By BRAD CAIN
The Associated Press
via The Oregonian (Oregon)
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon lawmakers want to avoid the sort of breakdown in communications that plagued rescue efforts on the Gulf Coast last year during Hurricane Katrina. The solution they’re looking at: A new wireless network for emergency responders.
A legislative panel heard warnings Tuesday that such a system will be crucial to help state and local responders deal with disasters that could strike Oregon at any time — mainly earthquakes and tsunamis.
A spokeswoman for the state council that’s been set up to oversee the project said that whether it was Hurricane Katrina or the September 2001 terrorist attacks, “the lack of communications was the first and biggest problem” for police and firefighters.
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