Measure fills glaring gaps in safety.

Byline: MARTY NELSON and RAY GANNER For The Register-Guard

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION is a key to safe, successful outcomes during emergency operations. This primary rule was proven when the Lane County Fire Defense Board, a group of 22 local city and rural fire departments, voted unanimously to lend support to Lane County Measure 20-60.

Measure 20-60 is the county's public safety emergency communications bond measure. It would replace Lane County's 30-year-old emergency radio system with a $10.35 million, state-of-the-art microwave-based digital communications system, linking public safety agencies throughout the county. This important proposal has the potential to vastly improve public safety communications.

Emergency service providers throughout Lane County have each been struggling for decades with inefficient, outdated radio communication systems. Even though police, fire and medical agencies are on separate communications systems, the concerns are universal. Each system has not received anything more than patches involving individual radio components. Though these patches are important and add to the whole, what is needed is a system-wide improvement that enables this equipment to reach its potential.

There are two principal problems with the current system. One is that communication links from the field are unreliable to the point that the safety for responders becomes a concern.

The second issue is that because police agencies and fire agencies use different radio frequency ranges, coordination may be nearly impossible. It is not unusual for multiple agencies to be operating on a single emergency, such as a motor vehicle accident. Fire departments and ambulance providers share common radio frequencies, but they are different from those used by the Sheriff's Office and Oregon State Police.

What occurs on scene is that when we are unable to communicate face to face, we cannot effectively integrate each others' action into a coordinated whole. We also cannot efficiently or reliably give notice of increased hazards as the scene evolves.

The system proposed in Measure 20-60 will be capable of improvements allowing for "interoperability," where a deputy, a firefighter and an emergency medical technician could communicate critical elements of the emergency prior to the others' arrival. System design can also improve our radio reach whenever we are operating in remote areas.

In an Oct. 11 editorial, The Register-Guard argued that we should wait for some other technology, or that the federal government could pay for the system, or that we ought to gain commitments from other potential users before we, as Lane County voters, agree to pay for such a system. These arguments are in conflict with the editorial's earlier statement that "there's no doubt that a new communications system is needed."

Regarding the statement that microwave technology may not be the best choice for a new communications system, today's technological world is a transient condition. What we gain with a microwave system is a reliable pathway capable of being adapted to changing technologies. More importantly, the existing system is already obsolete and cannot adapt.

Microwave technology is the only cost-effective, feasible technology available. Other technologies, such as fiber optics, are not suited for Lane County's rural, rugged geography. Waiting for new technologies is unwise when existing technology will meet the current public safety communications needs, is expandable to support other agencies, and will provide the backbone for a countywide communications system for the next 20 years.

The argument that federal homeland security funds may soon become available fails to address the uncertainty associated with any grant program. We cannot be assured that the money will be appropriated out of the federal budget, or how it will be disbursed. It's likely that any funds would go to large metropolitan areas, not rural areas such as Lane County. What is sure is that once our system is in place, a better use of federal funding would be in technology that allows for interoperability and reliability.

Saving lives is measured in seconds, and it requires an effective communications system measured in seconds. We cannot wait for new technologies when it comes to public safety and saving lives.

Members of the Lane County Fire Defense Board are looking forward to being able to increase our interagency emergency coordination through the proposed microwave communication system. For pennies a day, we can provide a state of the art communications system for agencies throughout the county. Now is the time to vote yes on Measure 20-60 and replace a 30-year-old emergency radio system.

Marty Nelson is chief of Lane County Fire District No. 1. Chip Darling, chief of the Lane Rural Fire District; John Buchanan, chief of Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue, and Jan Mann, president of Lane County Fire Defense Board, joined him in submitting this statement. Ray Ganner, a manager and engineer with more than 30 years' experience in the communications industry and public safety communications, is the project facilitator in the design of Lane County's proposed communications system.