❓ A WA parliamentary question on notice reveals failures in the WA Emergency Response Network (WAERN) repeater sites, staffing shortages in radio technicians at DFES, and lack of documented procedures for requesting power restoration during emergencies.
AnsweredQoN 653Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) I refer to the Western Australian Emergency Response Network (WAERN) repeater sites and evidence provided to the Standing Committee on Estimates and Financial Operations 2021-22 Budget Estimates inquiry and I ask, in the past two years, has any WAERN repeater site failed? (2) If yes to (1), will the Minister please provide the following in respect to each failure: (a) the date; (b) the time; (c) the length of failure; and (d) the location of repeater site? (3) How does the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) determine the failure of a repeater site? (4) Will the Minister please table the policy and procedures that apply in the event that a site loses power and switches to batter redundancy? (5) How frequently is each radio repeater site inspected and maintained? (6) How many radio technicians by FTE are ordinarily employed by DFES? (7) How many radio technicians by FTE are currently employed by DFES? (8) Noting the case study found at Appendix G of the Independent Review of Christmas 2021 Power Outages, I ask: (a) given the power disruption occurred at 1920 hours on 25 December 2021, why was it the case the repeater site mentioned was low on power by the following morning, given the Minister has stated each site has a 48-hour battery redundancy; (b) did the site mentioned in the case study lose power and fail; (c) at what date and time was back up generation mobilised to the site; and (d) at what date and time was back up generation operational at the site? (9) Noting the comment on page 37 of the above mentioned review, which states, "The Wester Power DFES TFB exemption does allow DFES to request re-instatement of power in an emergency however this appears to be rarely used and there are no documented procedures on how to apply that request", and I ask: (a) will the Minister please table the Western Power TFB exemption; (b) on how many occasions has DFES 'requested' that power be restored pursuant to the exemption; (c) of those identified in (b), on what dates were such requests made and in relation to which locations; and (d) given the impact of extended outages on the WAERN repeater network as well as other telecommunication facilities which enable emergency response and emergency management, why does DFES not have a documented procedure in this respect?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
10 May 2022
Responded by
Minister for Emergency Services
Response time
3 days
(1) Yes
(2) Currently DFES Radio Communications Service (RCS) repeater infrastructure does not have the required technology to provide ability to remotely monitor the health and performance of repeaters.
(3) The failure of a repeater site is determined through the fault reporting system by the end user reporting the inability to communicate or a degradation of service.
(4) The process for failover to battery is automated through the configuration of the sites power system design.
(5) Annually.
(6) 10
(7) 6. Recruitment for the vacant positions is currently underway.
(8) (a) DFES was not aware of it being low on power the morning of 26 December 2021.
(b) No
(c) On the morning of 26 December 2021.
(d) 0930hrs 26th December 2021.
(9) (a) Please see tabled paper no. #
(b)Nil
(c) Nil
(d) Where the WAERN repeater network is impacted by the electricity network during an emergency DFES has procedures in place to address the outages, these procedures do not include requesting the re-instatement of power. DFES does not rely on the re-instatement of power to ensure WAERN network coverage
(2) Currently DFES Radio Communications Service (RCS) repeater infrastructure does not have the required technology to provide ability to remotely monitor the health and performance of repeaters.
(3) The failure of a repeater site is determined through the fault reporting system by the end user reporting the inability to communicate or a degradation of service.
(4) The process for failover to battery is automated through the configuration of the sites power system design.
(5) Annually.
(6) 10
(7) 6. Recruitment for the vacant positions is currently underway.
(8) (a) DFES was not aware of it being low on power the morning of 26 December 2021.
(b) No
(c) On the morning of 26 December 2021.
(d) 0930hrs 26th December 2021.
(9) (a) Please see tabled paper no. #
(b)Nil
(c) Nil
(d) Where the WAERN repeater network is impacted by the electricity network during an emergency DFES has procedures in place to address the outages, these procedures do not include requesting the re-instatement of power. DFES does not rely on the re-instatement of power to ensure WAERN network coverage
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