Flowing Wells Library, 1730 W. Wetmore Road, will be closed until Tuesday, Feb. 19, due to a fire on Wednesday night. There were no injuries.

Pima County Public Library administrators want to make sure that the library will be a safe environment for staff and the public before reopening the doors. The biggest issue is the smoke and burnt plastic odor, which needs to be mitigated.

Pima County Facilities Management is assessing the damage and will put together an action plan to address the issues.

Northwest Fire was able to keep the fire from spreading to any area of the building that contained books and other materials. Interior fire damage was limited to storage areas and a bathroom and is estimated to be between $4,000 and $6,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

Our sincere thanks to the Northwest Fire/Rescue District and the Pima County Sheriff’s Department for their quick response and hard work to protect our library and the surrounding community.

The book drop at Flowing Wells Library is also closed. Patrons who need assistance may call the Infoline at 791-4010 or visit any of these nearby libraries:

• Woods Memorial Library, 3455 N. First Ave., 594-5445
• Nanini Library, 7300 N. Shannon Road, 594-5365
• El Rio Library, 1390 W. Speedway Blvd., 594-5245

About Pima County Public Library
The Pima County Public Library (PCPL), which is headquartered in Tucson, Ariz., enriches lives and builds community through opportunities to learn, know, interact and grow. With 27 public libraries serving Tucson and the surrounding communities of Arivaca, Green Valley, Sahuarita, South Tucson, Ajo, Marana, Oro Valley and Catalina, PCPL provides a wide range of free services that contribute to the economic development of the community. For more information, visit www.library.pima.gov.

A Pima County program was recognized Tuesday for its role in helping to fight prescription drug abuse and keeping the aquifer clean.

The Dispose-A-Med program received a Common Ground Award by the Metropolitan Pima Alliance for the best program or event benefitting the County. Organizers were recognized by the Pima County Board of Supervisors Jan. 8.

With support from the Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation and Health Departments, and oversight from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the program operated by the Pima County Sheriff’s Department collects and incinerates unwanted prescription drugs.

That way, the medication doesn’t fall into the wrong hands or get flushed into the sewer system, where the miniscule doses of chemicals can elude even sophisticated treatment systems.

The most recent event at the beginning of December collected 201 pounds of medication, bringing the total weight of collected medication for the year to more than 1,550 pounds.

Considering 800 pills weigh about a pound, “that’s a tremendous amount of drugs being taken off the street,” said Lt. Jim Berry of the Sheriff’s Department.

Pima County Public Health Director Francisco Garcia credited the program with tackling a significant public health issue, noting that in the past 20 years, prescription drug deaths have tripled in the country.

He lauded the multi-departmental approach taken. “We have to work across disciplines and across silos to accomplish important public health goals – and this program is an effective example of that.”

Dr. Garcia said recycling unused medication is not an option since drug policy prevents diverting to another person any medication that was prescribed to another individual. The Dispose-A-Med program remains the best option, he said.

The program, which began in 2009, has 40 member agencies. Along with federal grant funding, the program relies on support from community partners to sponsor events.

If you are interested in obtaining more information about sponsoring an event, please call the Pima County Sheriff’s Department Community Resource Office at 351-4615.

To obtain information about the 2013 schedule, please visit http://www.pimasheriff.org/department-services/other-services/dispos-a-med/

ASSIGNMENT EDITORS NOTE:  The helicopter will take off from Kino Sports Complex following the 10 a.m. press conference. The helicopter will support law enforcement personnel from the bomb squad, SWAT and search-and-rescue functions, who will have their equipment on display at the event.

Pima County will unveil a new crime-fighting and life-saving tool on Monday, Sept. 24.

The American Eurocopter AS350B3e helicopter will be introduced to the community at 10 a.m. at Kino Sports Complex, 2500 East Ajo Way.

 The helicopter, which will be used to complete search-and-rescue operations and to help extinguish fires, will be the County’s first rescue-capable helicopter.  The County previously had to rely on helicopters from the Department of Public Safety or the military, depending on availability.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department is the first law enforcement agency in the country to purchase the model for law enforcement uses.

