[StBernard] Coast Guard employs first responder radios in Louisiana

[Westley Annis]

Coast Guard employs first responder radios in Louisiana


September 19, 2009
GulfCoastPoliceNews.Com

The Police News 

September 19, 2009

NEW ORLEANS - The Coast Guard successfully conducted its first inter-agency
radio communications with the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Department
Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009.

The Coast Guard received a report of a red flare sighting Wednesday in the
vicinity of Delacroix, La. Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans launched an
MH-65C Dolphin rescue helicopter and crew and the St. Bernard Parish
Sheriff's Department dispatched a patrol car to investigate source of the
red flare.

Together the Coast Guard and the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Department
were able to search the area and maintain radio communications and determine
that no one was in distress. This was the first operational use of the Coast
Guard's upgraded first responder radios with local or state entities in
Louisiana.

"This represents a significant first step in achieving the Department of
Homeland Security mandate, that the Coast Guard be able to communicate with
other state and local emergency response agencies on common frequencies,"
said Cmdr. Whit Irwin, the assistant operations officer. "With the number of
reports that we get from local sheriff's deparments and other agencies, this
greatly increases the effectiveness of on-scene coordination."

Coast Guard Air Station New Orleans recently upgraded their five MH-65C
Dolphin helicopters with new radios that have the capability to communicate
with local and state first responders.