Public safety gets TV network

By Patrick Flanigan
Staff writer
Democrat and Chronicle

December 25, 2004-The Rochester Fire Department is taking the fight against terrorism to the air. The airwaves, that is. Using a $642,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security, members of the Fire Department are developing a private television network that would broadcast exclusively to public-safety agencies within a 75-mile radius of the city. The network would include a library of on-demand training videos, ensuring that all the emergency responders know how to use the proper equipment and methods when dealing with large-scale incidents.

Say, for instance, that terrorists release a biological weapon in the area.

As shipments of the antidote are flown into the area, paramedics, ambulance crews and emergency-room staffs could immediately call up a video lesson that teaches them how to recognize the stages of the illness and administer the medicine. The network could also broadcast the latest information about the attack, using a "crawl" across the bottom of the screen, so police and firefighters can know what equipment they'll need.

"We understand that in the event of a large-scale event, our resources are going be completely overwhelmed," said Capt. John M. Kearney, one of the firefighters developing the network. "That means we're going to need assistance from other agencies, so we all have to be on the same page."

The encrypted Emergency Training and Information Network is broadcast on WXXI's digital frequency and sent to firehouses, police stations, ambulance corps and hospitals in and around Monroe County. Fire officials hope to have the network operating among Rochester fire stations by the end of 2005 and expand it to other agencies by the middle of 2006.

Kent Hatfield, WXXI's vice president of technology and operations, said the station's upgrade to digital broadcasting in 2003 makes the private network possible because one digital stream can carry multiple television channels.

"This is head and shoulders above anything I know of going on in the nation," he said. The video library also will include training on more common firefighting tasks, such as rooftop ventilation, ladder rescues or updates in first-aid techniques.

Fire Capt. Russell Merrick, another of those developing the network, said it has the potential to become a broadcast used by public-safety agencies across the country.

"We're on the cutting edge of something that could be really successful," he said.

For more information, contact Kristin Wilson at 202-654-4222.

Article reprinted with permission.