News & Announcements

The American Heart Association released the Guidelines 2005 on Tuesday, November 29th. You can download an overview of the new Guidelines by clicking here for the most recent issue of Currents (the Heart Association CPR Newsletter – PDF format) or visiting the Heart Association site for links to more comprehensive reviews (click here).

Clifton Park-Halfmoon Ambulance has booked the internationally acclaimed speaker Captain Al Haynes on Wednesday, September 5th from 7-9 pm at Waterford-Halfmoon High School (125 Middletown Rd, Waterford NY 12188). Attendees are eligible for 2 REMO CEUs. Capt. Haynes piloted United Airlines flight 232 when it crashed in Sioux City, Iowa on July 19, 1989 in a spectacular ball of flames. You are invited to listen to Capt. Haynes explain how five factors came together to save 184 lives from what appeared to be certain doom. Audiences leave this presentation empowered to save many more lives by applying this valuable information to situations they encounter. The program is open to anyone who wishes to attend. Preregistration is not required and there is no charge to attend. Click here for a poster advertising the presentation. For additional information on Captain Haynes, click here.

The 2007 Saratoga County Fair will run from Tuesday, July 17th through Sunday, July 22nd. EMS volunteers, staffed ambulances, and equipment loans are needed. EMS providers are being sought for coverage from 9 am until midnight each day; staffed ambulances are needed evenings from 6 pm until midnight; and loans of oxygen cylinders with flow meters are needed for the week. Organizers plan a July informational meeting for any interested EMS personnel. Please contact either Jeff Reisner (885-4587 or JBR97@aol.com) or Stan DeLong (885-5381, ext 2201 or G906T@aol.com) for more information.

The Draft Design Report for the Route 9P over Saratoga Lake Outlet Bridge Project is currently available for review. In addition, a Public Hearing has been scheduled for Thursday, July 26, 2007 at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. An Open House will begin at 5:30 pm with Department representatives available to answer questions followed by the Hearing at 6:30 pm. Click here to view/download the hearing notice for additional details or visit the project website at https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/regional-offices/region1/projects/route-9p. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Erica Gundrum, Project Manager, at (518) 388-0225.

Director of Emergency Services Paul Lent and Hadley Supervisor Jeff Trottier (Chairman of Public Safety) attended a recent County Fire Officers meeting and presented an update on recent County radio system developments. Paul discussed the following using a Power Point presentation which you can view or download by clicking here. The key points of the presentation are: Spruce mountain site requires clean up of existing antennas and development of quarterly preventative maintenance program, proposed taking ownership of an existing 58X70 building and 180 ft tower owned by National Grid to replace present tower. Will need 14 new antennae with 2800 feet of new coax to minimize cutover time, structural capacity of new tower has been checked and proposed loading is okay, some necessary electrical work needed at site has been completed. Existing low and high band paging planned to convert to digital paging system. New CAD system is being installed and tested. Blue Wing continues work with FCC for guidance on the new radio system. A guestimate by Paul is 24 months until changing over to new pager/radio system. Proposed radio system will need 13 towers – new sites and existing sites being investigated include Stillwater old radar base, Willard, Corinth HS, Bald Mountain, and Halfmoon. Our old analog radio system will be replaced with a new microwave system. A user count of 1000 was tabulated for mobile and portable units throughout the County. The new radio system will use 700-800 MHz frequency very close to that used by Nextel with higher gain antennae. Negotiations continue in pursuing necessary APA permits and easements as well as FCC licensing. Inquiries have been received from cellular companies to consider co-lease. Costs for the new radio system are estimated at 11 to 15 million dollars. What’s next: technology test bed with phased implementation to be completed in 24 to 36 months. Remaining issues: microwave system, statewide wireless network, FCC licenses, user input, detailed engineering to be completed. Price of new high band digital pager presently about $450 and is only available from Motorola.