2 from Orleans serving on state boards for emergency communications
Photos by Tom Rivers: Dale Banker, Orleans County’s Emergency Management coordinator, is pictured at a fire in Carlton on May 20. He is a member of the NYS Association of Fire Chiefs radio communication committee/board.
ALBION – Two Orleans County employees are serving on state boards for emergency communications.
Dale Banker, director of the Orleans County Emergency management Office, has been named to the NYS Association of Fire Chiefs Radio Communications Committee.
Banker, a former Albion fire chief, has served as the EMO leader for about four years, during which time the county has worked to upgrade its emergency communications system.
Allen Turner is the communications coordinator for the dispatch center at Orleans County. He has worked nearly 26 years for the county starting as a dispatcher. He is a member of the East Shelby Volunteer Company.
Another county official has been named to state Interoperable and Emergency Communications Board.
Allen Turner, the county’s 911 communications coordinator, is the first from Orleans County to serve on that board which has 25 members. The term is for four years.
The group will make recommendations to the commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services on the expenditure of grants and other funding programs related to interoperable and emergency communications.
The board also will make recommendations related to the development, coordination and implementation of policies, plans, standards, programs and services related to interoperable and emergency communications, including but not limited to ensuring compliance with federal mandates for interoperable communications and compatibility with the national incident management system.
The board also will:
- Establish structures and guidelines to maintain interoperable communications planning and coordination at the statewide level.
- Establish, promulgate and revise standards for the operation of public safety answering points.
- Establish guidelines regarding the creation of regionally based radio communications systems compatible with the structures and guidelines consistent with federal mandates and best practices.
