FirstNet provided the city of Whiteville, N.C., with critical voice and data communications throughout Hurricane Florence and subsequent flooding in the area, passing a “big test” regarding the resiliency and flexibility associated with the nationwide public-safety broadband network (NPSBN), according to a Whiteville official.
Hal Lowder, director of the emergency operations center in Whiteville, N.C., said that FirstNet played a vital role in the city’s recovery efforts, particularly after the failure of its LMR system—a county-owned 400 MHz trunked system that uses a proprietary technology. Whiteville public-safety, city officials and some mutual-aid personnel were able to maintain communications by using AT&T’s enhanced-push-to-talk service (EPTT) over the FirstNet system without interruption.