By Carl Lindquist
The York Dispatch
YORK, Pa. — Fire and ambulance company personnel are hoping York County’s new 911 radio system performs well when they transition to the network next month.
The two groups are poised to switch from the county’s old analog system to its digital successor on July 15, said Eric Bistline, executive director of York County Emergency Services. Police departments switched to the new system last year.
The transition of fire and emergency medical personnel comes after the successful completion Saturday of a test meant to see if the new digital 911 radio system would function for 30 days without significant problems.
Wrightsville Steam Engine & Hose Co. Chief Fred Smeltzer Sr. said Friday his department is excited about switching to the new system.
The department has been testing a portable radio on the new system and is very pleased, he said.
He went into a vault at a quarry where no signal was present with the old system and, using the new network, he was able to talk to a fire chief in Emigsville, he said.
“Our impression of the radios right now are very, very high,” he said.
Significant improvements expected
Bistline said fire departments should see a significant improvement between the new and old system.
There will still be areas where radio coverage isn’t available or is spotty, he said. But the number of problem spots should be reduced.
The test of the 911 system that ended Saturday showed the system is performing well, he said.
“We didn’t have any system-wide issues,” he said.
The new network failed a similar test in mid-May after a hardware failure at a radio transmission site in Manchester Township made communication unreliable for six different police departments.
Once resolved, the testing period restarted.
Dover Township Fire Chief Wayne Latchaw said he’s taking a wait-and-see approach but is hopeful the new system will perform well when the department switches over. He expects a few bugs.
“I am anxious to get on the new system and get it working,” he said. “We really need something better than what we have right now.
A case of the hiccups
Bill Pero, captain of Spring Grove Area Ambulance, said he expects a few “hiccups” along the way.
But he said testing of new radios in Spring Grove went well.
The biggest transition-related challenge facing ambulance companies is a change in the way they communicate with hospitals, he said.
With the old network, ambulance staff was patched through to the hospital by 911 dispatchers, he said. Staff will now communicate directly with hospitals without any intermediary.
“That’s going to be the big difference,” he said.
The hope is that hospitals listen to their radios, he said. As it stands now, sometimes ambulance personnel have to call the hospitals on cell phones to get in touch with people.
Although police are using the new network with their portable radios, not all car-mounted radios have been installed, Bistline said.
They should be in place in police and medical vehicles by the end of June, he said.
The work should be complete on fire department vehicles by the end of October or early November, he said. Fire departments will be able to use the new system with their existing vehicle-mounted radios temporarily until the new equipment is installed.
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