Van can cover emergencies when phones go out
By Fran Spielman, The Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun Times
Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
A $2 million vehicle capable of serving as a 911 center on wheels whenever telephone service goes down has finally arrived in Chicago — three years later, but just in time for the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Thanks in part to the bureaucratic delay, the so-called Unified Communications Vehicle paid for with federal Homeland Security money has more bells and whistles than originally planned.
Through satellite hookups and 115 telephone lines of its own, the van can receive 911 calls and dispatch them to first responders, even after phone lines have been compromised. A tent would be set up adjacent to the van to accommodate 911 dispatchers.
Emergency personnel also will be able to access images from any one of more than 2,200 surveillance cameras positioned at fixed locations and on buses and trains across the city. Police and fire officials at one emergency will be able to monitor another disaster miles away.
Newer Technology Cited
Mayor Daley unveiled the prototype developed by the Naval Research Laboratory on Sept. 11, 2003, and promised to take delivery of Chicago’s version within 45 days.
On Wednesday, the mayor showed off the privately produced version. And he argued that it was worth the wait.
“No other city has this. . . . You don’t buy something that, basically, the day you buy it, it’s old,” Daley said.
“That’s one thing you have to do with Homeland Security [money]. There’s a lot of things out there. You don’t [want to start] buying ‘em all. And all of the sudden, they don’t exist a year from now.”
Chief Emergency Officer Cortez Trotter added, “It’s taken us some time to put it all together. Technology changed. Some of the customizations changed. When you walk outside and see it, I think you’ll see why it took us a little time to get it. . . . This is superior to anything that we’ve been able to find out there.”
The high-tech van will get its first official test during today’s Loop evacuation drill.
Trotter acknowledged that it would also have come in handy at last month’s South Side power outage. More than 1,200 residents of 19 buildings were evacuated in the middle of a potentially deadly heat wave because of the lack of air-conditioning and fire protection.