If you’ve ever served your nation as a member of the military or served your community as a first responder, you may have heard the acronym, “ATAK.” Interestingly enough, depending on which of those communities you were a member of, that acronym could stand for something different. In the military,

Progress isn’t always observable. With 2020’s disastrous wildfire season, we saw the record-breaking loss of land and the loss of far too many lives. Knowing that wildland firefighting improvements were made in the face of such tragedy could be welcome. Confronting disaster is what wildland firefighters do. And seeking better

Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 presidential election, one of the biggest stories of 2020 is at risk of being forgotten. 2020 was the year of the wildland fire, and not just in the United States. The year began with the “Black Summer” bushfires burning across New

When first responders and emergency response personnel respond to natural disasters, we want them to be as prepared as possible. But, historically, disaster and emergency response personnel deployed with just a traditional voice radio. This gave them the ability to communicate and collaborate via voice only. And even that capability

When we look back at recent wildfires, earthquakes, and other disasters, we remember the critical loss of cell sites, RF towers, connectivity to 911 dispatch centers, broadcast stations, and public alerting systems. We know that our centralized communications infrastructure is never invincible. So, how do we avoid these communications challenges

This year has been one of the worst on record for wildfire response operations and crews around the globe. It started in Australia at the very beginning of the year, with brushfires that were so devastating and destructive that they were headline news on every continent, burnt approximately 46 million

As wildfires grow increasingly severe, we need to rethink the technology and equipment our firefighters rely on to stay safe, connected, and aware. This session from the 2020 Colorado Wildland Firefighter Conference  will provide an overview of the new and innovative communications technologies that are enhancing resilience and accountability on

The civilian version of the U.S. military’s situational awareness application, ATAK, is officially released so any team around the world can take advantage of its leading tools for teamwide command and control — completely free of charge. The Team Awareness Kit for Android (often referred to as CivTAK or TAK-CIV)

When disasters damage or destroy terrestrial communications networks, first responders need rapidly deployable equipment to maintain situational awareness and communications. This was one of the central discussions during the 2020 International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE 2020), a virtual event that brought together critical communications technology providers, practitioners, and other industry

In my previous article on The Last Mile, I looked at the current state of the wildfire threat in the United States and how recent climate changes and shifts in our environment are not only making wildfires more frequent, they’re making them more destructive and deadly. In that article, I