Tulsa Ahead Of The Homeland Security Curve

An alarming new Homeland Security report says only 6 US cities have made adequate upgrades to emergency communications since the terror attacks of 9-11. <br/><br/>The News on 6 wondered how Tulsa ranked

Wednesday, January 3rd 2007, 10:16 am

By: News On 6

An alarming new Homeland Security report says only 6 US cities have made adequate upgrades to emergency communications since the terror attacks of 9-11.

The News on 6 wondered how Tulsa ranked in the survey and was surprised by the answer. News on 6 anchor Tami Marler says we all want to know that our tax dollars are going toward keeping us safe.

At first blush, the new report makes it look like we're falling short. It was a wakeup call for first responders everywhere. How many lives would have been saved if authorities could communicate to rescuers, the twin towers were about to fall and could it happen again?

"The city of Tulsa is extremely well-prepared for any kind of homeland security issue whether it be a natural disaster or a terrorist attack." Tulsa Fire Captain Larry Bowles says there's good reason for Tulsa's preparedness, years of practice. "We do a lot of disaster preparedness drills. Mock disasters. Full-scale disaster drills."

One of the most important aspects of emergency response is communication and if communication were to get knocked out throughout the city of Tulsa, emergency management officials say we'd be ready. "This is about as advanced as you can get in radio cross-communication right now." Roger Jolliff is proud of Tulsa's ECHO1, a cutting-edge mobile trailer that allows first responders from different agencies, towns and counties to communicate in case of a disaster.

He was disappointed to see, only 75 cities were included in the Homeland Security Department's communications study and Tulsa was not one of them.
"This study seems to present that communities are not ready. I want the public to know that many good things are being done by all the different agencies we work with. The people have to know that we are preparing for this every day. We plan like we're the only city in the country that's going to have a disaster. That's what we get paid to do. So they don't have to worry about it as much."

If it were up to Jolliff to rate Tulsa's homeland security progress on a scale of one to ten. "I'm gonna give us a ten on what we've already done and I'll rate us lower on where we have to go from here. We will never be where we completely want to be."