Firsthand account of why FirstNet is needed

More than a decade after the US’s emergency communications faults were laid bare during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, first responders are still waiting for the promised new nationwide public safety network.

FirstNet is coming, but it can’t come soon enough for those who experienced the confusion and frustration of Katrina.

Writing for Forbes, Ronnie Johnson, a colonel (retired) in Louisiana’s Army National Guard, and director of information management during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, said he and his colleagues have been waiting a long time for a robust emergency services communications network.

Recalling the communications problems encountered during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he said: “In New Orleans 11 years ago, I never thought it would have taken this long to get to this point. The wheels of the federal government turn slowly.

“I still remember how difficult our task was without simple cellphone service in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As first responders and National Guard forces from Louisiana and other states positioned and repositioned in response to initially Hurricane Katrina, and shortly thereafter Hurricane Rita, communications was a serious challenge. Forced to rely on short-range organic communications systems severely hampered rescue operations.”

Johnson said that during the Katrina event, long-range communications “were largely inoperable” and that it took several days to put enough redundant long-range communications systems in place.

“Thanks to some American ingenuity, we cobbled together emergency comms using commercial spectrum and deployable equipment. It worked, but we might not have needed it if we’d had a network hardened against the kind of natural disaster that we all knew Louisiana faced sooner or later.”

Image courtesy US DoD