The Montgomery County Council’s Public Safety Committee met privately Monday to discuss backup plans for first responders if an emergency communication system suffers a “catastrophic failure.”
The three-person committee met in closed session because it was a “matter of public safety,” council members said.
The county’s emergency communication system experienced “major disruptions” in May, June and July, at times knocking out more than 75% of the radio channels used by police, firefighters and rescue crews.
Concerns about the 11-tower system surfaced over Mother’s Day weekend in May when a 12-hour outage resulted in a “system busy” failure more than 2,200 times —indicating a channel isn’t available. There are usually one or two “busy” notices recorded in a month.
The last major outage was recorded July 10, according to a County Council staff report.
The county in late May issued an emergency procurement and installed a new timing source to regulate the system, with an approximate price tag of $27,000, according to county government documents. The county is considering purchasing three more timing sources.
During outages, public safety officials use cellphones and messaging apps for non-emergency communications to reduce radio traffic and ease pressure on the system. But if any major safety or fire incidents occur during an outage, county officials have said it would be “extremely difficult to appropriately respond.”
In June, county officials said they were creating backup plans for first responders to communicate in the event of a long-term failure, including walkie-talkie-like cellphone apps.
While those apps can provide channels for communication, they rely on cellphone network service to operate, so areas without cellphone service would not be covered, according to county staff members.
Projected costs for long-term outages were expected to be presented during Monday’s closed session.
The council approved a replacement, 22-tower system in July. It is expected to be fully operational by December 2020.
The “vintage and legacy” communication system is a decade beyond its projected “end of life” date. It was originally scheduled to be replaced by 2013, but delays in vendor selection, site selection and permitting requirements have made the project take longer.
Most recently, the County Council and County Executive Marc Elrich sparred over the locations for two of the proposed towers. Elrich ultimately agreed to the locations.
County staff members said there are some places, like schools, that do not receive coverage with the current system, which could pose serious problems in there were a school shooting or other public safety emergency.
Caitlynn Peetz can be reached at caitlynn.peetz@moco360.media
