Environmental Conservation Officers

RAY BROOK - A move to reroute Department of Environmental Conservation emergency calls through Albany is raising concern in the North Country.The change, meant to save money and implement efficiency, would shutter a dispatch center in Ray Brook and switch central lines to an Internet-based innovation that emergency services personnel are concerned can fail.

Don Jaquish, Essex County emergency services director, has not been kept appraised of when the new dispatch system will be put online or how the interface works.He said testing on the emergency network is audible over the communication system but.Essex County emergency dispatch picks up many of the 911 calls placed by hikers or climbers in trouble throughout the central Adirondack region. Those calls are routed directly to Ray Brook's dispatch where forest rangers and environmental-conservation officers are based.

The plan, as Jaquish understands it in this way far, implements a Radio over Internet Protocol, or RoIP, system."It is nothing Essex County would consider using," Jaquish said. "It has no redundancy, which means there is no backup if power fails."Franklin County implemented a similar system - called Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP - for emergency dispatch a few years ago in Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake, and the system went down routinely, Provost said."We found the VoIP system works fine until there's an interruption in your Internet service. Any Internet provider will take the system down for maintenance."For the average homeowner, who cares? The trouble is we operate a 24-7 emergency communications line here in Franklin County and that created an issue for us."Voice over Internet Protocol system is nevertheless used, Provost said, however as a backup."We weren't happy or secure with our VoIP. We use it as a redundant backup to T-1 lines provided to us by AT&T and the T-1 lines are pretty much bullet proof."

The need for redundancy in emergency-call system

The need for redundancy in emergency-call system was spelled out obviously in a six-page DEC Dispatch Center report provided to the Press-Republican by emergency fire personnel in Franklin County.The concern for power or Internet failure is a non-issue in Ray Brook but. "A full building generator seamless power," the report says."(Ray Brook) can easily become Incident Command with radio towers that have backup power and analog radio coverage to DEC Regions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 proven while the Ice Storm and"While the 9/11 response when all state buildings were evacuated, there were no phone lines, no cell phones and no Internet available, due to system overloads. The only communications available were Ray Brook's radios, which are tested, solid and dependable."

Severino said the existing analog radio infrastructure would remain part of DEC's statewide network."There is a big misconception out there right but. This is not replacing the conventional radio system. The system will all however be there."We're not just using Radio over Internet Protocol. We're nevertheless going to be using the current towers for the signals we get. The actual dispatchers will be in Albany with a dedicated network as a central feed. Our office of research has been working on this over two years. So far it's been successful. It's been a better and much more efficient system."

Technology aside, the other concern among emergency-services directors here is losing experienced staff."Local knowledge of trails and wilderness areas by highly trained dispatchers working 24-7 is critical to the timely response of rangers to emergency incidents," the Ray Brook Dispatch Report says. "There are no street intersections to reference in the Adirondacks."Provost said they would support DEC forest rangers and Environmental Conservation Officers but necessary."I'm sure DEC Captain John Streiff is concerned about officer safety, and that's where my concerns are, too. I've told the captain, we'll do everything we can to help. We're not going to let them sink."Both emergency services directors hope DEC communications specialists in Albany will improve their communications skills as they bring the new system online."Please work with us when you develop these things," Provost said.