OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Nebraska -- The 55th Wing emergency management team recently received an upgrade which will enable them to improve their communications abilities during any emergency response.
Sixty-one new portable radios are now in service with the 55th Civil Engineer Squadron’s Emergency Management Flight and Offutt Fire Department.
“The new radios are the equivalent of four different radios all rolled into one,” said Craig Shrimpton, 55th CES emergency management specialist. “They allow not only communication with base agencies, but also communications with our off base emergency responders all in a single package.”
The overall cost of the radios was roughly $450,000.
"As a coordination agency, we have a high probability to work with outside agencies and these will allow us to do our job better,” Shrimpton said. “They allow for expedient communications, and for the fire department, they are a life safety device.”
The Offutt Fire Department is routinely called upon to provide mutual aid throughout the local area, and these new radios will allow them to respond more efficiently as well as improve radio communications on scene.”
“The one word repeatedly heard in describing the issues relating to disaster scene communications is ‘interoperability,’” said David Eblin, Offutt Fire Department chief. “Interoperability is the ability of numerous on-scene emergency radio communications systems to operate in conjunction with each other. With the advent of the new quad-band portable radios, we now have that capability.”
In addition to the radios immediate payoff, the emergency management team is also looking for other ways to integrate them in other areas. One of the first is getting them added to NWIN, which is the Nebraska Wide area Interoperability Network.
“NWIN is a statewide network that allows interoperable communications with every emergency response agency in the state,” Shrimpton said.
In addition to this upgrade, the base is also in the process of a complete overhaul of their entire radio system.
“After the scheduled base radio system upgrade is complete, an additional radio will be tied into the main system that will allow us to patch off base responders into nearly any channel on the base radio system,” Shrimpton added.
With this upgrade, the Offutt Fire Department and emergency management flight stand at the forefront of portable radio technology and their ability to respond to any crisis has been enhanced.