Hanover-area responders say they lost radio contact at two fires in December and worried that a problem with York County's 911 system, which was supposed to have been fixed, had returned. But county officials say that's not the case.
Instead, a county spokesman said, the December problems occurred because, in one case, the settings were not correct for a radio "patch," or a melding of frequencies that allow communication between responders from different counties. And in the other case communication was interrupted because of a glitch between the radios from two different counties, a different glitch than the one seen before.
Last year, responders in southwestern York County were left in silence at emergency scenes several times, after the county failed to patch together radios from York, Adams and Carroll counties. That's a problem that was to be fixed in the spring of 2011.
And it was fixed, according to county spokesman Carl Lindquist.
Lindquist said in a written statement the county has completed "numerous" multicounty radio patches in recent months, "since resolution of the previous problem." And in total last year the system handled more than 360,000 911 calls and 23 million radio transmissions, he said.
The two problems in question from December in West Manheim Township are the exception, not the rule.
"The unfortunate reality is that no 911 radio system is perfect, so we expect periodic challenges to occur," he said.
But the incident commander at those two recent scenes, Pleasant Hill Volunteer Fire Co. Chief Ted Clousher, wondered this week about the continued safety of his firefighters - and questioned that $36 million 911 radio system. Again.
"It definitely could end up being a life-or-death safety issue," he said. "It's still a major issue. You just wonder the next time you go out if it's going to work or not."
New problems
The first incident took place in a field in West Manheim Township on Dec. 3, Clousher said, with a piece of farm equipment that caught on fire.
In that instance, units from York, Adams and Carroll counties arrived, but found that when a radio "patch" by York County to place responders on the same communications channel was attempted, the system went down.
"We just lost all communications," Clousher said.
Lindquist said the patch was in fact created successfully. He said responders couldn't talk to one another because of differences between the digital and analog radios used by York and Adams counties, respectively.
Settings have been adjusted, and no more problems are anticipated, Lindquist said on Friday.
On Dec. 28, units responded at about 8 p.m. to a structure fire on Hobart Road, near Ross Road in West Manheim.
Clousher said again Hanover-area responders were unable to communicate with each other at the scene, with no radio patch in place. Previously, York County recommended responders switch radio channels manually to adjust.
But Clousher said responders from other counties don't have York County radios, so even if his firefighters and those from Penn Township were able to switch radio settings at the scene - something firefighters have said is difficult in turnout gear and in the heat of the moment - they still would only be communicating with York County units.
"They (the county) say to go to talk-around, but the companies from Carroll and Adams don't have our radios," he said. "So even if we go to talk-around, they can't hear us."
That used to be how things worked and firefighters adjusted by using multiple radios, Clousher said. The problem is not so much what radio is used, but adjusting to unexpected radio problems in the heat of the moment.
But Lindquist said in the Hobart Road fire no multicounty patch was even attempted. That's because Adams County 911 indicated that county's responding unit didn't have the type of radio that could be patched, he said, referring further questions on that issue to Adams County control.
Adams County director of emergency services John Eline said no such equipment issue had yet been brought to his attention.
Lindquist acknowledged another problem at the Hobart Road fire, though, a problem he said stemmed from an attempted patch between only units from York and Carroll counties. That was fixed en route, he said, but followed then by further "intermittent problems" at the scene.
Those stemmed from improper use of the radio network by firefighters, Lindquist said.
"Radios used by firefighters working in close proximity to one each other can interfere with each other," he said. "Switching to radio-to-radio communication (instead of using the network) eliminates this problem."
And, he said, "We are available to offer training as needed to local responders."
A history of issues
Clousher said this week what's long frustrated local responders is the relative unpredictability of the system. When it works it's fine, he said, but the history of problems concerns firefighters.
They fear the worst.
"These (fires) ended up both being not too serious," he said of the December incidents. "But if we would get to a point with a real serious house fire, it could be bad."
The emergency radio system has raised questions - particularly in southwestern York County - since its installation in 2009, with responders complaining of dropped calls and pages. The county installed two signal-boosting towers in the fall of 2010 that helped, but December brought concerns over radio patching problems. In several instances, the attempt at a three-county radio patch crashed that part of the system, leaving radio silence.
Penn Township Fire Chief Jan Cromer said that put firefighters' lives in danger, and county officials came to Penn to address it in early 2011. By March, county emergency services department executive director Eric Bistline said in a letter to area responders a software update from radio system vendor Harris Corp. was imminent.
The system, which including a new building and other upgrades totaled $61 million, recently came under fire for another problem after the countywide pager system went offline for 90 minutes on Jan. 4. At first, county officials said volunteer companies weren't affected by the outage, but they later acknowledged several calls did come in to those companies.
Lindquist said earlier this month such an outage is "unacceptable," but added all systems go down from time to time.
Clousher said he was part of the county's patch testing after the last round of fixes in spring 2011. At that time, the problem seemed to have been solved, he said.
"Then it reared its ugly head again," he said. "And now we've got new problems.
"You wonder what's next."
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