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News


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

  • Written by Donny Jackson
  • 23rd March 2015
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.

What is in this article?

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

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.’” 

Firefighters’ union claims of RF dangers jeopardizes LA-RICS public-safety LTE project
1 | 2 |
Tags: Fire/EMS News NTIA/FirstNet Policy Public Safety Public-Safety Broadband/FirstNet System Installation Tower & Site News

10 comments

  1. Avatar AnonymousGuy 24th March 2015 @ 12:14 pm
    Reply

    0.01uW/cm^2 gives an exposure
    0.01uW/cm^2 gives an exposure limit of 95 uW for an adult male assuming half illumination. Is the medical expert hired by these guys a new age hippy?

    Also, not to be pedantic but LTE is in the microwave range, not the RF range.

  2. Avatar Ginny 24th March 2015 @ 2:44 pm
    Reply

    All you had to do was talk
    All you had to do was talk with the Firemen first. Had you been courteous and direct, explaining the necessity of such a system and received their backing, you would have been fine. But you opted to ognore them and treat them like second class citizens. Bit you in the ass, didn’t it?

    • Avatar Seth 18th April 2015 @ 3:27 pm
      Reply

      Ignorance here again. There
      Ignorance here again. There are public letters of support to the governor urging legislation to allow to build on fire sites from the firefighters – city, county all of them… they participated in the design, they participated in the evaluation of the system, but they are in the midst of labor negotiations and scare tactics are always the bully’s go-to MO. Look at the facts, and don’t come crying later with blood on your hands for what you’ve done. BULLY!!!

  3. Avatar CellOne 24th March 2015 @ 7:19 pm
    Reply

    But yet its ok for the
    But yet its ok for the members at large to carry cell phones with them 24/7 and be on those phones for years on end and up to their head? What a boondoggle by the unions. And what about their LMR radios that they carry and use? Those can and do use more power….And the unions claim that the FCC has no qualified medical experts on staff…what do the unions have?? Sorry folks…put up or shut up. When someone hands you a free system for your use to augment what you have to help you out…why do you have to take the defensive stance and posture? I just dont get it. Must be more to this story then the unions are letting onto

  4. Avatar Educated Radio User 24th March 2015 @ 7:23 pm
    Reply

    This make perfect sense, so
    This make perfect sense, so long as the Union bans its members from ever transmitting on an LMR portable, strapped to their chest in turnout gear, and the use of a cell phone becomes a capital offense for the entire membership of IAFF.

  5. Avatar Ernest Mann 24th March 2015 @ 7:37 pm
    Reply

    Granted there is concern
    Granted there is concern regarding LTE signal transmissions from the tower antennas. I would have greater concern regarding transmissions from public safety portable radio antennas located near the head and waist. The power from these close-in transmissions, as well as cellphones, are typically far stronger than the fields received from antennas up on a tower or building rooftop. Signal measurements could easily be made to verify levels of all transmission types,

  6. Avatar Larsen E. Whipsnave 24th March 2015 @ 8:20 pm
    Reply

    Just about as much chance of
    Just about as much chance of these maladies to occur as for Joe Biden to come down with Sickle-cell anemia for working too near the President. Obviously these firemen have been staying up too late in the station house watching Mystery Science Theater……

  7. Avatar mrradio 25th March 2015 @ 1:16 am
    Reply

    These guys must be married to
    These guys must be married to the PTA MOMS who want to ban wi – fi in schools. Show me one well documented case of so much as a headache from a comm tower. Want a dose of rf radiation? Drive by your 50,000 watt local AM station. Get out the violins! I have spent 35 years on comm sites pumping out a combined kilowatt and I can still think more clearly than these ill informed whiners.

  8. Avatar Radio Randy 25th March 2015 @ 3:42 pm
    Reply

    Okay, which medical
    Okay, which medical “specialist” has ever made a factual connection between RF exposure and any of the maladies mentioned in the article? Why aren’t radio technicians and ham radio operators dropping like flies, since most of them are regularly exposed to RF levels far in excess of the EPA maximums?
    The unions might as well insist on life boats at all fire stations because of the threat of rising oceans due to global warming.

  9. Avatar Stuart 7th April 2015 @ 4:50 pm
    Reply

    At least this has been good
    At least this has been good for more than a few laughs. The people of California are indeed fortunate to have such Shepherds watching over them. I hope I am never trapped in a burning building there. I propose that we issue RF suits and monitors to all firefighters.

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