This model of helicopter, typically used for high performance missions in hot conditions and high altitudes, will allow Pima County to more readily respond to threats along the border and will serve as a key asset in rescuing hikers off Mount Lemmon or in rescuing those suffering from heat exposure in the desert.

The new helicopter replaces a different model that crashed in January 2011 northwest of Tucson, killing pilot Loren Leonberger and injuring three others. The cause of the crash has not yet been determined by the National Transportation Safety Board.

No general fund appropriations supported the $3.8 million purchase.

Instead, Pima County used three funding sources: an insurance settlement from the crash, federal grant funding for urban areas with potential terrorism threats and approximately $1 million in racketeering funds.

The new helicopter will complement the other aircraft in the Sheriff Department’s Air Unit.

The department has two planes used for the extradition of prisoners, a single-engine and a twin-engine Cessna.

The department also uses two Vietnam-era, fixed-wing Helio-Courier aircraft that are extremely fuel efficient and can stay in the air flying as slow as 25 miles per hour. This capability provides these aircraft an efficient and practical use in patrol operations.

The helicopter now ensures the department will have a diverse fleet that will allow it to respond to a diverse range of situations.

Pima County, Ariz. – In 2008, a 25-year-old man led police and sheriff’s deputies on a zig-zag car chase that began on the northwest side of Tucson and ended on Mount Lemmon, with one Tucson Police officer fatally wounded and two Pima County Sheriff’s deputies injured.

The two deputies survived. Throughout that deadly chase, police and deputies weren’t able to talk to each other on the same radio frequency.

The incident highlighted a serious flaw in emergency communications that is now being corrected.

The radio communications systems throughout much of Pima County are on different radio frequency bands and use different proprietary technologies.

They don’t provide for live, simultaneous communication among law enforcement, fire agencies and medical first responders.

The good news for county residents is that these outdated systems will be old news by late 2013, when the county’s new public safety Wireless Integrated Network, funded by bonds approved by voters in 2004, is expected to begin operation.

The new Pima County Wireless Integrated Network (PCWIN) system will enable 30 fire and law enforcement agencies from Tucson to Ajo, from Sahuarita to Mount Lemmon, and from the Rincon Valley to Avra Valley, to talk to each other by radio in real time on a single system, regardless of their jurisdiction boundaries.

Capt. Paul Wilson of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department is the wireless radio project’s administrator for Pima County. The Sheriff’s Department is a key partner in the project.

“It is imperative that first responders be able to communicate directly with one another to coordinate public safety services to minimize risk from events like the 2008 chase,” Capt. Wilson has said.

Today, most local fire and police agencies must communicate with each other during an incident by radioing their own dispatchers, who then relay the information to the other agency’s dispatchers. Those dispatchers radio their first responders. And then the first responders relay their message back the same way.  It’s a cumbersome process.

Pima County’s new, shared wireless communications system will put more than 7,000 new radios into service.

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon in September 2001, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security recommended the use of these “shared systems” to provide what it calls an “interoperability continuum” and to prevent “single points of failure.”

The complex project under way now in Pima County requires cooperation from diverse entities, including the Tohono O’odham Nation, Arizona State Land Department, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, as well as local police and fire agencies throughout Pima County.

The new wireless radio system will incorporate a number of new communications sites now being placed throughout the county.

Several of the new radio towers are already up. The county hired contractors who specialize in communications site work so that some of the towers could go up at the same time and the county could keep to its construction schedule.

Towers are up at the Golder Ranch Fire Station #370, Rincon Valley Fire District Station #1 and at the Oro Valley Town government complex.

Also, a new tower has gone up at Child’s Mountain in Ajo and contracts for improvements at five sites owned by the city of Tucson have been awarded.

Although most of the project is funded by county bonds, $10.5 million in federal monies have been provided to pay for some of the equipment for the project.

When Pima County voters approved the Public Safety bond issue in 2004, they also approved funding for new public safety 9-1-1 dispatch facilities.

Two sites will be renovated to provide enhanced dispatch services for the City of Tucson and unincorporated Pima County.

