formed, and members were working on plans for the new system.

The state upgraded the old state police radio system — tower sites, computer, software and radio equipment — so that it could be used to build on. At first, the plan called for all city and county first responders in Arkansas to use wireless network radios as their primary way of communicating, even when they only needed to talk to their local dispatchers, Rubow said.

To accomplish this, city and county officials were told that any Department of Homeland Security grant money they received would be spent on the radio system — not local projects, said Dale Saffold, director of the state’s radio network.

City and county officials were furious.

“I think that’s when AWIN got in the ditch,” said Arkansas County Judge Sonny Cox, past president of the state County Judges’ Association. “We wanted more flexibility. Everyone doesn’t need an AWIN radio.” Many complained that there were more pressing needs. In Arkansas County, for example, firefighters for three volunteer fire departments didn’t have radios at all. Dispatchers would use pagers to alert the firefighters to a call, Cox said, and firefighters would use telephones if they needed more information.

Additionally, county officials complained that they had invested millions of dollars on their own radio systems, and they didn’t want to just throw that money away.

Some swore the radios would gather dust.

Independence County Judge Bill Hicks told the newspaper in 2004, “My problem is, I don’t need 25 radios. I’m just going to have some sitting on the shelf. We are going to have a grant that is pretty much going to be wasted.” “It just became obvious that we were butting heads for no reason,” said Dave Maxwell, director of the Arkansas Department of Emergency management. “We’re talking about a communications project, so it makes sense to communicate.” State officials began asking city and county leaders for advice. Eventually, they agreed on a plan called “Command and Control,” which gives state radios to the heads of law enforcement agencies, county governments, emergency management divisions, hospitals and other groups in all 75 counties. Some federal employees in Arkansas, including FBI and U.S. Marshals Service workers, also have radios for use in emergencies.

In an emergency situation, those in charge would be responsible for passing along information they receive over their state radios to their employees via the agencies’ day-to-day radio system. By not requiring them to spend all their grant money on radios, counties were able to fund local projects. In Arkansas County, the three volunteer fire departments now have their own radios so they can communicate with county dispatchers.

Once cities and counties started using the system, the complaints about it appear to have subsided. No one interviewed offered major criticism of the system, except to say that the cost of new radios would likely keep them from outfitting their entire departments with the equipment. Nor could they name anyone who was still unhappy with the new network.

Asked Monday if he still felt that buying the radios and using the system was a waste, Hicks responded, “No, I don’t.” Many have changed their minds.

“I’m totally sold on it,” Cox said.

Sharp County Judge Joe Stidman had been storing extra radios in his office since they arrived just after Christmas last year.

Until the Spring River overran its banks Sept. 23, the only time the county had ever used the new system was to test it. With so many volunteers coming to help, Stidman was thankful for the wireless network radios.

Otherwise, the people who could use the county’s radio system — which has only one channel for all nine law enforcement agencies in the county — would have overwhelmed it.

“Everything else is going to keep happening just like it always does,” Stidman explained. “They don’t stop routine things just because you have something big happening.” When the searchers used the new system to ask for directions or warn others about a road covered by water, state emergency management officials were listening - from their offices in Conway, nearly 150 miles away.

“We were right there,” said Maxwell, the state’s emergency management director. “That’s an unbelievable advance for us.”