After 30 years as a career and volunteer firefighter, Stephen Wantz understands the importance of clear communications. Now, as an elected official in Carroll County, Maryland, he uses his past experience to advocate for the tools and technology public safety needs to communicate.

Public safety needs a solution that allows for a single, secure authentication process across every application needed. Logging on once should make multiple mobile applications immediately available for first responder use, allowing life-saving work to begin sooner. The FirstNet Authority is exploring how Identity, Credential, and Access Management affects public safety daily and what other solutions can help solve real-world problems.

In this year’s Annual Report to Congress, the First Responder Network Authority, or FirstNet Authority, celebrates its 10th anniversary.

The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) received an unmodified, or clean, audit opinion on its financial statements for fiscal year (FY) 2021. This is the ninth consecutive year that the FirstNet Authority has earned a clean audit. The audit identified zero material weaknesses, zero significant deficiencies, and zero management-level control deficiencies.

As the Marshall Fire burned through Boulder County, it quickly became the most destructive fire in Colorado state history. The fire damaged critical infrastructure and commercial networks were congested, but responders were able to communicate with FirstNet deployable assets on site, including a compact rapid deployable that was able to traverse steep terrain and establish coverage quickly.