Mississippi gets $33 million for emergency operations
The state of Mississippi has gained access to $33 million in federal grant money to be used to beef up coordination among emergency responders statewide.
Specifically, the money will be used to create and upgrade technology that will allow first responders in the state to view and share data, said Vicki Helfrich, executive director of the Mississippi Wireless Communications Commission.
The data sharing could be operable as soon as the end of 2017, Helfrich said.
Right now, about 32,000 of the state's 45,000 first responders already have voice access to a broadband network built up by the state of Mississippi through the last 10 years via state money, grants and Federal Emergency Management Agency money received after Hurricane Katrina, Helfrich said.
State leaders said Wednesday's announcement that the approval of the Broadband Technology Opportunity Project grant by the U.S. Department of Commerce ends years of negotiations among federal agencies, Mississippi's U.S. senators, state officials and others to improve the state’s emergency communications capabilities in data sharing.
A fireman entering a burning building, for example, will be able to get information on the building's layout from another agency.
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Permitting Mississippi to utilize the federal funding will allow the state to increase utilization of the Mississippi Wireless Information Network system, establish a state-of-the-art integrated public safety communications center, and advance the Mississippi Tele-Assist System.
The award of the federal funding would culminate a broadband project started in 2010 with the award of a $70 million BTOP grant to Mississippi. Despite nationally-significant achievement, the state’s progress was suspended in 2012 after laws changed and the federal government set about to create a national interoperable broadband public safety network. That national effort derailed the work and plans of Mississippi, Helfrich said.
In 2015, Republican Sen. Roger Wicker rebuked federal telecommunications officials for abandoning their investment in a broadband project in the state.
"We in Mississippi, our entire delegation, Democrat and Republican, are very concerned about this (and) very disappointed at the wasting of federal money," Wicker said at a March 2015 hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Officials with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, part of the Commerce Department, suspended a $70 million grant to Mississippi in 2012 to help build the network. Mississippi was one of seven recipients in 2010 of the Broadband Technology Opportunity grant.
In Wednesday's news release about the awarding of the grant, Wicker expressed gratitude and called the funding a "major win for our state."
“Years of hard work, persistence, and a lot of patience have finally paid off. The promise this technology holds for Mississippians cannot be overstated. This high-tech emergency network will save lives," Wicker said in the release.
U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran also said the funding will save lives in Mississippi.
“The need for a strong communications network is one of the many important lessons our state has learned from disaster response. This funding is important to ensure that emergency responders can offer timely and lifesaving care,” Cochran said in the release.
The University of Mississippi Medical Center will play a key role in the completion of the project, according to the release. The integrated public safety complex will house an enhanced and expanded Mississippi MED-COM, a research and development center for mobile telemedicine applications, and an educational center on the use of technology for field deployment of emergency medicine applications. The grant will also help expand the UMMC-led Mississippi Tele-Assist System, which involves deploying emergency vehicles with the ability to transmit life-saving images.
The award will extend through June 2020.