If you haven’t heard about the D-block issue, or you’re not even sure what the D-block is, you will soon. Friday’s general session began with an urgent message from Chief Jack Parow, urging people to get involved and make sure their legislators are aware of the fire service’s needs when it comes to fireground communications.

What Is It & Why Do You Need It?
The D block is a segment of the 10-MHz radio spectrum that the fire service needs in order to establish an interoperable wireless broadband network for data and video transmission. Currently, U.S. public safety holds a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license for the 10-MHz bandwidth of the radio spectrum, but it needs the additional D block segment to sustain vital fireground communications, and build and maintain a system that meets public safety’s mission-critical requirements.

Rather than allocating the D block to public safety, the FCC plans to auction it off to a commercial telecommunications bidder. The IAFC, in partnership with the Public Safety Alliance, is asking Congress to take the D Block off the FCC auction and allocate it to public safety.

The D block could benefit public safety in several ways:
·    It would provide a nationwide system that benefits urban, suburban and rural departments.
·    It would enable downloading of building diagrams, fire systems and other incident-specific resources.
·    It would allow for tramission of patient condition metrics to emergency care facilities while en route.
·    It would lay the groundwork for the future migration to mission-critical voice communication.

What Can You Do?
The IAFC urges everyone to get involved by contacting their U.S. senators and requesting that they support S.3756. A sample letter is available at www.iafc.gov> Government Relations>Communications.

For more information, visit www.PSAFirst.org.

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