FirstNet PTT service - provided by AT&T and built on 3GPP mission-critical-push-to-talk (MCPTT) standard - delivers the performance that public safety needs and can be an LMR alternative for some agencies, according to the captain of a New Jersey police department that conducted a beta trial of the new offering.
- PUB DATE: 4/13/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Urgent Communications

Starting Thursday, the Hendersonville Fire Department will be handing out important cleaning protocols for residents who may have come into contact with COVID-19. The three-page fact sheet covers deep cleaning and disinfecting and other CDC-approved protocols. The information will be disseminated every time Hendersonville Fire and EMS crews go out on a COVID-19 call, whether the patients are positive or not.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKRN-TV ABC 3 Nashville

The U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron “Thunderbirds” will show their support for frontline COVID-19 responders with a flyover the Las Vegas Valley on Saturday. "The flyover is to show appreciation and support for the healthcare workers, first responders and other essential personnel in Las Vegas and around the nation who are working on the front lines to combat the coronavirus," the Thunderbirds said in a news release.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KVVU-TV FOX 5 Vegas

Gov. Charlie Baker is taking steps to shield doctors, nurses and some health care facilities on the front lines from liability as a possible surge in coronavirus cases is expected. Existing federal and state laws already provide some protections to health care workers and volunteers against civil lawsuits, but a bill Baker filed Wednesday “would provide broader liability protections appropriate to the scope of the challenge our health care providers are confronting,” Baker wrote in a letter urging legislators to act quickly.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Boston Herald

Uncertainties over how long the coronavirus restrictions on public gatherings and interaction will be in place has prompted the Kentucky Fire Commission to allow fire departments and firefighters to conduct “virtual” training. Virtual training is conducted in real time and differs from online training classes, which are pre-posted training sessions available at any time, executive director Larry Potter noted.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WTVQ-DT ABC 36 Lexington

Because of the COVID 19 pandemic, Personal protective equipment is in high demand. That creates a challenge to the U.S. healthcare system for people like Brian Hambek who is the Executive Director of the Spearfish Ambulance Service. "We're worried about what we call burn rate on PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, and that is a one time use thing that you throw away,” said Hambek.
- PUB DATE: 4/10/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KOTA-TV ABC 3 Rapid City

VIDEO: As first responders take precautions against COVID-19 contamination, those efforts include extensive measures to sterilize fire stations and equipment. Crew members from Express 911 Board Up spent several hours Wednesday using different methods to sterilize the White River Township Department headquarters in Greenwood.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WXIN-TV Fox 59 Indianapolis

As the coronavirus crisis intensifies, first responders continue making changes to protect both patients and themselves. Emergency medical service crews in the cities of Roanoke and Salem, as well as Botetourt County, are now using protective tents on patients who need oxygen. The mini-isolettes help contain respiratory droplets that could carry the coronavirus within the plastic.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WSLS-TV NBC 10 Roanoke

A new app from Stanford Medicine built with Apple’s help will help connect firefighters, police officers and paramedics in California to drive-through COVID-19 testing if they are showing symptoms of the coronavirus. Here’s how it works: Users take a survey with questions about their symptoms. If they have symptoms suggesting COVID-19 infection, the app recommends testing.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNBC

VIDEO: As confirmed coronavirus cases within DC Fire and EMS continue to climb, the department is taking new steps to protect its firefighters and paramedics on the front lines. That means ambulances and crews must undergo a three hour decontamination every time they respond to a call involving a patient with symptoms of the virus.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJLA-TV ABC 7 Washington DC

Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, residents of hard-hit New York City have been talking about ambulance sirens and how the wailing never seems to stop. They're not imagining things — but the reality is even grimmer than some may have guessed. A huge number of those ambulances are responding to fatal or near-fatal heart attacks suffered by New Yorkers whose true health issue may be COVID-19, the disease associated with the coronavirus.
- PUB DATE: 4/9/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: NBC News

VIDEO: For first responders, one of the greatest fears during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis is bringing the virus home to their families. A Metro Detroit company is building decontamination units to place in the middle of fire stations to ease those concerns. Patrick and Zoe Kintz, from Great Lakes Remediation first offered to build decontamination tents for a friend -- Southfield firefighter Jamie Rakestraw and his wife, Andrea.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Click on Detroit

Anderson County Commissioner Tim Isbel from Rocky Top has reportedly designed and is working on constructing and distributing new full face covering helmets for first responders in the county. Isbel explained these helmets are a way to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. He said they’ve been approved by Anderson County Emergency Medical Services (EMS), as well the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: Oak Ridger

As more than 1,300 New York City first responders return to work after recovering from the novel coronavirus or calling out sick with symptoms of the virus, they're responding to a rapid increase in 911 calls for cardiac arrest, the FDNY said on Tuesday. The city's firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMT) are responding to "a record numbers of calls, and they continue to meet this unprecedented challenge head on,” said Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: ABC News

Cash-strapped and empty hotels across the country are finding ways to keep the lights on by converting themselves into coronavirus wards or temporary housing for the National Guard or exhausted doctors and nurses. It provides some much needed revenue for an industry that’s been brought to its knees by the COVID-19 outbreak that’s spread to more than 1.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNBC

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage populations around the world, with more than 1.3 million cases confirmed, millions more people are self-quarantining at home in a global effort to check the virus' spread. And still, a rare breed of people selflessly go about their daily lives, offering aid to those infected and helping maintain a sense of order while the rest of us shelter in place.
- PUB DATE: 4/8/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: CNET

At least 5,000 firefighters across the U.S. are under quarantine because of the coronavirus, an official with the International Association of Fire Fighters union told Hill.TV on Monday. Jim Brinkley, the union’s assistant to general president of technical assistance, said on Hill.TV’s “Rising” that the number is likely higher due to “severe underreporting.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: The Hill

The International Association of Fire Fighters has released a tracking tool that shows which fire departments have reported exposure to COVID-19 or have had employees test positive with the virus. Firefighters respond to patients who could be infected with coronavirus every day. “The same way we do going into a fire while people are running out of it, we are running into people’s homes who may have contracted coronavirus,” said Tom Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WMC-TV NBC 5 Memphis

An innovative way of spray sanitizing is being put to good use by local emergency departments and Lawrence County Housing Authority apartment units during the coronavirus epidemic. They have the Shenango Area Fire District and the New Castle Fire Department to thank for the extra layers of protection, using the devices they built that are being used to disinfect surroundings.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: New Castle News

City governments are facing a difficult reality right now as the coronavirus pandemic has led to a revenue shortfall. In Tukwila, wage cuts are being considered. According to Rachel Bianchi, Tukwila's Deputy City Administrator, no decisions about wage reductions have been made yet. However, the firefighters union said they have already seen reduced staffing levels and they call it unacceptable.
- PUB DATE: 4/7/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KING-TV NBC 5 Seattle