By Rob Kundert
Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA)
Copyright 2007 Woodward Communications, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
DUBUQUE, Iowa — The Dubuque Fire Department is poised to take a major technological step forward, thanks to a six-figure federal grant.
The department was awarded $429,200 from the Department of Homeland Security to build a wireless network that will connect to mobile computers in fire trucks and other emergency vehicles.
"Our goal is by Dec. 1, to have the system up and running," said Rick Steines, assistant chief of the Dubuque department, who wrote the grant application.
The system will cost $536,500. The balance - $107,300 in required matching funds - will come from money from the annual distribution by the Dubuque Racing Association.
The project would provide a graphic display of critical data currently coming via voice communication.
"The information would come in on a screen in your rig," Steines said.
It will be a boon to firefighters, according to Mark Murphy, who left the Fire Department late last year to become emergency communication manager.
Currently, the dispatchers he oversees at the Dubuque Law Enforcement Center field an emergency call, alert firefighters and then feed them information en route and on the scene.
That information can range from addresses and the fastest routes, to the location of fire hydrants.
The system would tap into databases containing detailed floor plans. Such data are now contained in large binders carried in command vehicles.
Dubuque's economic boom has resulted in construction of more commercial structures as well as large assisted-living and multiple-family buildings.
"It is becoming harder and harder to provide accurate information to fire crews using large paper formats," Steines wrote in the grant application.
By converting to an electronic format, fire inspectors can update the database quickly. The fine points of the plan still are in the formative stages, according to Steines. Now that funding is secured, the next step will be to develop a final design.
The plan calls for establishing 18 sites to receive and send the signals. Each site would be connected to the city's fiber optic system, either directly or via microwave link.
"All six fire stations will have fiber optic capabilities, but we need another 12 more sites," Steines said.
