Online emergency radio apps temporarily offline in Schuylkill County after cursing

Frank Andruscavage, Republican & Herald, Pottsville, Pa.
·2 min read

Aug. 22—POTTSVILLE — Use of profanity over an emergency radio prompted Schuylkill County to temporarily suspend use of three online scanner apps crucial for firefighters.

Scott Krater, director of the Schuylkill County Communications Center, said broadcasts from Broadcastify, Scanner Radio and Zello were taken offline Friday after an incident in which someone was cursing over the radio, which can be a Federal Communications Commission violation and result in fines or the revocation of an FCC license.

"It was taken offline temporarily while we investigate," Krater said. "We hope to have it back and in operation soon, as soon as we get policies and procedures in place."

He said 911 officials and county fire chiefs are conducting the review.

The 911 center first notifies fire companies and their members of an emergency through the cellphone app IamResponding, which provides information such as the type of call, the location, the time of dispatch and what companies have been dispatched.

After that, updates on the status of the call come from the other three apps, which are available to those with Android phones or iPhone devices.

In the past, many firefighters had radio scanners through which they'd hear the continued communication, but that's no longer the case.

Clicking on the Schuylkill County Fire link on Broadcastify Tuesday afternoon produced a message that read: "This feed is currently offline and not available for streaming at this time. Please check back at another time."

Scanner Radio had a similar message: "Notice This scanner is currently offline. When the scanner is offline, it means that the person who volunteered to provide the audio for it for Broadcastify.com isn't currently doing so."

When clicking on Schuylkill County fire, the Zello app simply said "disconnected."

Pottsville Fire Chief James E. Misstishin stressed the importance of the apps for today's firefighters and other emergency responders, who can use them to hear transmissions from responding and on-scene chiefs, officers or units about the status of the emergency.

"We set this radio system up this way since 95% of our firefighters don't have radios," which are mostly reserved for chiefs and officers, Misstishin said. "We designed it for firefighters."

For example, Misstishin said, a page can go out for a possible house fire, prompting volunteers to begin responding. Should the call turn out to be a false alarm, a furnace malfunction or something else minor, those responding have no way of knowing without the apps.

"Firefighters could be responding to what they believe is an emergency only to find out that they may have not been needed," Misstishin said. "They (firefighters) are rushing to the scene even though they are not needed. It's a safety factor."

Krater noted that the 911 center continues to broadcast "cancel pages" through IamResponding to let first responders know their services are no longer needed.

Contact the writer: fandruscavage@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6013