Emergency communications deficiencies aired in southern Perry County

Emergency response leaders in southern Perry County are calling on county commissioners to address what they describe as longstanding and potentially life-threatening deficiencies in the county’s 911 communications system.

In a letter dated Feb. 20, the chiefs of Duncannon and New Buffalo fire companies and Duncannon EMS urged commissioners to take immediate action to improve pager activation and radio coverage throughout their service areas, which include Duncannon and New Buffalo boroughs, Penn and Watts townships, and portions of Wheatfield Twp.

The letter, signed by Chiefs Byron Worner, Kevin Bissonnette and Kraig Nace, cited repeated instances of delayed or failed pager activations and spotty to nonexistent two-way radio communications. According to the letter, the issues have impacted first responders’ ability to receive emergency notifications and communicate effectively during active scenes.

“Although we were hopeful [the addition of a transceiver site in Dauphin County] would provide some improvement to our challenged area, we have noticed no improvement in coverage and reliability,” the letter stated.

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Specific incidents referenced in the letter include a Jan. 13 Mayday drill at the Penn Twp. fire station where radio communications were “weak, at best,” and “inaudible” in most cases, as well as a Feb. 4 bus crash near the Duncannon/Penn Twp. border, where radio communications were described as “impossible.” The chiefs emphasized that, in both cases, poor communication could have had serious consequences had the incidents been more severe.

The letter also criticized the reliability of backup emergency alert systems triggered through the county’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) email interface, which the chiefs claim frequently fail due to the county’s email system experiencing repeated downtime.

“These deficiencies have been relayed in real time to your dispatch center personnel with little or no response,” the chiefs wrote.

The affected coverage area includes major transportation routes such as 11/15 and 22/322, the Susquenita schools campus, nursing facilities, commercial farms, truck stops, waterways, and new residential and commercial developments including a medical marijuana plant and forthcoming warehouse construction.

Emergency medical leaders, including Assistant Chief Douglas Foy and Chief Nace, have reportedly raised the issue at every bi-monthly Perry County EMS Council meeting in recent years. According to the letter, no current or scheduled plan has been communicated to address the radio coverage problems.

The chiefs acknowledged that “100 percent coverage is nearly impossible,” but expressed doubt that the county is achieving the “90 percent coverage 90 percent of the time” metric that originally was promised by vendor ComPros when the current system was purchased and installed.

They attribute part of the problem to what they describe as a “cost-saving option” selected by county officials during the system’s development that sacrificed coverage and reliability.

The letter ends with a direct appeal: “The County of Perry’s immediate investment of attention, concern, time, and the critical funds for correction of the emergency communications infrastructure is hereby demanded, as an essential and basic function and responsibility of county government.”

As of press time, county commissioners have not publicly responded to the letter. Commissioner Frank Campbell, however, stated in an email to the newspaper, “Currently we do not have any comments, other than we fully support our first-responders, and that we are investigating these issues.”