{"id":38815,"date":"2018-03-19T09:09:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-19T13:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=38815"},"modified":"2018-03-19T09:09:42","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T13:09:42","slug":"county-first-in-state-to-adopt-new-emergency-communications-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=38815","title":{"rendered":"County first in state to adopt new emergency communications system"},"content":{"rendered":"
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George \u201cBeau\u201d Crowding, Deputy Director for Fire Services,Chester County Department of Emergency Services, Chief Shane Clark, President, Chester County Chiefs of Police Assoc., John Jannett, AT&T, Meredith Coffey, AT&T, James Rogan, AT&T, Guerdy Charles, AT&T, Chaz Brogan, Vice President, Chester County EMS Council, Inc., Bob Handal, AT&T, Commissioner Michelle Kichline, Director Bobby Kagel, Chester County Department of Emergency Services, Commissioner Kathi Cozzone, Jeff King, AT&T, Rob Wall, AT&T, Pablo Adam, AT&T, Commissioner Terence Farrell<\/p><\/div>\n

WEST CHESTER \u2014 With citizen safety as a major priority, the Chester County Commissioners were briefed last week on the county\u2019s new link with FirstNet, a lifesaving communications platform built specifically for first responders. Making the announcement at the Commissioners\u2019 Sunshine Meeting work session, Department of Emergency Services (DES) Director Bobby Kagel noted that, as the first county in the Commonwealth to subscribe, Chester County\u2019s police, fire and EMS responders will more quickly and easily connect to the critical information they need, even during times of major regional events when mobile networks are congested.<\/p>\n

Built with AT&T in partnership with the First Responder Network Authority, FirstNet gives communications capabilities a major boost, providing a reliable, highly secure and \u201calways on\u201d communication.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt remains our priority to keep the people and property of Chester County safe,\u201d said Chester County Commissioners\u2019 Chair Michelle Kichline. \u201cFirstNet will help facilitate greater coordination and collaboration from dispatch to the actual incident scene and beyond, allowing us to better serve the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the major investments that we\u2019ve made in recent years, including the development of the Public Safety Training Campus, the move to a new emergency voice radio system, and the installation of mobile CAD units in emergency response vehicles, it makes sense to capitalize on this with the addition of the FirstNet connectivity,\u201d noted County Commissioner Kathi Cozzone.<\/p>\n

Last year, Chester County DES worked with AT&T to upgrade 650 emergency response vehicles. Each vehicle was equipped with an advanced mobile gateway that put the power of information into first responders\u2019 hands. \u201cBy moving the in-vehicle systems over to the FirstNet platform we are able to take our communications capabilities to a new level, bringing more efficiency and effectiveness to our fire, police and EMS personnel, giving them opportunities to instantly receive updates, access to records management systems from the field, and to manage dispatch based on the closest units available,\u201d added County Commissioner Terence Farrell.<\/p>\n

FirstNet is the only communication platform that gives first responders priority and preemption. \u201cThe Commissioners commitment to public safety is evidenced by providing Chester County\u2019s emergency responders with state-of-the-art technology and facilities so they are better equipped to meet the needs of our citizens. Being the first to join FirstNet in Pennsylvania, providing nationwide interoperability, priority, and preemption to our emergency responders, is another example of this commitment,\u201d said Bobby Kagel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re honored that Chester County DES chose FirstNet to further elevate their communications capabilities,\u201d said J. Michael Schweder, president, AT&T Mid-Atlantic States. \u201cIt\u2019s our mission to give first responders the cutting-edge tools they need to keep themselves and those they serve out of harm\u2019s way. And we look forward to helping Chester County\u2019s first responders achieve their life-saving missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFirstNet is the exclusive communications platform built with AT&T for public safety, inspired by public safety \u2013 there is no substitution for this network that they fought for,\u201d said First Responder Network Authority CEO Mike Poth. \u201cWe look forward to supporting the Chester County\u2019s use of FirstNet, making sure it delivers what they need, when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST CHESTER \u2014 With citizen safety as a major priority, the Chester County Commissioners were briefed last week on the county\u2019s new link with FirstNet, a lifesaving communications platform built specifically for first responders. Making the announcement at the Commissioners\u2019 Sunshine Meeting work session, Department of Emergency Services (DES) Director Bobby Kagel noted that, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38817,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[11011,29,11010,7426],"class_list":["post-38815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-att","tag-chester-county","tag-emergency-communication","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38815"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38816,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38815\/revisions\/38816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}