News & Announcements

Southwestern Vermont Medical Center announced plans to install a DTMF decoder on their HEAR (Hospital Emergency Administrative Radio) receiver during Spring 2004. The exact implementation date has not been set but Corps can begin programming their radios to open SVMC on frequency 155.340 using DTMF tones “017”. Medical Control physicians will continue to be available via the dedicated Med-Control landline at 802-447-5305 as in the past. Questions can be addressed to SVMC EMS Coordinator Chris Phelps at 802-447-5637.

Effective at 8:00 AM on March 31, a revised MAP will take effect for Wilton Emergency Squad. You can download the revised page #21 for your MAP Manual by clicking on the Downloads button at the top of this page.

The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) has been conducting an audit of operational status of Private Land Mobile Radio stations. The audit includes public safety radio licenses operating below 800 MHz. The FCC announced on March 2, 2004 that it will proceed with the cancellation of licensees who have not responded to the audit. Public safety agencies that face loss of their FCC license fall into two categories, undeliverable and non-responsive. If the FCC audit letter was undeliverable, you have until March 27, 2004 to notify the FCC that your radio system is still in operation to avoid license cancellation. The FCC will begin a final round of audit mailings on Friday, February 27, 2004 , for those agencies that fall into the non-responsive category. If a response to the latest audit letter is not received by the FCC by March 31, 2004 the license will cancel automatically. To check the status of your department, click here to visit the FCC website. After accessing the page, you can follow two paths to determine the status of your license. The first is a search by call sign. Under ‘Process,’ click on the ‘search for your call sign(s)’ hypertext. In the ‘License Audit Search’ area enter the call sign(s) for your radio system and click enter. When the information is displayed click on ‘Licensee Name.’ If you have already responded to the audit you will see ‘Buildout Completed’ under ‘Response’ along with the date the FCC letter was sent and the date your agency replied. No further action is required; your license is current. If your search results in a listing of the ‘Licensee Name’ and a list of dates when letters were sent by the FCC you must act immediately to notify the FCC of your license status. You can also search by state. Scroll to the bottom of the Web page to ‘Audit Progress and Results.’ Click on the ‘List of Licensees who have not responded to the mailed audit letters.’ Scroll down to the ‘Nonresponses by State/Territory,’ find your state and then click on ‘public safety.’ You can review all public safety licenses in your state or territory that have not responded. This listing will also tell you if your audit letter was undeliverable or your agency was non-responsive.

The Office of the State Comptroller on February 18th, 2004, issued an audit report on the status of surcharge monies for wireless 911 systems in New York. View the report on the OSC site at: http://www.osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093004/03f9.pdf.

Have you ever wondered what actions your department should undertake in response to changes in the Federal Homeland Security Threat Conditions? In January 2004, FEMA published a Guide for Fire and EMS Services on actions suggested in response to each condition level of the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). The entire guide is available for download by clicking here.