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One truck provides emergency responders with a command center and a communications hub which firefighters and police officers can use as their base for what they call “large scale incidents”
“We provide tools and support,” Ken Gilbertie, a member of Fairfield County Emergency Communications from Westport, said speaking about the truck. The main truck was purchased mainly using federal grants, the rest was provided by the localities that utilize it. “We consult with the towns, anything we can do to support the operation.”
This truck and the communications system was set up in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, when communications failed across the area. A large part of the set-up is a radio system, “it doesn’t matter if they have the right frequency,” Gilberie said, because the truck has a software that can pull them into the radio loop so no information gets lost.
Emergency personnel was also being trained on a mutual aid radio system, which can allows a first responder in Stratford to communicate with a first responder in Greenwich. The system was described as “not just state of the art, this is a leading edge technology.”
State Rep. Kim Fawcett, D-133, was at the demonstrations and said she hadn’t realized what was being done in terms of upgrading the communications. “Prior to 9/11 it was just a trunk of someone’s car,” she said.
This type of communications system was never needed before, Fawcett said, but with the events of 9/11 this can only help the emergency personnel and the community with an elevated presence. “It’s an extraordinary gift that our community has.”
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