Devan Phillis from MARCS

The term ‘unsung hero’ seems to get a lot of use these days. For lots of societal and vocational reasons that do not really matter here, folks all across the country and the world find themselves called upon to lend assistance in times of crisis and misfortune. How person(s) choose to answer the proverbial call to action varies greatly, and is influenced by many factors. But at the heart of the matter, it remains, that folks increasingly are faced with choices in their community, jobs, or just out running errands.

Our mission as a TERT Team is to assist PSAP personnel who have been affected by a disaster of some sort. The NJTI was born following Hurricane Katrina, when public safety telecommunicators were overlooked when discussions were held on how credentialing and response looked during major national emergencies. And, our personnel have been working for nearly 2 weeks on that exact mission in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

Arlin Bradford from MARCS

But, in addition to the public safety telecommunicators that went to work at the Buncombe County PSCC, (2) personnel from Ohio MARCS also went on the deployment. Devan Phillis and Arlin Bradford are both journeymen in public safety communications, and their presence on the deployment has been critical. Similar to MARCS, the State of North Carolina has an IP radio system, VIPER (Voice Interoperability Plan for Emergency Responders). Following the flooding, VIPER was impacted in the west of the state, and for awhile, was inoperable in places. Devon, Arlin, and other technical communications staff from other states, worked with North Carolina DPS personnel to examine and repair tower sites, also placing (2) Towers On Wheels (TOWs) in service to assist with coverage in the Blue Ridge Mountain regions of the state. Reestablishing communications was such a critical process during the first days- without radio communications, the PSCC and field personnel were essentially cut off from each other. Devan and Arlin were part of the team that enabled critical information to get back on the air when it was needed the most.

Both personnel are traveling back to Ohio today with the TOWs and other related equipment. We acknowledge Ohio DAS Deputy Director of First Responder Communications Initiatives Angela Canepa, who gave the green light for Devan and Arlin to deploy with TERT. Radio technicians are oven overlooked and taken for granted, viewed as the guys who program your radio (and, yah, they did that too). They too faced a choice, and they chose to help. Their work repaired a literal lifeline that was so badly needed.

Respect.