A new county facility, the Pima Emergency Communications and Operations Center, will be built at 3434 E. 22^nd St, near Alvernon Way. A 125-foot radio tower with antennas and microwave dishes are part of this project.

The City of Tucson’s existing emergency dispatch center at the Thomas O. Price Service Center at Park Avenue and Ajo Way will be renovated and upgraded as part of the project.

Each site will act as a 9-1-1 dispatch backup facility for the other.

The communications tower to be erected at the Pima County facility in Tucson will be fitted with multiple antennas to support the emergency services communications provided by the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service, in support of the Pima County Emergency Operations Center.

These volunteer radio operators provide their skills within a protocol created by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Federal Communications Commission.

They’re trained to work within the guidelines of the National Incident Management System. And their skills enable local, state and federal government agencies to work together with the private sector during major incidents, such as floods. They’re also the only amateur radio operators authorized to transmit, should the President of the United States declare an emergency and invoke the War Powers Act.

The new countywide radio communications system is also requiring some construction on University of Arizona-owned land on Tumamoc Hill on the city’s west side, near St. Mary’s Road. It’s a popular hiking spot.

And although hiking access to the hill is already restricted during the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., while scientific research is under way, some people still walk the hill during those times.

Now, with the added presence of construction vehicles, access to the hill will be restricted at all times to hikers on specific weekdays while a new radio tower is erected. A sign at the base of the hill and a calendar on the PCWIN website will warn hikers when the hill will be closed to them.

Check the PCWIN web site for updates on access to the hill at www.bonds.pima.gov/wireless/index.html. Then, click on the “Project Updates” link.

Pima County, Ariz. (Sept. 16, 2011) – Lessons learned from the Jan. 8 mass shooting in Tucson will be shared with faith-based groups and others at a U.S. Homeland Security conference, “Faithful Readiness,” Sept. 20-22 at the Holiday Inn Hotel, 4550 S. Palo Verde Road in Tucson.

The event is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and hosted in Tucson by Pima County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Conference attendees will hear speakers from throughout the nation on cooperation between first-responders and faith-based groups, how communities can partner with faith-based groups in a crisis or disaster, and how to build a “whole community” response to a disaster.

The conference will bring Tucson, tribal, county, state and federal government representatives together with individuals from faith-based groups to help prepare the community to respond to future disasters and mass casualty incidents.

On Tuesday, conference participants will learn how the Pima County Office of Emergency Management and U.S. Department of Homeland Security are set up to function during a disaster under guidelines established by the federal government’s National Incident Command System.

John Wisner, a program manager in Pima County’s OEMHS, will talk about the Emergency Management Incident Command System at an introductory training session for attendees from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

Pam Simon, Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford’s community and faith liaison, will be the keynote speaker on Wednesday morning. Her talk, “A Time to Remember. A Time to Prepare,” is set for 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 21.

Simon was shot on Jan. 8 in the attack by a lone gunman at a constituent event hosted by Giffords in Tucson. Six people were killed in the incident.

Simon’s remarks will be followed by Pima County Sheriff’s Capt. Frank Duarte, who will present a case study of the Jan. 8 event.

Duarte will talk about the importance of multi-disciplinary cooperation during the emergency response to an incident that involved multiple public safety and medical entities.

The role of clergy in a disaster and how they can be trained to be “agents of safety” is the topic of a workshop on Wednesday, Sept. 21, at 10:45 a.m.

The conference will also provide information on how to make sure the needs of disabled children and adults and the elderly are met during a crisis, and faith leaders will talk about the principles involved in faith-based crises management, to help individuals be prepared and recover more effectively from a disaster or crisis.

Some of those who helped Hurricane Katrina victims who were evacuated to Tucson recover from that disaster will also take part in the conference.

Among the organizations taking part in the conference are the American Red Cross Southern Arizona Chapter, Grace Temple Missionary Baptist Church, Tucson Indian Center, Tucson NAACP, Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Tucson, Arizona Chapter of League of United Latino American Citizens, Community Alliance Addressing Disparities, Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Arizona Division of Emergency Management/Department of Emergency and Military Affairs and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region IX.