[Infowarrior] - Only 6 of 75 communities win highest scores for emergency communications

[Richard Forno]

Few areas in U.S. meet safety standards
Only 6 of 75 communities win highest scores for emergency communications
The Associated Press
Updated: 7:41 p.m. ET Jan 2, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16443053/

WASHINGTON - Only six of 75 U.S. metropolitan areas won the highest grades
for their emergency agencies' ability to communicate during a disaster, five
years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to a federal report
obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

A draft portion of the report, to be released Wednesday, gives the best
ratings to Washington, D.C.; San Diego; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Columbus,
Ohio; Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Laramie County, Wyo.

The lowest scores went to Chicago; Cleveland; Baton Rouge, La.; Mandan,
N.D.; and American Samoa. The report included large and small cities and
their suburbs, along with U.S. territories.

In an overview, the report said all 75 areas surveyed have policies in place
for helping their emergency workers communicate. But it cautioned that
regular testing and exercises are needed "to effectively link disparate
systems."

It also said while cooperation among emergency workers is strong,
"formalized governance (leadership and planning) across regions has lagged."

The study, conducted by the Homeland Security Department, was likely to add
fuel to what looms as a battle in Congress this year. Democrats, who take
over the majority this week, have promised to try fixing the problem
emergency agencies have communicating with each other but have not said
specifically what they will do, how much it will cost or how they will pay
for it.

"Five years after 9/11, we continue to turn a deaf ear to gaps in
interoperable communications," the term used for emergency agencies'
abilities to talk to each other, said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "If it
didn't have such potentially devastating consequences, it would be
laughable."

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke would not comment on the report,
saying only that in releasing it on Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff will "talk about nationwide assessments for interoperable
communications."

Still room for improvement in New York
The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, revealed major problems in how well emergency
agencies were able to talk to each other during a catastrophe. Many
firefighters climbing the World Trade Center towers died when they were
unable to hear police radio warnings to leave the crumbling buildings.

In New York now, the report said, first responders were found to have
well-established systems to communicate among each other ‹ but not the best
possible. Thirteen U.S. cities scored better than New York.

Just over a year ago, Hurricane Katrina underscored communication problems
when radio transmissions were hindered because the storm's winds toppled
towers.

In the study, communities were judged in three categories: operating
procedures in place, use of communications systems and how effectively local
governments have coordinated in preparation for a disaster.

Overall, 16 percent of the communities were given the highest score for the
communications procedures they have in place and 1 percent got the lowest
rating.

Nineteen percent got the top grade for their plans for coordinating during a
disaster and 8 percent received the worst; and 21 percent got the best mark
for how well they use their communications equipment while 4 percent got the
bottom rating.

Most of the areas surveyed included cities and their surrounding
communities, based on the assumption that in a major crisis emergency
personnel from all local jurisdictions would respond.

Los Angeles got advanced grades in procedures and use of emergency
communications systems and a well-developed grade in coordination of
governance.

San Francisco, by comparison, received intermediate grades in governance and
procedures, and a well-developed grade in use of systems.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, $2.9 billion in federal grant money has been
distributed to state and local first responders for the improvement of their
emergency communications systems.

TV industry must make changes
Congress has also ordered that the television broadcast industry vacate a
portion of the radio spectrum to make it available for public safety
communications. Lawmakers have also created a new office at the Homeland
Security Department to oversee the issue, though they have yet to provide
money for it.

The areas with the six best scores were judged advanced in all three
categories. The cities with the lowest grades had reached the early
implementation stage for only one category, and intermediate levels for the
other two categories.

Chicago, Cleveland and Baton Rouge, for example, were judged to have
accomplished the early stage of government coordination. Mandan, N.D., and
the territory of American Samoa were both found to have gotten to the early
stage of their actual usage of interoperable emergency communications and
rated intermediate in governance and procedures.

Tammy Lapp, the emergency coordinator for Mandan and Morton County, N.D.,
said she was not surprised by the low ranking.

"We knew with our limited funds, we were going to fall short," she said.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16443053/