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Technology jamboreeLIMA, Jun 30, 2011 (The Lima News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- On one of the prettiest summer days ever, emergency communications specialists were talking about disasters Wednesday at the Allen County Fairgrounds. Four of the 11 Buckeye State Sheriffs Association regional communications vehicles descended on the fairgrounds for a daylong exercise of testing and coordination. The trucks serve as communication hubs for Ohio events both festive and horrific, from tornadoes, floods and prison riots to county fairs and presidential visits. They enable emergency and law enforcement agencies to quickly communicate with each other and with the public. "Our goal today is to exercise the equipment and make all the counties familiar with what's available," said Monte Diegel, 911 administrator with the Mercer County Sheriff's Office. "Our main priority is to check ourselves, to make sure all the equipment is tip-top and ready for the next thing, whether that's a tornado or a festival, it doesn't matter." The four Buckeye State Sheriff's Association units on hand Wednesday are stationed in Mercer, Hancock, Lucas and Montgomery counties. Together they serve all of western Ohio. The trucks were conceived in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A federal Homeland Security grant paid for the trucks, which cost about $440,000 each when delivered in 2005. They undergo frequent technology upgrades. "They have just about every communication gizmo you can think of," Diegel said. "Portable radios, camera system, fax, wi-fi, telephone, video." If a 911 emergency call center is knocked offline for whatever reason, the trucks can serve as a backup center. The trucks also provide backup for each other, said W.D. Miller, a communications consultant with Radio Hospital who volunteers as a technical specialist for unit maintenance. "If one truck is already at an incident, and we needed to pull a second one into another area, they can have the same capabilities," Miller said. Mobile command centers from the Allen County Sheriff's Office, Ohio Emergency Management Agency and the Ohio State Highway Patrol took part. Officials from counties across western Ohio were invited to observe and take part in the drill. Among them was American Township Fire Chief Thomas Hadding. "It's nice stuff, but you hope you never have to use it. It's comforting to know it's there," Hadding said. "It's usually a bad day when one of these is pulling out, But this is a beautiful day, and it was super to get this out here, all this technology and see what everybody has." You can comment on this story at www. limaohio.com. To see more of The Lima News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.limanews.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Lima News, Ohio Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. |