COUNTY OF NORTHAMPTON

Department of Administration
Division of Emergency Management Services
100 GRACEDALE AVENUE
NAZARETH, PENNSYLVANIA 18064-8430
Todd K. Weaver ENP Telephone: (610) 746-3194 ext. 3224
Director of Emergency Management
Fax: (610) 746-3199 / E-mail: tweaver@ncem-pa.org
Services

9/20/2019

Report in reference to Councilman Matt Deitz 911 center concerns with Bath Borough Fire Company.

Road – Bridge Closure:

When we receive notification, typically from the contractor or PennDot, regarding a Road or Bridge
Closure, we will notify the local Police, Fire and EMS agencies that cover that municipality of the
closure notification by either fax or email. Same applies for when Road or Bridge (Re-Opening)
occurs.

After the agencies have been notified, we do not update responding units about such closures unless
a responding unit makes an inquiry regarding a closure or opening of roads or bridges.
Timely notification or updates from the Contractor or even the Municipality to the 911 Center for this
activity does not occur routinely or consistently which is why we do not advise responding units on a
continual basis.

If a Road or Bridge is going to be closed for an extended period time, we will open a KC report,
update the status, and leave it open until we are notified of the work being completed and it being
reopened

We reviewed the Cardiac Arrest call in Bath Borough last week, there was no inquiry about road or
bridge closure from any responding units or any request for directions nor any directions given.

Paging \ Radio Issue:

On 9/17/2019 the fire chief of Bath contacted the dispatch center and indicated to a dispatcher, that ¾
of his pager were not activating. Dispatcher asked if we could test their pagers to see if they would go
off and the chief stated no we did not have to test his pagers. The supervisor created a support ticket
on the issue.

Radio level were check by Michael Lenner (Systems Manager) and there are no deficiencies and/or
changes since the last radio levels were obtained ten day prior.

On 9/18/2019 the center received and email ticket from the Bath fire chief that his station is having an
issue with pagers not alerting since 9/11/2019. “Since September 11 2019 our pagers at Bath station
40 have not been tripping for calls. Prior to that it has been intermittent since the cad and or radio
system seems to be used since the merger with the city of Bethlehem. I have contacted several
dispatchers and supervision on this issue with no reply back. Please look into this now.”
Note: See Contact with Bath Fire Chief prior to 9/19/2019 at the end of this report.

09/18/2019 at 1005 hours Michael Lenner contacted the Chief via email as well as calling the phone
number provided in his email signature, and after no reply, had 911 staff alert their station via pager
to request the fire chief (Mr. Tully) to call in. The Chief called Michael Lenner back and obtained some
basic information to continue troubleshooting the reported items.

9/18/2019 at 1038 hours, Michael Lenner did testing with the fire chief to help narrow down the issue.

09/18/2019 at 1100 hours, Jeff Steiert (Deputy Director for System) followed up with Michael Lenner
as to the status and briefed. Jeff Steiert involved Greg from TuWay (Console Vendor) that was on site
for another item. Greg adjusted (increased) outbound audio levels and Jeff Steiert tested again at
about 1300 hours, the Chief was going to follow up with us after the test, but the chief did not re-
contact us. Jeff Steiert let the changes stand overnight until we heard back from the chief. The
Moducom console (Old Radio console) was still available immediately to the staff if the issue
persisted following the adjusted audio levels.

9/20/19 Jeff contacted the chief and informed him we had received the initial report, and were
performing troubleshooting on the report beginning on the 17th. Jeff discussed the narrowed scope of
the issue and updated the chief on what actions were being taken. The chief advised the pagers
activated or missed activating based on location within the County including one in Bangor. The chief
indicated all of the old (VHF) pagers always activated; the sporadic alerts were on the new (UHF)
devices.

9/20/2019 after additional system checks and investigation the console vendor found a setting that
would intermittently effected their pages from alerting. Tuway made an additional change in audio
output and tested, confirming activation of the devices with the fire chief.

Jeff Steiert also talk to the fire chief after the tests were completed and provide his cell number if the
chief has any other issues.

On investigation of the issue Jeff Steiert through the fire department`s vendor found that, the last
purchase of pagers was in 2015 from RMI. Some of the pagers are setup to scan which cause the
pager not to alert reliably due to the fact the pager may not be on the proper frequency when we alert
the department.

9/20/19 – Jeff Steiert discussed the radios and paging devices with the vendor for Bath Borough,
RMI, who confirmed they sold the Borough several radios and several pagers, programming all of the
devices. RMI reviewed the program and found ALL of the channels are programmed and available to
the agency. Jeff confirmed the only programming completed for the agency was in 2012 and only
changed the banding to comply with the FCC mandate (at that time) to narrowband. RMI has
performed all programming since becoming the Borough vendor in 2015.

9/20/19 – On a separate note, the chief informed Jeff that they very sporadically experience an issue
with communication on OPS-1, but he noted essentially a one-block area where it does not function
for them. However, the secondary frequency available to them works very well for that location. Jeff
advised the chief testing for the reported OPS-1 item will be completed and the findings/next steps
reported back to them.
Mutual Aid Dispatching for Fire:

The local municipality is responsible for fire response. We dispatch units based on what is provided
by the municipality and/or there designee (Fire Chief). It is the responsibility for each municipality
and/or designee (Fire Chief) to submit their response plans to the 911 center. Once received they are
entered into the computer aided dispatch system and followed by the dispatchers.

Additional Tower Location:

While looking at an additional tower site location is possible, it may not be feasible or cost effective. In
a simulcast system, adding an additional site may introduce other issues to the system. In addition,
cell carrier sites may not provide the backup power, connectivity, shelter space for equipment, or the
antenna space\separation required. Again, this may be possible but there is more than just adding
equipment.

Contact with Bath Fire Chief prior to 9/19/2019:

In checking phone logs, the Bath Fire Chief has only called in 3 times since June 1 ston his cell phone
this does not preclude if he used a different device to call in.

1st call on 8/16/2019 was in reference to call and nothing related to paging

2nd call on 9/17/2019 was in reference to him reporting that ¾ of his pager were not tripping and only
talked to a dispatcher. Dispatcher asked if we could test there pagers his pager to see if they would
go off and the chief stated no we did not have to test his pagers. The supervisor entered ticket and talked to
Mike Lenner. (Note the 9/17/2019 was the day Zetron went down and did not affect any dispatches.)

3rd call on 9/18/2019 was a request for him to call in for Mike Lenner to talk about the paging issue and trouble
shoot. Phone call transferred to Mike Lenner.

Other contact with assistant chief:

On 8/1/2019 one of Bath Fire`s Deputy Chiefs called in about the Knox box for engine 4013 would not release
when we use the Zetron console. This was a known issue with Zetron and fixed on 8/30/2019 by Zetron

Administrative staff and supervisors were polled if they had any contact with the fire chief and above are the
only times as of 9/12/2019