COLUMBIA--A statewide radio network that lets
police, fire and other emergency workers talk to each other has passed a
couple of major real-world tests and is ready for hurricane season.
Without it, people who needed to respond to disasters were like
cell-phone subscribers without roaming privileges who get "No Service"
messages on their screens.
Last August, the Palmetto 800 MHz system helped direct traffic during
Hurricane Charley, State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart
said. It played a role in January when emergency workers handled the train
collision that spilled chlorine and covered Graniteville with deadly
fumes.
Graniteville's low-lying geography made it a tough place to use
traditional radio systems. And there was the age-old problem: radios
operating on different bands, frequencies or channels. Before the new
radio system, they'd have to rely on dispatchers to act as go-betweens in
radio conversations.
In Graniteville, the state brought in dozens of radios that helped
responders lacking the communications equipment to do their jobs, said
David Ruth, Aiken County's emergency services coordinator.
In all, 200 law enforcement and emergency agencies were able to easily
communicate on the system, said George Crouch, who runs the Palmetto 800
program for the state Budget and Control Board.
"I think it wouldn't have been as seamless as far as communications is
concerned," Ruth said.
The state also brought in a mobile tower to handle the extra traffic,
Crouch said. And it has a transmitter that can be carried aloft by a plane
or helicopter to handle needs, Crouch said.
So far, nearly 18,000 of the new radios are in the hands of police and
other emergency workers statewide, making South Carolina's system the most
interoperable in the nation, Crouch said.
The system grew out of concerns law enforcement and emergency workers
raised after Hurricane Hugo 16 years ago.
But the Legislature balked at the $120 million price tag needed to
create a statewide radio system on its own, Crouch said. So the state
turned to a private-sector partnership with Motorola Inc. to build the
towers and other elements of the system.