From www.bangornews.com
Monday, July 10, 2000
e-mail this story to a friend
Fire department radio traffic draws criticism in Pittsfield
By Sharon Mack, Of the NEWS Staff
PITTSFIELD - Town councilors are expected to hear complaints Tuesday night during their regular meeting, regarding how radio traffic was handled last week during a structure fire on Phillips Corner Road. The evening of the fire, residents called both the town office and Police Chief Steve Emery, who was off-duty at home, to complain about what they perceived as incorrect radio procedure.
Emery said the complaints he received referred to radio traffic walking all over itself. He explained that this means that those using the radio often called into headquarters simultaneously, cutting each other off or blocking transmissions. Emery said he reviewed a tape of the transmissions to be able to address council concerns. In addition, Newport Police Chief Charles Erickson said that despite a radio request calling for mutual aid from Newport, his department was not formally called by dispatch until 12 minutes later. Within five minutes of that call, Erickson said last week, we had seven men, an engine and a tanker truck on the way to Pittsfield. But it took 12 minutes for us to be dispatched.
Bernard Williams, chief of the Pittsfield Fire Department, could not be reached for comment Sunday but Assistant Chief Dean Billings, the officer who requested assistance from Newport by radio, said he had not heard anything unusual during radio transmissions from the fire. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, he said.
Billings said that 10 department members have radios, and since the department consists of all volunteers, the members individually sign on with the dispatch center as they leave their homes or employment for a fire. And then each truck has to sign on as they leave the station, said Billings. "I can understand how that might sound confusing to someone just listening to a scanner."
John Curtis Jr., head of dispatch for Pittsfield, could not be reached to determine if any formal complaints had been filed.
In other business, the council will act on two requests from the town's Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund. The first request is for a $35,000 business loan to Corinne's Cleaning Service that would be repaid in 60 months. The second refines an earlier transaction and places the town in third lien position on a previously approved loan.
The council also will vote on: Naming town-owned land by the railroad tracks on Main Street Veterans Park.
-----------------------------------------------