DALLAS AREA WIRED TO FIGHT DISASTER

Disaster agencies in the Dallas area are getting high-tech with their network solutions. The city’s police and fire departments are able to share information about disasters when they occur to coordinate efforts. The shared network will also connect to the U.S. Transportation and Security Administration, U.S. Customer and Border Protection and Southwest Airlines Co. Dallas disaster recovery sources can communicate with all of the local emergency teams. The new system, called Emergency Response Network (ERN), was the first of its kind launched by a major metropolitan city.

The network system was put together by a private vendor that was employed by the city through a bid system.