Pai Plans to Tap Hurricane Lessons in FCC Work to Enhance Emergency Communications
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai cited heartening and challenging hurricane-response lessons that he plans to incorporate into agency actions to bolster public safety communications. A spike in emergency calls put "tremendous strain" on Florida's Miami-Dade County's first-responder system as power outages…
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affected home phone service and internet access, he blogged Wednesday, citing recent travels to storm-affected and other areas (see 1710050056). Pai said "ripple effects" included people turning to radio "as a reliable source of information" -- and to social media, which is a "double-edge sword": providing new sources of information but creating problems for first responders in monitoring, verifying and using related information. He said 911 "is still the best way" to get emergency assistance, with more study needed on how to use social media without hampering "efforts to improve location accuracy and promote next-generation 911." Florida first responders said better coordination was needed between power companies and telecom companies, Pai said, but he was encouraged by "inter-jurisdictional collaboration" on visits to 911 call centers in Indiana, Missouri and Kansas. Among other challenges are the need to increase location accuracy for mobile 911 calls; "the huge number of misdialed 911 calls," including inadvertent "pocket calls," that tie up dispatchers; and call-center staff attrition.