Lack of 911 Backup Power Requirements ‘Outstanding Issue,’ Regional Council Says in Derecho Report

The lack of required backup power is “one major outstanding issue,” said Glenn Roach, a consultant who worked on the report with the task force. He’s president of consulting firm Emergency Public Safety Communications as well as a member of the NG-9-1-1 Institute. The task force recommends establishing such standards to ensure carriers maintain their power, he said.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments commissioned the report and assembled the task force in the weeks after the sudden derecho storm and widespread loss of 911 service. Roach and Fairfax County, Va., 911 Director Steve Souder presented the group’s findings Wednesday to the council board. It reviewed much of the disruption already discussed (CD Sept 24 p11), detailing the failure of generators in northern Virginia and a broader Verizon failure to communicate what was happening in a timely fashion. Verizon failed “to identify or resolve previously identified maintenance issues with these generators; air in the fuel lines or faulty automatic fail-over switches, incorrect log entries and corrective action,” the report said.

"If it had to occur, I'm glad it occurred here,” said Souder, referring to the many ongoing investigations by the FCC, Virginia Corporation Commission and other entities. The derecho’s location helped “give a level of attention and review” to existing laws and practices, a review that “would not have occurred had that outage occurred somewhere else,” he said.

Verizon needs to perform a “comprehensive independent audit of the entire infrastructure, processes and procedures that support 9-1-1,” the 911 directors said, among their new recommendations. They are in addition to five given after the derecho and accepted by Verizon. Verizon and other 911 service providers should also share their expertise on best practices, review communications and public notification plans with 911 centers and keep the public informed of service problems, the recommendations said. State and federal regulators should ensure Verizon resolves these issues raised after the derecho, work with Council of Governments members and continue to investigate to see how other telcos other than Verizon were affected by the derecho, they said.

The Council of Governments should “formalize” the task force as a committee to review 911 issues, Roach told board members. Its goals would include developing “multi-year” strategic plan to look at how to best transition to NG-911. The public shouldn’t waver in its expectation of continuous 911 access, Roach said. In these efforts of oversight moving forward, local government and public safety should form “the primary voice,” Roach said.

Verizon reiterated its commitment to fixing its problems. The telco has “resolved the causes” of its generators failures, completed backup power system audits in 911 facilities in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., is working toward “resolving any issues” found in that audit, improved backup power testing, improved its methods of identifying power issues and decentralized and diversified its network monitoring system, the company said Wednesday. “Verizon shares the Council of Governments’ forward-looking, comprehensive approach to enhancing the 911 ecosystem, and we will continue to collaborate with the council, the public safety community, and other local, state and federal government officials to make every effort to ensure that 911 is available when citizens need it,” said Mid-Atlantic Vice President-Government Affairs Anthony Lewis in a statement. Verizon has also strengthened communication with 911 directors and government officials during emergencies, he added.

The regional council’s board members worried about the lower reliability of new technologies. “What are their options?” asked Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust. He has heard from people who are “very concerned” about the Verizon transition to FiOS. Another board member described what seemed “a huge gaping vulnerability that needs to be addressed by a study” that goes beyond Verizon’s problems. “Their options are limited,” Roach replied. During some disasters, people have been told to seek out local police and fire departments when 911 is down, he added, describing that as not “a very viable option” long-term. “I don’t have the answers at this point,” he said, suggesting one possibility of maintaining “hardwired traditional telephone service."

The task force’s report included more than 100 pages of appended materials such as Verizon’s August report, the Virginia Corporation Commission’s September investigation summary, and other relevant assessments. Maryland’s Emergency Number Systems Board is investigating and laid out several deadlines. Verizon and the counties will continue to give the board network diversity reviews through the first quarter of 2013, an Oct. 23 update said. The group will help the counties make certain of this diversity, which it defined as 911 center to tandem for 911 calls and 911 center to data center for advanced land imager data. Verizon is expected to complete its power audits at mission-critical Verizon locations Nov. 30, and the board will review and “ensure” power remediation completion by the first quarter of next year. The board received and is reviewing Verizon’s revised diversity guidelines for network telemetry as of Oct. 22.

The task force report represented the city of Alexandria, Va., the District of Columbia, the Maryland Public Service Commission and the 911 Services Board as well as the counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Prince William, Loudoun and Stafford in Virginia and the Maryland counties of Montgomery, Prince George’s and Charles. It included a list of all 911 centers affected by the derecho. All parties are accountable to “the five million people that reside in the COG region,” Souder told board members. He described a “collaborative and cooperative” effort thus far.