By Amanda Hilliard, FirstNet Director of Outreach

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to provide an update on FirstNet during California’s first town hall dedicated to public safety wireless broadband communications. Hosted by the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), the event brought together nearly 100 public safety professionals from across the state to hear a range of viewpoints and interests about the future of first responder communications and the nationwide public safety broadband network (NPSBN). The agenda was designed to provide FirstNet updates at the national, state, local, and tribal levels and to share innovative applications work.

During my presentation I discussed how public safety will benefit from the NPSBN and how the network will change the way public safety operates in the future. I also reviewed key steps in FirstNet’s state consultation process and discussed how their participation in the process will be critical to ensuring the network meets their unique needs; this point was reiterated by all speakers, including Karen Wong, who is California’s single point of contact (SPOC). I also previewed some of the topics we will cover at the consultation meetings with the states and territories, such as users, coverage, and assets.

Following my presentation, California’s support staff provided an overview of state and tribal perspectives on outreach and planning for the network. They also did a great job describing the differences between LMR and LTE cellular coverage using Los Angeles County as a specific example. I was also able to learn more about the California First Responder Network (CalFRN) Board, which was established to represent the interests of public safety officials in the state and to work with state, local, and tribal emergency managers, first responders, and FirstNet. It was interesting to hear about CalFRN’s establishment of a Tribal Committee to focus on tribal issues given that 110 of the 566 federally recognized tribes are in California.

In addition, Barry Fraser, who is General Manager at Bay Area Regional Interoperable Communications Systems Authority (BAY RICS) and also the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) representative to the FirstNet Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC), provided a briefing from the local perspective. He provided a helpful list of topics to assist participants with getting engaged in FirstNet planning – such as working to obtain local stakeholder support, identifying users, and developing a local governance plan.

For the last session of the town hall, Retired Fire Chief and President of PulsePoint Foundation, Richard Price, talked about the evolution of the PulsePoint application, which notifies CPR certified individuals of a nearby cardiac emergency. He said the app currently covers more than 600 communities across 18 states with over 145,000 users. He said more than 7,500 citizen responders have been activated to 2,400 cardiac arrest incidents to date using the app.

Prior to the town hall meeting, I had the opportunity to meet with several state officials, including Karen Wong, the California SPOC and the Assistant Director of the Public Safety Communications Office; Sue Plantz, the Telecommunications Governance and Service Branch Manager; and several members of California’s dedicated FirstNet staff. Our discussions focused on the California’s outreach efforts and preparations for initial consultation with FirstNet. The team said they were working to finalize their checklist materials, which they expect to submit to FirstNet following their DHS Office of Emergency Communications (OEC) coverage workshop in late August.

There are more than 200,000 first responders and 2,000 public safety agencies in California, so outreach will be critical for the NPSBN. It is great to see that California has additional town hall events planned for Santa Ana, Bakersfield, and Vacaville. For more information, please visit www.caloes.ca.gov.

Thanks to Cal OES for inviting FirstNet to attend and present at the town hall. We look forward to continue to engage in many collaborative working discussions with communities throughout California as we plan for the NPSBN.

Thanks,
-Amanda