COLUMBIA, S.C. — The city of Columbia announced the launch of a new communication technology system to help first responders.
Officials from around the city met at the Columbia Fire Department headquarters on Laurel Street to talk about their new partnership with AT&T.
According to a press release about the system, "FirstNet is the nationwide public safety broadband platform dedicated to first responders and those that support them. It is more than a network, including advanced services, applications and purpose-built devices."
The new system will include connected cameras, drones, vehicle routing, and much more. It will also establish communication lines in case normal ones shut down like in the October floods of 2015.
City of Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin says first responders need to have the best resources possible.
"Every single day, men and women in uniform run towards danger while we're all running opposite directions," said Benjamin. "We need to make sure they have every single tool they could possibly have that makes smarter and stronger every single day to keep us safe."
The city tested the new technology a few months ago during the teacher rally at the State House, better known as #AllOutMay1st. Chief Deputy Melron Kelly with the Columbia Police Department says they noticed a big difference then in the efficiency of communication.
"It will save lives and that's what we want," said Kelly. "Anytime you talk about communication, we have police radios that go down and we have our other technology that can go down. This will allow us to be at the top of the tier of communications as it relates to connectivity with our citizens and with our counterparts."
The City of Columbia says this is the first effort in this state to have this kind of technology. The city also says part of the reason AT&T created this system was because of the events of September 11th, 2001.
Terrance Ford, the director of legislative affairs for AT&T South Carolina believes the new system will become quickly effective.
"Public safety agencies participating in FirstNet have access to a nationwide fleet of 75 deployable network assets," explained Ford.
Chief Aubrey Jenkins with the Columbia Fire Department thinks the new resource of communication will help first responders act more quickly and efficiently when the community needs them most.
"I look at this network as a fire lane or emergency lane because now we have an avenue that we can travel down without being hindered in any kind of way," said Jenkins.
For more information on FirstNet, click here.