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

LAS VEGAS–Complaints from a firefighters union that radio-frequency (RF) emissions from LTE sites being installed at several Los Angeles-area fire stations are a health hazard could derail the regional public-safety LTE system, according to an official with the Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS), which is building the network.

LA-RICS has reduced the number of LTE sites in its planned deployment from 232 to 177, according to LA-RICS Executive Director Pat Mallon.

“We've had some of our independent cities drop out,” Mallon said during an IWCE session focused on early builders of public-safety LTE systems. “They just couldn’t feel that more cell towers in their cities were consistent with their plan.”

Mallon expressed concern that delays could result in the LA-RICS public-safety LTE project—the largest public-safety LTE project in the U.S.—not being completed by the Sept. 30 deadline associated with the federal-grant funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Some politicians have indicated that the NTIA deadline could be extended, but Mallon said “there’s not a chance in hell” of that happening.

While speaking before the Senate Commerce Committee on March 11, FirstNet Chairwoman Sue Swenson noted the fact that the LA-RICS project revealed that leveraging government-owned assets would not be as simple as expected, but she did not provide any details about the matter.

One key reason for the cities’ unwillingness to approve LTE sites is that local chapters of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) union are opposing the installation of LTE cell towers for the LA-RICS system at fire stations and lifeguard facilities—government-owned locations chosen in an attempt to streamline the deployment process. The unions claim that having LTE sites so close to fire stations is a health risk to the firefighters that spend much of their time in those stations.

“Being exposed to the risk of cancer, infertility, headaches, sleep disorders, reduced memory function, and anxiety for the rest of your career—sound acceptable to you?” is a question asked about the LA-RICS installation on the IAFF Local 1014 web site. Just below this question is a radio advertisement that refers to the new LTE sites as “toxic towers.”

This sentiment is reiterated elsewhere on the web site, where the union expresses doubt whether firefighters will use the new LTE broadband data network, noting that firefighters depend on land mobile radio (LMR) technology for mission-critical communications .

“Firefighters will get no better emergency communications from this project—you get the impacts but none of the benefits,” the IAFF Local 1014 web site states. “You'll be relying on your LMR for decades while you're being saturated with toxic radio frequency radiation from cell towers.”

IAFF Local 1014 is encouraging its members to participate in a protest of the LA-RICS cell towers tomorrow at a Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors hearing, according to the union chapter’s web site.

Last fall, an IAFF official expressed dismay that the union was not informed of the LA-RICS plan to locate LTE towers close to fire stations and lifeguard facilities. Mallon said he wanted to conduct outreach about the LTE project with the union, but he was informed that such communication would not be appropriate.

“We did extensive outreach to the cities, to the supervisors in each of the five districts—we did over 175 outreach sessions,” Mallon said. “Once, I got my wrists slapped for reaching out to the unions directly [and was told] that I needed to deal through the agencies and let them do that–and they didn't.

“So, as we were moving forward and we started installing some of the towers at the fire stations, the fire unions said, ‘Holy (expletive), there are RF emissions, folks. They're going to fry our brains.’”

Mallon said the LA-RICS LTE towers are expected to emit “about 6” microwatts of RF energy into the fire station, which is less than 2% of the emissions allowed by the FCC. But the technical consultant hired by the firefighter unions has noted that the FCC does not have qualified medical experts on its staff and claims that people should not be exposed to more than “0.01 microwatts per square centimeter–50,000 times lower than the FCC requires,” Mallon said.