By David Buchanan FirstNet Director of Consultation

Alaska’s Initial Consultation Meeting provided a reminder that natural disasters and emergency incidents do not wait for convenient times to happen.  In the midst of our meeting with the State earlier this year, the Alaska State Troopers were called to respond to an active shooter situation.  As if the event had been scripted to show the benefits of public safety broadband, Fairbanks Police Department Deputy Chief Brad Johnson was able to track the situation and maintain contact with his department thanks to mobile broadband.  Through applications on his smartphone, he could map the location of all of the responding police vehicles and see the computer aided dispatch (CAD) notes that were being generated as the incident was occurring.  He explained that this was a good example of what a robust broadband network can provide to users.

The Alaska Initial Consultation took place at the State of Alaska Crime Lab and included more than 60 attendees from across the State.  Gared Godfrey, the Governor’s Senior Advisor on Rural Business and Intergovernmental Affairs, and also a member of the Public Safety Advisory Committees (PSAC) Tribal Working Group, provided introductory remarks and emphasized the unique needs of Alaska, which is 95 percent wilderness land.  The Director of the Alaska State Troopers, Colonel James Cockrell, was also in attendance and expressed that he was looking forward to hearing about everyone’s needs.

All attendees were given an opportunity at the beginning of the day to express their hopes for the consultation.  Most expressed a desire to get an update on FirstNet, hear about public safety’s needs, and learn how mobile data devices and capabilities can be integrated into their operations.

John Rockwell, who was the Alaska Single Point of Contact (SPOC) at the time of the meeting and Acting Statewide Interoperability Coordinator (SWIC), emphasized the ongoing importance of maintaining the Alaska Land Mobile Radio (ALMR) system, while also being fully engaged in the development and opportunities that mobile data could provide.  Alaska attendees also provided input on their coverage map and other aspects of the data collection effort.

Use Case: Regional Mobile Data Solution

Deputy Chief Brad Johnson of the Fairbanks Police Department provided a case study on the use of a mobile data solution in the interior of Alaska.  It is used by almost all public safety agencies in the region, including the university, multiple municipalities, volunteer fire, and emergency operators, he said.  The system allows users to pull case numbers, redirect resources, follow standardized Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR), and send reports and information to supervisors before documents are sent to the records department for final review and addition to the records management system.  When law enforcement agencies search crime databases, much of the information they find can be directly integrated into any reporting forms.  Dispatch has that ability as well.  The fire service can access fire preplans through hyperlinks in mapping features.  The solution is a GIS-based system so it is built from the map and operates from the map.  Officers can also use an automated vehicle location (AVL) capability in the field, and users can determine how often the information on the map refreshes.  Users can even pull up a particular vehicle’s path, making it possible to rerun routes and pull any relevant video from in-car video recorders to help find images of suspects.  Users can also pull up previous reports and share photographs and digital files.

The solution integrates a CAD capability and is largely a ‘bring your own device (BYOD)’ solution. The system runs on laptops with a Windows operating system, which is needed for the mobile field reporting solution. The fire service can access an application called Freedom, which allows for direct two-way communication with CAD, from a tablet or smartphone.  It may be possible in the future to switch completely to a tablet or smartphone-based solution.  The area also uses the Next Generation Incident Command System (NICS) that was developed at a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) lab through support from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  It is used statewide as a common operating platform and is also used in California and is free of charge since it was developed by DHS.

Use Case: Funny River Fire

Chief Jeff Tucker of the Kenai Fire Department presented a use case on the 2014 Funny River Fire, a fast-moving, human-caused wildfire that grew 20,000-30,000 acres a day and eventually covered 306 square miles and required community evacuations.  Close to 800 firefighters, along with fixed-wing aircraft, rotary wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) responded to the fire.  In the effort to fight the Funny River Fire, mobile data could have been used to improve situational awareness of personnel and equipment, command and control, and information sharing related to mapping, weather, evacuation routes, and photos and videos.  It also would have reduced traffic on the LMR system, clearing that system for mission critical voice communications.

Wildfires are a continuing challenge for Alaska.  At the time of the consultation meeting, there had been 768 fires in the state and there were still 148 active fires, with 8,084 square miles burned.  This year (2015) has been the second largest fire season on record after 2004.

Chief Tucker then shared other elements that Alaska public safety representatives believe will be important for FirstNet to consider.  Common applications can allow all responders to work from a common platform, which will likely entice users.  Coverage is needed in remote areas, but also metropolitan areas.  In Alaska, coverage can quickly be lost when driving outside of a city or just off of major roadways.  A deployable backpack solution might be appropriate, or a mobile solution that is built into the vehicle. 

Thanks to John Rockwell; state SPOC Matt Leveque; and all of the Alaskan public safety representatives who joined us at the consultation.  We look forward to continuing to work with Alaska stakeholders to plan for and deploy the NPSBN.

- Dave