Recently, FirstNet staff interviewed April Sells and Chris McGhee, both with the Fire Department for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama. The Poarch Creek Indians are descendants of the original Creek Nation, which once covered most of Alabama and Georgia. April has been the Fire and Emergency Management Director since 2005, and Chris has been with the Fire Department since 2007.

As the only federally recognized Indian tribe in Alabama, can you talk about what makes the Poarch Band of Creek Indians unique?

April - One thing that’s unique about us is our strong working relationship with state and local partners. In other parts of the country, a lot of tribes don’t have that kind relationship, but we’ve had a strong relationship for a long time. It’s a relationship that goes both ways, we work together as a team. Our tribal members sit on several state boards, and we often lend a helping hand to our state and local partners.

Doing this has not only helped us build a good relationship, but it’s enabled us to be more strategic and get access to information quickly. We don’t wait a year to find out information—we are very proactive.

April, how did you become a Fire and Emergency Management Director?

After Hurricane Ivan, the tribe realized how important emergency management was to growth. When you are a small tribe and only have a few businesses and employees, you don’t think as much about emergencies or emergency management. But, as you grow, there is more and more to take care of in terms of property and the safety of our families. After Ivan in 2004, the tribe realized how time-consuming it was to react to the event and that they needed to make sure the safety of the reservation focused on prevention rather than response.

I got involved after helping my uncle, who was the fire chief during a disaster. He and I were at the station alone. I was trying to help, but that actually made it more dangerous for him because I was not properly trained. I wanted to be of assistance the next time something happened, so I got certified that year and joined the volunteer fire dept.

How involved has the Poarch Band of Creek Indians been with FirstNet? What important items should FirstNet consider as we work with tribal nations to establish the nationwide public safety broadband network?

The tribe has a seat on the Alabama First Responder Wireless Commission and has been involved that way. In terms of what FirstNet should consider when working with tribes… every tribe works differently. Being that there are more tribes than states, FirstNet will have its hands full.

Chris McGhee oversees all the Poarch emergency management communications and serves as the Poarch Tribe’s designee on the Alabama First Responder Wireless Commission.

What type of emergency communications gear do you use?

Currently we are on a P25 system, 700 MHz, and we are part of the Alabama Interoperability Radio System, AIRS.

Technology-wise: How have you seen emergency management operations evolve? Any instances when technology could have improved operations to save lives and property?

Of course, you can see that just with the iPhone. We used to have just a regular cellphone, and now we have smartphones—that’s a big improvement.

How can technology help public safety entities use their resources more efficiently?

Redundancy. We can’t rely solely on one backup plan. Our system went down recently, and we had no way of communicating with our fire department. We were down for about an hour, and then we flipped a switch.  We are still using that backup. We keep our old systems in place as well as upgrading to new technologies, because you never know when something is going to break. Our advice is to keep old systems up and maintain them even when you upgrade.

Can you talk about the use of smartphones, tablets, mobile computers, and other technology, to include public safety apps, to improve public safety?

We run all that on our trucks, and we are involved in a system called FM Alert. This alerts us of tornadoes and severe weather—it just pops up on your smartphone.

Having access to as much information as possible is very helpful. We not only take care of the reservation, but we are first responders for 15 miles of I-65, so we have to communicate effectively with each other and other first responders across the state. If there’s an accident and a chemical leak along the interstate, we have a system in place helps us close that portion down quickly, and we have a backup plan for that, as well.

The tribe also has property in the middle of the state, two hours away. We work with emergency management directors in those two counties until one of us can get there. That is very challenging and unique. What makes our job easier is that everyone at the fire department is dually trained. Having lot of training and lots of redundancy is huge.  Having mobile data available during a response and being able to supply data is also important. We are currently in the process of migrating to a new system and upgrading our computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system to get and supply more information quickly.

What do you see as the greatest benefits that FirstNet can provide to tribal nations?

Robust data access. Since most tribes are in rural areas, we currently don’t have a lot of high-speed data in those places. FirstNet could be a big help in covering those places.

Anything else you would like to add?

April - I just hope that, by giving this information, it will assist some other tribes. Maybe they’ll learn from our mistakes, challenges, or accomplishments.

Chris - From our perspective, we have a good working relationship with our state and that has worked well for us.