This blog is the latest in a series on Looking Back and Looking Forward: The Future of Public Safety Communications in the Post 9/11 Era (a video series).

The week before Patriot Day, our nation's annual remembrance of the 9/11 attacks, first responders share their remembrances and vision for the future of public safety communications in this video series. Yesterday, we heard from Mike Worrell, Senior Fire Advisor, FirstNet, who outlined the communication issues he faced as a first responder on 9/11 at the World Trade Center.

Today we hear from Mike Duyck, Fire Chief, Tualatin Valley (Oregon) Fire and Rescue.

"We're looking forward to the day when public safety can do its work unthrottled" Mike Duyck

The events of 9/11 showed Fire Chief Mike Duyck the intense need for fully integrated, fully coordinated, interoperable communications. As he says in this video, 'It put an exclamation point on it for me... everyone needs to be able to talk to everyone and see what they're doing. We need to be able to leverage data to see what's occurring and how to use resources more effectively.'

Using today's consumer telecom networks sometimes works well, Duyck says, but other times, there isn't sufficient capacity. Duyck looks forward to the day when FirstNet can help his team and first responders nationwide do their work "unthrottled" - with the network priority and capacity they need - no matter where they are.

Mike Duyck is the Fire Chief/Chief Executive Officer of Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (TVF&R), Oregon's largest fire district, with a service area covering nine cities and portions of three counties. He is responsible for a progressive combination agency that includes more than 500 career firefighters and support staff, and about 80 support volunteers, who provide fire, emergency medical, and specialty rescue services to approximately 455,000 citizens.