By Stephen Smoot
“It’s not going as quick as I want it to,” said Joe Hartman, Chair of the Hardy 911 committee that met last week after the LEPC session. He referred to the construction of the Lost City tower, adding that he hoped that T Mobile would locate there.
That same company is expected to locate cell service on the Helmick Rock tower on South Branch Mountain, expanding service in Matthias and Lost River, possibly even Baker.
Most of the meeting, however, focused on various aspects of search and rescue operations. First, the committee decided against obtaining a used communications vehicle from a nearby county that would help to support those and other types of remote operations. The condition of the vehicle and work required to bring it into use outstripped the potential utility.
“It would make a nice camper,” one committee member suggested.
Despite the rejection of that specific vehicle, the committee agreed that the County needed equipment of this type.
Paul Lewis, Hardy County emergency services coordinator, spoke of search and rescue trainings, but lamented the fact that most take place in Kanawha County or elsewhere in the southern part of the state. He explained that it was just too far for most to go for three or four days.
Since the pandemic, search and rescue calls in some areas have tripled, making efficient and effective operations more important than ever.
He also stated that they should invite the county’s mapping official to provide training on modern mapping and location imagery, specifically citing the fact that it needed to include 911 dispatchers, OEM officials, and others. Rosie Santerre, representing the West Virginia Division of Forestry, offered access to a class presented by their agency.
Doug Mongold explained that topographic maps paled in usefulness compared to satellite imagery because they show items such as structures that most maps lack. He added that some areas have gaps in cell phone coverage, but may have access to satellite internet. “When you’re up South Fork, you might have satellite, but you don’t have cell service.”
This introduced a discussion mostly ed by Moorefield Fire Department Deputy Chief Roger Bradford on the potential utility of Starlink internet. Lewis noted that Pendleton County’s OEM had also explored Starlink.
Bradford explained various ways in which Starlink can enhance search and rescue communications and other capabilities.
Finally, the committee discussed creating a list of safe landing zones for helicopters.
