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Officials describe multiagency response to barge fire and county radio interoperability gains
Summary
County emergency leaders recounted coordinating with DEP, U.S. Coast Guard and neighboring states on a barge/boat fire, and outlined a regional 700 MHz project to improve radio interoperability across southern counties.
Dawn Bellin and Gabe Scarpa told Spotlight on Cumberland County about a recent barge/boat fire that required multi-jurisdictional coordination and highlighted ongoing efforts to improve communications across southern New Jersey.
Scarpa said the incident began on the Delaware River side and came into Cumberland County waters; the response involved the county, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard. Bellin said the county worked with state and neighboring-state partners to limit impacts to shellfish beds and commercial channels and praised DEP's rapid involvement to select less-harmful response locations.
Both officials credited prior exercises and relationship-building for the smoother response. "We went through the same exact thing a couple years before... and what that did was opened up a lot of eyes to Cumberland County," Bellin said, describing how prior experience helped streamline contacts with the Coast Guard and state OEM.
Bellin also described a regional radio interoperability initiative on the 700 MHz band that brought southern counties together to identify common problems and standardize frequency use, an effort she said has earned recognition from the state Department of Information and Technology.
Officials said the work on interoperability and multijurisdictional relationships reduces confusion during incidents requiring multiple agencies and improves the county's ability to coordinate commerce and environmental-protection priorities during waterways incidents.
