When a first responder enters a burning building, whether it’s an office building, warehouse, hospital or any other structure, there is immediately an array of dangers that must be faced. Some are obvious: fire, smoke, weakened structures. But there is also another factor that can imperil a first responder’s life – the inability to communicate with other responders and with the outside world.
When an emergency arises, it’s imperative that first responders are able to communicate with each other inside your building and with their command staff outside the building, through the use of two-way radios. Unfortunately, many buildings have areas where the signal strength for these systems isn’t strong enough to ensure they’ll work properly. This can occur due to the building materials, architectural design, construction features (such as low-emissivity windows) and overall size, all of which can absorb or block radio communications. As a result, buildings that do not have complete coverage in certain places are dangerous for emergency responders.
Fortunately, there are now ways to make sure emergency personnel can keep on top of what’s happening and be able to communicate both inside and outside during a disaster.
A bi-directional amplifier system is a signal-boosting solution designed to enhance in-building radio frequency signal coverage for public safety radios. These systems provide buildings with a reliable signal for first responders. This system receives a wireless signal, and then amplifies it and sends the signal outside the building also receives an outside signal and rebroadcasts it throughout the interior of a building. It can also be enhanced, with a module addition, to help two-way radios and smartphones avoid dropping calls in spotty coverage, while also amplifying emergency personnel radio signals allowing for strong, effective wireless communications for first responders. This is helpful during medical emergencies, fires or law enforcement activities.
According to some reports, more than 50% of fire departments have experienced a communications failure during an emergency. There was nothing more chaotic for first responders than the toppling of the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. The overwhelming noise, smoke and utter confusion played a dramatic role in hindering emergency personnel from communicating with each other. Radio signals depend on bouncing from towers or antennae, normally located on a roof. But what happens when the roof is coming down? Did the inability to communicate, particularly an evacuation order, add to the number of lives lost?
Some states have already begun enacting laws to ensure first-responder safety. Massachusetts state building code – it’s 780 CMR 915, 9th ed – requires that “new buildings and buildings undergoing substantial (Level 3) renovations, downstream and upstream radio signals for public safety radios must meet certain thresholds for radio signal strength.”
No one can calculate how many lives would have been saved if a bi-directional amplifier system had been in place years ago. But we can say that many lives will be saved if the ability to communicate – inside and outside – is enhanced by the technology we now possess. Communication isn’t something we’ve just invented; it goes back to when the first caveman yelled out a warning to his friend that he was about to be attacked by a wild animal. Now our ingenuity has given us the necessary tools to ensure first responders can communicate in case of emergency. Not to use those tools could be tragic.
Bill Donahue is president of Crown Supply Co., a distributor of electrical and fire alarm products, with offices in Providence, and Webster and Milford, Mass. He can be reached at billd@crownsuppply.com.
