Benton County, Washington

Emergency Management gets connected using WAVE

"Thanks to the WAVE-powered

unit, we have unprecedented

The Challenge

peace of mind and confidence in

our emergency response capabilities.

On June 27, 2000, a fiery car accident sparked a blaze in Benton County, Washington

near the Hanford Nuclear Site. Two days later, the fire had destroyed at least 73

The technology has changed the

structures and nearly 200,000 acres. Highways were closed and hundreds of homes

way our personnel think about

were evacuated. The fire seriously threatened a federal facility storing radioactive

communications."

waste. For five days, a federal declaration of disaster was issued for the Benton

County area.

--Valerie Eveland

As this disastrous fire raged, public safety and emergency responders from state and

800MHz System Manager/Technical

Systems Coordinator

federal agencies faced communications obstacles they were not equipped to over-

Benton County Emergency

come. Because of their inability to communicate across agencies and departments,

Services

their ability to fight the disaster was severely compromised.

At the time, the fire and police department, public utility district, public works agencies

and five area hospitals all utilized an 800MHz simulcast trunked radio system. Lack

of enough 800MHz radio equipment for first responders and poor coordination with

VHF and UHF systems from various outside agencies, departments and surrounding

jurisdictions, created a dangerously disconnected emergency response system.

Case Study