Firefighters’ union claims of RF dangers jeopardizes LA-RICS public-safety LTE project

Mallon noted that RF emissions from a microwave oven in use is 8 times greater than from the proposed cell tower–and putting a cell phone to a person’s ear during a conversation generates 38.5 times the RF exposure. But Mallon said the attitude of the unions to such information has been, “Don’t bother me with facts. My mind’s made up.”

Mallon said his personal feeling is that the unions are not really bothered by the RF emissions, but the issue is being used to achieve a “different agenda.” Mallon expressed frustration with the situation after devoting more than five years to making this public-safety broadband network (PSBN) proposal a reality.

“This is really getting emotional for me, because I’ve spent 36 years in law enforcement,” Mallon said. “I remember a situation where I walked into a building by myself and likely had to go back and change my shorts, because I had no communications

“To think that we have such a system as this PSBN that is available—and they’re turning their back on it, because of some political motivation—just bothers the hell out of me.”

If exposure to RF emissions is real issue, the solution may not be one that firefighters will like, Mallon said.

“If they prevail on this, I think the fire agencies need to go back and say, ‘We need to eliminate all RF emissions in the fire stations. So, all of your Wi-Fi routers are gone. All cellular telephones are prohibited while you’re on duty. We’re going to take away your 56-inch widescreen TV, because that emits RF.’”